Blockbuster Jesus: The hagiopic, fundamentalism, and religious violence

In this dissertation, I propose a new genre, which I call the hagiopic (saint or holy picture). Hagiopics portray the life---or part of the life---of a recognized religious hero such as Jesus or Joan of Arc. Traditional hagiopics have specific stylistic conventions (such as openings in clouds through which rays of sunlight suddenly appear) they have conventional characters (such as the cruel king, the virtuous oppressed people, and the helpless, devoted mother of the hero) and they deal with particular issues. The issues include vision (hagiopics always support the person who sees and hears things that others cannot perceive), sacrifice, suffering, and desire for a world that does not seem to exist. Conventional hagiopics are extremely conservative. They advance traditional ideas such as that of a theistic God "up there" who controls history and will reward the good and punish sinners in the afterlife. The God of the traditional hagiopic prefers one religion over others, sides with one people against another, finds virtue in suffering, and encourages blind faith and passive obedience. Hagiopics implicitly support this statement made by Paul two thousand years ago: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. (Romans 13:1).By conveying retrograde religious ideas in a popular format, conventional hagiopics provide support for fundamentalist politicians, preachers, and judges.Alternative hagiopics, such as the films of Pasolini and Denis Arcand, work against convention. They question or counter longstanding assumptions and require viewers to examine familiar stories from a new perspective. They rely on updated biblical scholarship, and balance religious scripture and dogma with historical evidence.The dissertation examines ten Jesus films in detail, looking at them in terms of current and traditional biblical scholarship. It also discusses the theories of Rene Girard and other writers.