Pop-Eye: Blind Faith and the Invisible Font
S. Brent Plate.
Simply put: Font matters. Is it possible that the most pervasive typeface of late capitalism—Helvetica—is telling us what the gods wish: Do not worry. Trust in me. Put your value here, and you will be rewarded?
Pop-Eye: Global Jesus on Film
S. Brent Plate.
In this invitation to inter-cinematic dialogue, S. Brent Plate offers a Lenten season roundup of Jesus films from all across the world, and not a blue-eyed protagonist among them.
RD10Q: Cinema and the Re-Creation of the World
S. Brent Plate.
RD columnist S. Brent Plate crosses disciplinary boundaries to show us how film creates worlds, just as religion does; through incantation or special effects anything is possible.
Pop-Eye: Meat The Wrestler
S. Brent Plate.
How did reviewers from the New York Times to Christianity Today miss the obvious religious references in this Oscar-nominated hit? Did they blink and reach for popcorn at the images of a tattooed Jesus Christ on Randy’s back, or was it more about the myth of modern individualism and body-soul dualism?
Is Religion a Game?
S. Brent Plate.
Playing Gods, a new board game making headlines, is more than just a playful riff on religion. If we want to understand religions, we have to understand their game-like qualities, and that religion might, at the heart of it all, be a game. Which does not make it trivial.
Why Bill Maher Gets a “C” in My Introduction to Religion Class...
S. Brent Plate.
...as do Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Upon viewing Bill Maher's Religulous the author asks: Why are the so-called New Atheists using the archaic and theologically conservative definition of religion pushed by home-schoolers?
There Will Be a Nation
S. Brent Plate.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, starring “Best Actor” Daniel Day-Lewis, operates as the creation myth of an imperialist America.
