Sightings Articles

White man holding Holy Bible while gesturing toward seated figure

Religion and media | Failure | Film | capitalism

Selling the Gospel of Positive Thinking

It's the everyday nature of the failures in "Salesman," a film about Bible salesmen, that makes the film so powerful and relatable....

October 5, 2023
Green glowing light saber held by white man with long hair wearing dark robe

Star Wars | Daoism | Film

This is the Way: Daoist Themes in Star Wars

Return of the Jedi resonates with themes, ideas, and symbolism from real-world religious traditions....

May 3, 2023
legally blonde elle woods

feminism | Film | women

Getting Serious about Legally Blonde

The 2001 comedy shatters expectations about what makes a good heroine...

May 9, 2022
red panda

Film | Evangelicalism | AAPI Inclusion

Evangelical Critics Are Turning Red

Outrage over a recent children's film illustrates the narrowness of evangelicalism and the experiences it has failed to understand....

April 22, 2022
fleabag

Religion and Literature | Film | Catholicism | pop culture

When a Vow Turns Out to be... a Vow: ‘Fleabag’

Exploring religion's leading role in the hit television series “Fleabag”...

April 20, 2020
Marvel

Film | Ernest Becker | pop culture

Film Resurrections and the Denial of Death

Exploring the resurrection trope in American cinema and what it reveals about us...

March 2, 2020

Film | pop culture | astrology

On the Trail of Millennial Religion with Detective Pikachu

Ed. Note: Warning: This column contains major spoilers for Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.   The recent film, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019), is the latest cinematic addition to the Pokémon series, the multimedia entertainment franchise that exploded ...

May 23, 2019

Film | Books & Culture

Religion in the Frame

Earlier this month, the Martin Marty Center, in collaboration with Facets Multimedia, successfully concluded its second annual “Religion in the Frame” film festival. Held at Facets’ cinematheque on the North Side of Chicago, the festival consisted of...

March 14, 2019