"And so they are linked, cinema and religion, two grand designs conjuring light out of darkness"
- John Updike
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| Gandalf fights Balrog |
Religions are meant to give people out of body experiences that connect with the soul and give new light and life to every day experiences. In a similar way, films take people from their daily schedules and transform the world around them into a fantasy of color, sounds, and movements. Many films even take the next step and find ways to subtly, or blatantly, alter myths that people know to fit their own purposes.
Whether it be the slow downwards pan from the cosmos to the real in Star Wars, echoing the beginning of the world according to Genesis, or the death of Gandalf after fighting the Balrog, quite literally a demon of fire, and his resurrection shortly after, mirroring Jesus' death and resurrection, films find ways to give moviegoers a new take on religion. Like religions, they take people out of the physical realm and put them into the metaphysical, where light conquers darkness and the most unlikely of characters save the day. 