Exploring the Possibility of Representing the Sacred in Motion Pictures

Abstract

In recent years, the question of the relation between religion and the media has become a matter of serious concern among religious scholars on the one hand, and media professionals on the other. Meanwhile, the experience of picturing the sacred and the transcendental has been shown more than others, especially in TV religious programs. Therefore, the serious question is whether representing the sacred is basically possible or not. In this article, we have tried to both enumerate the obstacles and to provide solutions to get out of them as much as possible. The results of the study show that two main solutions for representing the sacred in the form of image are “transcendental style” and “utilizing symbols”. These two solutions are at both ends of an axis, with the sacred on the one end, and the human on the other. The transcendental style takes the audience from the human to the sacred and divine side, and makes them experience it. Utilizing symbols brings the sacred matter in the form of human to the audience. Both of these solutions will end in misdirection, if they are not developed from an accurate understanding of the religion which is associated with rationality.

Keywords

• sacred matter
• motion picture
• representation