Page - 20 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/02

Editorial | 19www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/2, 7–21 Thirdly, religion remains the driving factor for the moral character of wed- dings: the whiteness of the dress symbolizing purity (and virginity), the rings symbolizing eternity, the vows before a powerful entity (a god or a state), the meaningful flowers, for example, are all visual and semantic aspects of this mor- al concern. Additionally, the worldview associated with marriage continues to be religiously affected: the ideal is to remain (sexually and morally) true to one’s partner. Infidelity, like lack of affection, is a reason for the couple to decouple. The success of the married couple is measured against the normative concept of the Holy Family, often as communicated by the media: the wedding is an emotional ritual on the path to becoming a similarly holy family.26 A final summary of these thoughts: we argue that weddings are related to religion on various levels, with some connections more apparent than others. Media play an important role in forming and communicating these connections: in the cultural West, “we” have an understanding of the wedding event and the nature of the holy family that comes from novels, images, and films. We want to see the bride in white because brides on television and in films wear white. We know that we have to be true to our partner because media, from adver- tisements to novels, tell us that such is our responsibility. We adopt the staging of the marriage ritual and have an idea of how a “real” or “good” wedding ritual (both are normative categories) might look from broadcast events such as the wedding of Prince Harry and Markle, but also from fictitious weddings portrayed in movies and on the internet. THE ARTICLES IN THE CURRENT ISSUE The current issue starts with two articles on audio-visual media. The first con- tribution focusses on classical Hollywood cinema and the second discusses the American television series Grey’s Anatomy (US, ABC, 2005–). Adopting a philo- sophical approach, Toufic El-Khoury shows how the “comedy of remarriage”, a term Stanley Cavell assigned in his study of classical Hollywood comedies, be- longs to a specific school of thought. In his article “Marriage and its Represen- tations in Classical Hollywood Comedy (1934–1945). Stanley Cavell, the Concept of Skepticism and Kierkegaard’s Legacy”, he discusses the black-and-white Hol- lywood feature film The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, US 1937) as a case study that elucidates inconsistencies in the concepts of marriage and love. In their article “Anatomy of a Wedding: Examining Religiosity, Feminism, and Weddings in Grey’s Anatomy”, Sharon Lauricella and Hannah M. Scott examine the diver- sity of wedding practices in that series. They identify a tension in the program’s portrayal of traditional heterosexual weddings and its progressive inclusion of 26 For the concept of the Holy Family and the role of the media see Fritz 2018.