CNRC1205: The Bible and Film: The Holy Book Meets the Silver Screen

The Bible has been a star of Hollywood and the silver screen since the birth of cinema. This course tells that story. The Bible has deep roots in American society?in communities of faith, in politics, in art and literature, and in popular culture. It is no surprise, then, that filmmakers have frequently drawn on the Bible as source text and as inspiration. This course explores the ways in which the Bible has been interpreted and reimagined in film over the past century. We will examine the relationships between the biblical texts and the films they inspired, considering questions such as: How do the filmmakers rework their sources to make them relevant to contemporary audiences? How beholden are the filmmakers to the interpretations of communities that view biblical texts as authoritative, and where are they free to depart from their sources? Is it possible to ?translate? biblical narratives into film without losing something in the translation?

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