Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

Uh, What Do You Mean By “Great Responsibility” ?

Welcome back! We hope you enjoyed last week’s podcast. Danielle and I are thrilled to continue our discussion of heroes and saviors in our fourth podcast. The theme for class was “You Are Here for A Reason.” We watched: Batman Begins (2005) “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”...
March 17th, 2010 | Art & Literature, Film, Picturing the Word | Read More

A Dream That Tells The Truth: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland offers a fanciful study in dreaming that provokes the question of whether Wonderland is merely a dream from which we may at any time awaken. What makes the film great, though, is the follow-up question as to whether it being a dream even matters. At its core, Alice in Wonderland...
March 16th, 2010 | Culture, Film, Media | Read More

Predatory Loneliness: Nighthawks

Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks maybe the most famous painting of urban isolation. Don’t buy it?  Let me try to help. When you’re attempting to understand a piece, the first step is to see it well. Look at the formal elements: color, shapes, and focal points. Once you can see what you’re...
March 16th, 2010 | Art & Literature, Media | Read More

Classics for the Contemporary Christian: Freud’s Non-Libidinal Rub

What do you want, purpose or happiness? If you don’t think the two pursuits are exclusive, take it up with Freud, who says as much in his treatise Civilization and its Discontents. “The idea of life having a purpose stands and falls with the religious system,” he said. “We will therefore...
March 15th, 2010 | Book Reviews, Culture, Religion | Read More

Is there really room for another Austen remake? You bet your Pride and Prejudice!

Like clockwork, the BBC has come out with a television serial of Jane Austen’s classic, Emma. Weirdly, film adaptations of this particular novel seem to come in pairs: both Kate Beckinsale and Gwyneth Paltrow portrayed the eponymous heroine in 1996 — on British television and American movie...
March 10th, 2010 | Art & Literature, Film | Read More

What’s In a Name? That By Which We Call A Hero By Any Other Name Wouldst Act As…Villainous? Courageous? Cunning?

Welcome to Week 3 of Picturing the Word! This week in class we watched movies and read books with the theme “You have great power.” We watched: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Chris Columbus, 2002) Spider-Man (Sam Raimi, 2002) Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977) Star Wars: Episode II — Attack...
March 10th, 2010 | Art & Literature, Film, Picturing the Word | Read More

Fear of the Elements: Tsunamis, Typhoons, and Turner

Recent tsunami warnings in Hawaii brought to mind a powerful painting by JMW Turner. He was a good painter, but not gifted with pithy titles. Proof? This one’s named: ‘Slavers throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—typhon coming on.’ He didn’t misspell ‘typhoon’; that’s...
March 9th, 2010 | Art & Literature, Media | Read More

Classics for the Contemporary Christian: Is Your Identity As You Like It?

If the world is a stage, we like putting on the same shows. The Matrix, The Truman Show, Equilibrium…not original. Even in Shakespeare’s 17th century comedy As You Like It, we confront the suggestion that the world is a sham and humans are the sham’s pawns. At surface-level, the play is a ball...
March 8th, 2010 | Book Reviews, Culture, Media | Read More

You Are A Muggle

Welcome back! We hope you enjoyed the first podcast and are excited to continue to discuss what makes a hero and a myth. For the second class, we watched: Superman (Richard Donner, 1978) The Last Son of Krypton from “Superman: The Animated Series” Pilot from “Smallville” Superman on Earth from...
March 4th, 2010 | Art & Literature, Film, Other, Picturing the Word | Read More

Classics for the Contemporary Christian: The Straits of Orthodoxy

I have a bone to pick with G.K. Chesterton about his book Orthodoxy. It took me a ridiculously long time to read. He just had to go and make every sentence so delicious and profound that I was forced to sit back after every line in order to laugh at his wit or furiously scribble notes. Think I’m...
March 3rd, 2010 | Book Reviews, Culture, Media, Religion, Worldviews | Read More