Page - 15 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/02

14 | Anna-Katharina Höpflinger and Marie-Therese Mäder www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/2, 7–21 We have observed in relation to the categorization of the private and the public that the media play a crucial role, and their role is also vital for the interac- tion of tradition and innovation. Traditions are formed through media commu- nication, but at the same time media can make innovation possible, sometimes even defining something as innovative although it is not as novel as people might think. Again the white wedding dress is a good example: after Queen Vic- toria’s wedding, fashion magazines (popular culture media) began to promote white bride-dresses, but it would be another 100 years before the white wed- ding gown was accepted all over Europe and in the USA.16 Today TV series, films, or the internet tell their consumers that the coloured or black wedding dress is innovative, and yet it was common up until the 20th century. BETWEEN THE COLLECTIVE AND THE INDIVIDUAL Alongside this discussion of the categories of public and private and of tradition and innovation, we wish also to raise the issue of interaction between collective expectations and individual actions and worldviews. A wedding, even a royal 16 For differences between the image of the ideal bride promoted by fashion magazines and the dresses of brides in photographs see Wiswe 1990. Fig. 10: Black bridal-gowns were normal in the 19th and early 20th centuries. We see here a rural wedding in Grisons, Switzerland, from the 1940s. The pastor walks in front, followed by the bride and groom with a flower girl, and then the guests. Private collection: Höpflinger.