The film Noah (2014) is analyzed in this lecture as a cinematic Midrash, that presents three different contemporary worldviews, and promotes eco-feminist values while criticizing materialism and fundamentalism.
The lecture presents central theses formulated in a couple of articles published by Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro and Dr. Lila Moore as part of this research project.
See links below.
The lecture was given as part of the CESNUR (“Center for Studies on New Religions”, located in Italy) international annual conference held at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem, on July 2-6, 2017.
Unfortunately, the lecture was not filmed, but one may read the abstract and download the presentation. See also the links to the published articles.
In this conference, Prof. Ruah-Midbar Shapiro also served as chairman for another session (that was filmed), see a link below.
Abstract
Our paper proposes an interpretative study of Daren Aronofsky’s film Noah (2014) in order to engage in a cultural interpretation of the film as a “cinematic midrash”. The film is an interesting example of innovative spiritual/religious interpretation of the Judeo- Christian tradition, namely the biblical myth of the Flood. It draws inspiration from various spiritual traditions ranging from shamanism and Buddhism, relying heavily on Jewish midrash, and adds a layer of innovative themes and aesthetic depictions.
Our main assertion is that the film attempts to present three viewpoints on issues of religion, humanity, nature, and God — while negating two of them and preferring one. Each of the various characters and groups in the film represents one of the three stances, as the film’s protagonist must cope with the problematic nature of the viewpoint he has adopted and consider abandoning or revising it as the plot develops.
The film engages with current pivotal issues such as: climate change and the depletion of natural resources, materialism and hedonism, suspicion of religious institutionalized interpretations, gendered spiritual/religious beliefs, etc.
Thus, we present the film Noah as a cultural product that on the one hand is influenced by contemporary spiritual trends – especially eco feminism – and on the other hand disseminates spiritual ideas and values amongst mainstream culture.
Authors
Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro
Lila Moore
Links
For the detailed content of the conference – click here.
For the program of the conference on CESNUR’s website, click here.
For the webpage of some abstracts of the lectures in the conference – click here.
For CESNUR’s conferences webpage, on their website – click here.
For CESNUR’s website – click here.
For a trailer of the film Noah, click here.
For the official Facebook page of the film Noah – click click.
Language
English
Date
April 2018
Academic/Non-academic
Academic
Bibliographical citation
It is recommended to use the references to the published articles. See links below.
