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44 | Sharon Lauricella and Hannah M. Scott www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/2, 39–53
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
RELIGIOSITY
Of the 14 weddings throughout 13 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, there were nine
in which religiosity was able to be assessed; the remaining four wedding cer-
emonies were not shown in the program and thus sufficient information was
not available for the purposes of assessing religiosity.
Four weddings were considered “not at all religious”: Meredith and Derek’s
union via Post-it (a private and personal ceremony of commitment), Meredith
and Derek’s official ceremony in a courthouse, Miranda and Ben’s nonreligious
wedding, and Callie and Arizona’s same-sex wedding. These weddings had no
religious rituals or artifacts and no religious wording, were not held in a religious
setting, and were not officiated by a religious figure. Four weddings were con-
sidered “somewhat religious”: the ceremonies for Izzie and Alex, Christina and
Preston, Amelia and Owen, and Catherine and Richard. These ceremonies in-
cluded religious wording such as “ancient rite” and “blessings” (Izzie and Alex),
religious rituals such as the Chuppah (Cristina and Owen), visible artifacts such
as crosses in the venue (Catherine and Richard), and the couple being married
by a religious officiant in a house of worship (Amelia and Owen). Only April and
Matthew’s aborted wedding was considered “very religious” in its strong reli-
gious language (“God’s power” and “Heavenly Father”).
Overall, weddings featured on Grey’s Anatomy can be considered religious
in that they incorporate mainstream and generally expected religious ele-
ments in contemporary American ceremonies, such as holding the wedding
in a house of worship, use of somewhat religious language, and the incorpo-
ration of a few religious artifacts or rituals. Interestingly, the only wedding
that was considered very religious (April and Matthew’s) was called off at the
altar as the love triangle involving April, Jackson, and Matthew was dramati-
cally revealed. The two couples whose weddings were not at all religious were
particularly poignant figures in the program. Meredith, focused on her career,
puts little attention on religious issues and has minimal interest in planning
and hosting a wedding; it was her partner, Derek, who suggested and insisted
upon being married, and despite Meredith’s disinterest argues, “Well, it’s for
the baby” (S7, E20). Callie and Arizona’s non-religious ceremony is important
because they are the only same-sex married couple in the drama. The lack of
religiosity in this ceremony between two women is reflective of the finding
that same-sex weddings offer a site of resistance to social norms.29 However,
there are traditional elements of this wedding, such as white dresses and even
a veil, together with the customary father-daughter dance. Thus we suggest
29 Fetner/Heath, 2016
JRFM
Journal Religion Film Media, Band 04/02
- Titel
- JRFM
- Untertitel
- Journal Religion Film Media
- Band
- 04/02
- Autoren
- Christian Wessely
- Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati
- Herausgeber
- Uni-Graz
- Verlag
- SchĂĽren Verlag GmbH
- Ort
- Graz
- Datum
- 2018
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Abmessungen
- 14.8 x 21.0 cm
- Seiten
- 135
- Kategorien
- Zeitschriften JRFM