Page - 125 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/02

Beyond Cinematic Stereotypes | 125www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/2, 123–140 Why is it relevant how religion and gender are constructed in films? With Christopher Partridge, I argue that “popular culture is both an expression of the cultural milieu from which it emerges and formative of that culture, in that it contributes to the formation of worldviews and in doing so, influences what people accept as plausible”.4 This means that it is generally important to ana- lyze popular culture and how popular culture, such as films, constructs both religion and gender. Popular culture is not a direct reflection of our culture, nei- ther does it affect us in a straightforward manner, but it is a part of our symbolic world and ties into how we understand the world. Popular culture also allows us to identify and further comprehend central issues in a culture or, as Andrew Nestingen puts it, “popular texts continually mediate socially significant conflicts through narration, music, and image”.5 Studying contemporary film narratives is thus one way of highlighting modes of thought regarding religion and gender in present-day culture. In addition, as popular cultural users we are more likely to turn to popular culture and popular cultural imaginings when relating to or reflecting on issues we have only sparse knowledge of.6 Since in Scandinavia a large number of people do not have much direct contact with religion or religious institutions, film images are likely to be used to fill in the gaps and form an understanding of how religion is gendered and genders. Thus to understand contemporary views on religion, film, too, needs to be explored. Religion and media scholars in the Nordic countries in particular have lately focused on the theory of the mediatization of religion in a number of studies.7 This theoretical perspective also frames this study, as I argue, in line with Hjar- vard’s thinking,8 that media such as film structures and shapes how religion is represented, given space and comprehended today. In addition, media of course also plays a central part in how gender is understood. Classical film nar- ratives usually represent men as active and women as passive, in line with a conventional understanding of gender and gender roles, and even though this structure is sometimes challenged today, female heroes are still often repre- sented with a lot more focus on their physical appearance, their feelings of guilt and their exclusivity – they are often represented as exceptions to the rule – than male heroes.9 Gender has not been a central topic in Hjarvard’s mediatiza- tion theory but has been discussed in other studies that have aimed to expand 4 Partridge 2004, 123. 5 Nestingen 2008, 9. 6 Lynch 2005. 7 See Hjarvard/Lövheim 2012. 8 Hjarvard 2011; Hjarvard 2012. 9 See for example Inness 2004.