Course

RELG-211-02: Religion and Film

Document Type

Student Paper

Publication Date

Winter 2-1-2021

Disciplines

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Film and Media Studies | Religion

Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement

This paper examines the ways that women seize power through rejection and subversion of religion by relating women in film to the real world. Rejection of faith is exemplified by characters in the films The Little Hours (2017) and The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018). Subversion of faith is understood through the films Whale Rider (2003), Jennifer’s Body (2009), and Transparent (2014). Narrative analysis of these films is contrasted with studies of orthodox religion as examined by Dr. Brenda E. Brasher and Dr. Mary Gerhart. The importance and effect of women’s newly-gained power is applied to social change as recorded by Dr. Antionette Iadarola and Dr. Edward L. Queen. Additional theory of power and perspective is provided by Dr. Jack Halberstam and Michel Foucault. This paper discusses how women gain independence, personal pride, and freedom of expression through rejection and subversion of faith. Both methods should be available due to their necessity to different women, and both methods result in improvement in individual women’s lives as well as change in larger societal structures.