Seite - 105 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Band 02/02

Losers, Food, and Sex | 105www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/2, 99–122 clumsy and often naïve vicar who seems to fail at everything he aims to achieve; Archdeacon Robert, the lordly clerical and gay careerist; homeless Colin, who just wants a job and a girlfriend and sees in Adam his best friend; and again Adam, who does see in Colin his best friend but seems already to be looking for the next best friend. As the narrative progresses, however, the show uncovers that all these different forms of being a man (and cleric) require the other for their own self-understanding. The audience is drawn into boundary processes to learn that while boundaries often exclude and alienate, they always require an inside and an outside and thus connect what they separate.27 As such, Rev. (2010–2014) shows that the previously othered is complementary rather than alien: Adam learns from Colin to appreciate true friendship, Robert becomes a better or more likeable character through his interactions with Adam, and Colin learns to see in Adam the person, not the vicar. And even though all these main characters seem to be losers, it is through their interactions that they grow in acceptance of each other. The series uses the emphasis on the mutual dependence of masculinities as a means to subvert a hegemonic understanding of masculinity and to show how masculinities can transform each other. To do so, it relies not only on the plot but also on visual and acoustic means. Adam is affectionately portrayed as clumsy vicar who loves his wife, his job, and his congregation, but also lacks en- ergy, is disillusioned by what is going on around him, and often tunes the world out by listening to sacred music on his iPod. This tuning out of this world and tuning into another, maybe more spiritual, world affects the viewer and their viewing experience as well. As soon as Adam plugs in his earplugs, the back- ground noise fades, and the audience, too, tunes out of the filmic world, and maybe into another world, even a sacred one. In Rev. (2010–2014), music is not limited to Adam’s spiritual journey, but is also used as a technique to connect and set apart different masculinities. In episode S02/E06, for example, Johann Sebastian Bach’s motet “Jesu, meine Freude” (BWV 227) is used as overlay mu- sic to connect two scenes and three different embodiments of masculinity. The episcopal see of Stevenage is vacant and the career- and power-minded Arch- deacon Robert aspires to become the next bishop. He is not really a “people person” but has been playing it nice in light of his expected appointment. He is gay, in a relationship, and very much aware that this could negate his chances of climbing up the hierarchical ladder. Despite Robert’s attempts to keep his re- lationship below the radar of the hierarchy, a member of the crown committee somehow finds out and asks during the interview, “One final question: Are you involved in an active gay relationship?” There is a cut from the committee to a close-up of Robert, whose face goes pale as he realizes that this question just 27 Cf. Ornella 2014.