Page - 51 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 01/01

(Re)Making a Difference | 51www.jrfm.eu 2015, 1/1, 45–56 ample of “religious media” in that it is produced by a religious institution that uses the language and form of short, commercial videos to articulate its message in a me- diatised society. The video promoting Coca Cola can be seen as an example of the category of “banal religion” in mixing elements from established religious traditions, such as the priest’s collar and the sign of the cross, with popular religious elements and a tacit understanding of what is “religious” – such as the allusion to sexual moral teachings within Catholicism. a narrative analysis focuses on the conventions and characters that are used to construct a story within media texts such as films, advertisments and documentaries. a further important element is the order in which events are presented. a standard plot structure in narratives consists of a state of equilibrium that is disrupted in some way and eventually reinstated in a slightly different form.22 A first thing that charac- terises both of the videos is how they aim at making a difference. Both of them use religion to make an effect of presenting something different – meaning unexpect- ed – that is happening, which is then connected to the “product”: Coca Cola or the Catholic Church. in the Coca Cola video, religious symbols such as the sign of the cross and representatives of religious authorities such as the priest are used to evoke con- notations of something set apart from and different from the pleasures and practices of the ordinary world. We can see this idea of religion, or rather a religious approach to the world, as something different played out in how the videos portray the “un- expected” behaviour of the man in the Coca Cola commercial, as will be discussed below. Difference is also a strong theme in the video promoting the Catholic Church, but here the Church is presented as offering something different in the sense of bet- ter or other than what the voice-over depicts as the “unruly” secular world. a second aspect in narrative analysis concerns the range of character types the story uses. Both the video promoting the organisation Catholics Come home and the Coca Cola com- mercial involve various gendered characters. a strong feature in the Catholics Come Home commercial are the themes of inclu- sion and equality. The video uses words and images that express and emphasise the Catholic Church as “one family”. The voice over declares: “we are young and old... men and women, sinners and saints...” while images of people of various age, ethnic- ity, nationality and gender are displayed on the screen. however, it is also very clear that this pluralist and inclusive family is represented by traditional gender roles and values. Women are depicted as teachers and mothers, and men as scientists and doc- tors. it is also obvious in the images that men represent what the voice over refers to as the “unbroken line of shepherds guiding the Church with love and truth“. The video reinforces the traditional Catholic gender roles, particularly with visual ele- ments, presenting the Catholic Church as a “safe haven” and women’s role as con- 22 Todorov 1987.