Page - 149 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

Bulletproof Love: Luke Cage (2016) and Religion | 149www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 123–155 context (even the background that is virtually inaccessible) can set a brighter future for even the darkest situation.69 Another theme of the series is “switzerland”, or Pop’s Barber shop. in this rhizomic meeting place, the hierarchical tensions of key influential people in the harlem World become nonfactors, as all who enter this shrine of the bar- bershop lose the stance of competitor and become colleagues. this is not the cancellation of difference, but the acceptance of the contrast of multiplicity, so that difference is not solved but courageously engaged within this beautiful mess, this chaosmos, many times uncomfortably (e02). the role of space is im- portant in Luke Cage (2016) as a process liberation philosophy, for switzerland is a freeze frame of the moment of decision. in switzerland, there are no deci- sions but only possibility. in switzerland, entities are presented with choices that could lead to their progressive liberation if they enact them outside the harlem World. Pop’s Barber shop is a prime liberating thematic instance of the secular transcendence that Afred North Whitehead alludes to and Jerome stone clearly spells out.70 the pinnacle of this liberating process/secular transcendence unearthed by Luke Cage is the notion of secular Gods that shows up in the background of the series, sometimes literally. there are allusions to the transcendent Gods of classical Christian theism, such as the funeral service for Pop (e05) and the biblical recitations of Luke’s nemesis Diamondback (e08). But either these are figureheads which symbolize empty religiosity or they use religion subversive- ly, even perversely. these Gods, in other words, are dead.71 the “true religion” of the harlem World of Luke Cage (2016) lies elsewhere. you don’t get much more religious than having a picture of the Notorious B.i.G. on your wall as the focal point of honor. the MCs are some of the Gods of harlem, along with the drug lords. these are the people who many of the residents of the city – like Shameek, done in by hubris and Cornells’s fists – aspire to be. They set the tone of the town. so does Luke Cage. While the drug lords take the position of disconnected coercion to influence Harlem, Luke presents a different way of life that is interconnected persuasion. in the poetry of his Godhood, he takes the vileness of the world and creatively transforms it to a beautiful mess that influences the dwellers of Harlem to follow his modest whispers of liberation, whispers infused with a contagious renewed sense of hope and power.72 69 Whitehead 1967 [1933], 256–257. 70 stone 1992, 109–110. 71 Nietzsche 2007 [1882], 71–72. 72 Walker 2004, 59–60, 62, 69–71.