Page - 72 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/02

72 | Lavinia Pflugfelder www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/2, 65–85 perceived as transgressive in one culture or context may not be transgres- sive in another.29 Comparing specific religious symbols and images in extreme metal music videos shows many modes of application: (1) to produce visual transgression as blasphemy, expressing a religious programme, be it satanic30 or occult, as is the case in ritual black metal,31 (2) to produce visual transgression for the sake of transgression, expressing a heavy metal programme and invoking scene tradition, (3) to reproduce religious symbols to talk about a specific religious narrative as allegory, or (4) to recombine religious iconography without ap- parent defilement32 to represent various NRM (new religious movements) and an alternative spirituality. The last point is applicable to occult rock, but also to many forms of doom metal. More possibilities for the utilization of reli- gious symbols and images exist, and the specific motivations blur, just as the genre boundaries do. But religious imagery that does not refer to a specific religion or philosophy is just as intriguing. Still, this category of image has its hidden past in religious thoughts and discourses such as metaphors of tran- scendence or the sublime. We are accustomed to associate certain patterns with contingent notions of “religiousness”. Thus the boundaries between generally religiously inspired images and religious symbols cannot always be drawn clearly. Religionized Imagery Bricolage depends not only on what’s “at hand”, but also on what conceiva- bly can be understood and is appropriate according to the scene for inclusion in the bricolage. Outside the focus on apparent religious images, we find other repetitive movable motifs. The genre boundaries within heavy metal are fuzzy, and a certain aesthetic or iconography cannot be ascribed to a 29 Kahn-Harris 2007, 48. 30 Petersen 2011, 91: “Although satanic practices of transgression are many, they frequently target the popular holy cows of sexuality and the body, religion and politics, and violence, channelling self-work through ritual, performance, and art.” 31 Granholm 2013. 32 Partridge (2014, 243) concludes that many religious discourses outside hegemonic sa- cred forms are easily integrated into popular music. They are capable of being perceived as transgressive themselves rather than being the starting point for transgressive distor- tion.