Overview

The secular, pluralist culture of the West encourages a subjective approach to spiritual truth where stimulating emotional experiences, such as those provided by film, can contribute to personal conceptions of the sacred. Examining Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) as the principal case-study and Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void (2009) and Lars von Trier’s Melancholia (2011) as comparative examples, Sarah Balstrup argues that these directors harness the affective properties of film to generate altered states of perception in a manner analogous to religious practice. Powerful feelings of dissociation and indescribable significance typical of mystical testimony appear in viewer responses to these films, demonstrating the continued sacralisation of such states of mind. In their own way, each film confronts the viewer with an apocalyptic revelation of the impersonal forces of the universe, moving away from personhood and the human narrative, into pure sensation. They present a non-deterministic spiritual truth that can be intuited but not explained, mirroring developments in the religious sphere. Investigating the relationship between cinematic technique and religious experience, Spiritual Sensations offers an alternative approach to the study of religion and film that has been principally focused on narrative symbolism and the dramatisation of values. Spiritual Sensations makes a further contribution to the field by analysing films contextually, considering viewers’ subjective responses in light of religious and cultural change.

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9781350327764

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Sarah K. Balstrup's Spiritual Sensations is a noteworthy achievement. This study goes way beyond the description of religious motifs in film and the identification of filmic narratives as belonging to specific religious traditions and exposes how cinema-viewing can induce powerful religious and spiritual experiences. --CAROLE M. CUSACK, The University of Sydney, Australia I am thrilled with the new avenues of research such a book puts at the disposal of scholars of Religious Studies, Film Studies, and Western Esotericism. A great addition to the scant material on the topic. --Christian Giudice, Gothenburg University, Sweden This book will surely open new doors of perception in our scholarly understanding of how film and religion intersect. --Per Faxneld, Soedertoern University, Sweden Combining intellectual clarity with a profound understanding of film and the sacred, Sarah K. Balstrup successfully illuminates the sensations of cinematic impact. This book is extraordinarily rich in depth. --Tomas Axelson, Dalarna University, Sweden

Sarah K. Balstrup's Spiritual Sensations is a noteworthy achievement. This study goes way beyond the description of religious motifs in film and the identification of filmic narratives as belonging to specific religious traditions and exposes how cinema-viewing can induce powerful religious and spiritual experiences. * CAROLE M. CUSACK, The University of Sydney, Australia * I am thrilled with the new avenues of research such a book puts at the disposal of scholars of Religious Studies, Film Studies, and Western Esotericism. A great addition to the scant material on the topic. * Christian Giudice, Gothenburg University, Sweden * This book will surely open new doors of perception in our scholarly understanding of how film and religion intersect. * Per Faxneld, Soedertoern University, Sweden * Combining intellectual clarity with a profound understanding of film and the sacred, Sarah K. Balstrup successfully illuminates the sensations of cinematic impact. This book is extraordinarily rich in depth. * Tomas Axelson, Dalarna University, Sweden *

Author Information

Sarah K. Balstrup is an independent scholar in Sydney, Australia.

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