Page - 137 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

Bulletproof Love: Luke Cage (2016) and Religion | 137www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 123–155 When interpreting a character like Luke in terms of religion and hip hop, we might consider three guiding categories: 1) the sacred: not only for those elements within a society that are set apart, and forbidden, for ritual, but also for those elements within the given society and culture that aspire for both the adoption of a pious stance and the search for deity. 2) the secular: for those items designated by a given society and culture as having little to no connection with a form of deity. 3) the Profane: for those areas in a society labeled or designated outside given morals, codes, ethics, and values established as “good” and/or “right” by the society and culture being studied. With these understandings in mind, we can see Luke as a sacred, secular, and profane hero. An example of this trinary perspective is provided when he speaks at Pop’s funeral (E05; fig. 11). Luke is in a conventionally sacred space, a church, in front of a sign that connotes transcendence. But while he is the son of a min- ister, he himself is not ordained; he is as secular as his suit, and a key part of the message he delivers in this moment is very much about this world, about the community of harlem. the profane is all that Luke embodies of the streets and his invoking of violence for good, his secular jacket covering the profane bullet holes in his shirt. the angle of this shot also suggests that Luke commands re- though Luke’s use of his power is communal, he is still cis gendered and attracted to women, as in the case with his sexual encounters with Misty. Fig. 11: Film still, “Just to Get a Rep”, Luke Cage (2016), S01/E05, 44:46.