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52 | Mia lövheim www.jrfm.eu 2015, 1/1, 45–56
nected to “marriage and family” as core elements of the “consistent” and “true”
values the Church offers in an “unruly” world.
The Coca Cola commercial’s opening scene of an attractive man getting dressed
after a swim is presumably shot through the gaze of the young woman encounter-
ing this sight while walking on a sunny beach. in this, the video reverses the conven-
tional “male gaze” in films that subjects women to a heterosexual male’s desire and
control.23 This is accomplished by the camera’s focus on the woman’s sexual desire,
represented by her yearning eyes, her movements including the eager consumption
of the drink, and the inciting music. The unexpected twist at the end of the com-
mercial takes place when the attractive man on the beach turns out to be a priest, as
signalled by his white priest’s collar. The man/priest approaches the girl, but instead
of responding to the attraction signalled by her with the expected kiss, he offers her a
blessing by making the sign of the cross on her forehead. as he walks away, the girl is
shown left with the can of Coca Cola and an expression of confusion. This disruption
or twist in the narrative is constructed through a combination of unconventional and
conventional themes, where the commercial plays not only with heterosexual gender
conventions – the attraction between men and women – but also with the convention
or tacit understanding of Christian people as conservative and restrained in terms of
sexual morals.
MeDiaTisaTiON aND reliGiOUs ChaNGe:
(RE)MAKING A DIFFERENCE?
According to Hjarvard’s theory of the mediatisation of religion, instances of “banal
religion”, such as commercial videos, challenge the power of religious institutions
and belief systems to define and control the meaning of religious symbols as these
become used and circulated in new contexts and for other purposes. in line with this
theory, we could interpret these videos as an example of how religion changes in con-
temporary society from institution and dogma to a more personalised, bricolage form
of religion where symbols and practices can be used for purposes such as promoting
popular drinks.
however, as the discussion about the theory has shown, mediatisation of religion
is a complex process in which the cultural and religious context in which a media text
is situated also plays a part. Of the approaches presented above, hepp and Krönert’s
analysis of the Catholic World youth Day represents an interesting point of departure
for interpreting the commercial Catholics Come Home. In Hjarvard’s presentation,
“religious media” represents a category where religious institutions gradually come
to adapt to the media logic, which leads to individualisation and the weakening of
the normative, collective aspects of religion. hepp and Krönert’s social interaction
23 Mulvey 1975, 6–18.
JRFM
Journal Religion Film Media, Band 01/01
- Titel
- JRFM
- Untertitel
- Journal Religion Film Media
- Band
- 01/01
- Autoren
- Christian Wessely
- Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati
- Herausgeber
- Uni-Graz
- University of Zurich
- Verlag
- SchĂĽren Verlag GmbH
- Ort
- Graz
- Datum
- 2015
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Abmessungen
- 14.8 x 21.0 cm
- Seiten
- 108
- Kategorien
- Zeitschriften JRFM