Introducing Religion into the Media: when the “Cathodic Clergy” Becomes Violent

Name: Introducing Religion into the Media: when the “Cathodic Clergy” Becomes Violent
Brand: Vita e Pensiero
Price: 6.00 EUR
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digital

Articolo

Rivista

COMUNICAZIONI SOCIALI

Fascicolo

COMUNICAZIONI SOCIALI - 2020 - 2. Learning from the Virus: The Impact of the Pandemic on Communication, Media and Performing Arts Disciplinary Fields. A Round-Table

Titolo

Introducing Religion into the Media: when the “Cathodic Clergy” Becomes Violent

Autore

Mihaela-Alexandra Tudor

Editore

Vita e Pensiero

Formato

Articolo |

Pdf

Pagine

Online da

10-2020

Doi

10.26350/001200_000083

Issn

0392-8667 (stampa) | 1827-7969 (digitale)

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Descrizione Commenti dei lettori

This article addresses the media coverage of the film Hacksaw Ridge by the French online press at the time when the biographical war drama entered the public discourse. While this film was welcomed by an overall positive treatment in the American and international media, the French media generally focused either on the exemplary nature of the message (through the character and the real story of Desmond Doss, who, due to his own religious beliefs, has defended pacifism and non-violence as a “patriotic conscientious objector”), or on the deconstruction of the pacifist and non-violent message of faith, in the complex context of the World War, by emphasizing (in prominent secular and Christian media) the violent (secular and religious) character of the film through a terminology which encapsulates representations of violence. Why did the French media favour two colluding perspectives, yet with a predilection for a critical-violent speech? To explain the choice for an analysis built on contrasting perspectives, this article prioritizes three explanations: a) the media discourse remains tributary to a particular French interpretation of secularism (laïcité); b) the media discourse represents and expresses a sense of bewilderment between the concepts of sacred, religion, and faith, a bewilderment deliberately created and maintained by the journalists (on their position of “cathodic clergy” playing the role of administrators of conscience, cf. Debray 2000); and c) the media discourse represents and expresses a conception of violence with modern origins, which traditionally opposes both secular violence and religious violence.