Page - 7 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/02

DOI: 10.25364/05.6:2020.2.1 “You Need a Big God” | 7www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/2, 7–20 Natalie Fritz and Anna-Katharina Höpflinger “You Need a Big God” Fascinating Interactions between Music and Religion Abstract The interactions between popular music and religion are manyfold and highly com- plex. Popular music as an important part of popular culture is a means of communi- cation. Music can transmit not only emotions and a sense of community but also re- ligious knowledge, knowledge that leaves diverse traces in different times and places. In the end, whether we extract religious meaning from popular music and what that meaning is depend on our background and on our capacity to contextualise symbols, motives and narratives – and also on the media used to convey these references. By analysing Florence + The Machines song “Big God” and its music video we will address some of the questions that arise while working in the field of popular music and re- ligion. Keywords Popular Music, Florence + the Machine, Religion, Meaning Making, Audio-Visual Me- dia, Big God, Culture Biographies Natalie Fritz holds a Ph.D in the Study of Religions. Her research interests focus on the various interactions between media and religion. She currently works as a journalist at the Catholic Media Centre in Zurich and teaches media ethics at the universities of applied sciences in Chur and Berne. Anna-Katharina Höpflinger is a lecturer at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Mu- nich. After completing her Ph.D in the Study of Religion, she has developed different research projects in the field of media and religion, particularly focusing on body, clothing, and gender. She is also interested in religions in the ancient world and in European history, in Heavy Metal and religion, and in charnel chapels.