Sensing Religion in Alfonso Cuarón’s “Children of Men”
This essay attends closely to the affective excess of Children of Men, arguing that this excess generates two modalities of religion—nostalgic and emergent—primarily through a sensitive use of color and music. These affective religious modalities are justly termed “religion” not only because they ar...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2015-12-01
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Series: | Religions |
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Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/6/4/1433 |
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author | M. Gail Hamner |
author_facet | M. Gail Hamner |
author_sort | M. Gail Hamner |
collection | DOAJ |
description | This essay attends closely to the affective excess of Children of Men, arguing that this excess generates two modalities of religion—nostalgic and emergent—primarily through a sensitive use of color and music. These affective religious modalities are justly termed “religion” not only because they are sutured to overtly Christian names, images, and thematics, but also because they signal the sacred and transcendence, respectively. The essay reads the protagonist, Theo Faron (Clive Owen), as navigating these two modalities of religion, not as a hero but as what Giorgio Agamben terms “whatever-being.” Noting Theo’s religious function draws attention to transformations of political being and human hope. |
first_indexed | 2024-04-13T07:13:53Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-dea334b1a17f40a38a178bf86fc3216f |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2077-1444 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-13T07:13:53Z |
publishDate | 2015-12-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Religions |
spelling | doaj.art-dea334b1a17f40a38a178bf86fc3216f2022-12-22T02:56:48ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442015-12-01641433145610.3390/rel6041433rel6041433Sensing Religion in Alfonso Cuarón’s “Children of Men”M. Gail Hamner0Arts and Sciences Faculty, Syracuse University, 301 Hall of Languages, Syracuse, NY 13244, USAThis essay attends closely to the affective excess of Children of Men, arguing that this excess generates two modalities of religion—nostalgic and emergent—primarily through a sensitive use of color and music. These affective religious modalities are justly termed “religion” not only because they are sutured to overtly Christian names, images, and thematics, but also because they signal the sacred and transcendence, respectively. The essay reads the protagonist, Theo Faron (Clive Owen), as navigating these two modalities of religion, not as a hero but as what Giorgio Agamben terms “whatever-being.” Noting Theo’s religious function draws attention to transformations of political being and human hope.http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/6/4/1433affectChildren of Menemergent religion |
spellingShingle | M. Gail Hamner Sensing Religion in Alfonso Cuarón’s “Children of Men” Religions affect Children of Men emergent religion |
title | Sensing Religion in Alfonso Cuarón’s “Children of Men” |
title_full | Sensing Religion in Alfonso Cuarón’s “Children of Men” |
title_fullStr | Sensing Religion in Alfonso Cuarón’s “Children of Men” |
title_full_unstemmed | Sensing Religion in Alfonso Cuarón’s “Children of Men” |
title_short | Sensing Religion in Alfonso Cuarón’s “Children of Men” |
title_sort | sensing religion in alfonso cuaron s children of men |
topic | affect Children of Men emergent religion |
url | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/6/4/1433 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT mgailhamner sensingreligioninalfonsocuaronschildrenofmen |