Godawa (2009) quotes Geoffrey Hill’s comparison of the modern movie theater to a religious temple (“the cinematic temple”). With that in mind, answer the following questions:
What do you think Godawa (2009) was trying to say with this passage?
What parallels do you think there might be between what happens at a temple/church and what happens at a movie theater?
In what ways can it be said that they have the same goal?
Do you think it is a positive or a negative that the theater has taken this role? Defend/explain your assertion.
The very nature of moviemaking and moviegoing itself incarnates the sacred transmission of myth, much as occurred for the ancients. As author Geoffrey Hill proposes in his treatise on the mythic power of film, Illuminating Shadows:
As ironic modern worshippers we congregate at the cinematic temple. We pay our votive offerings at the box office. We buy our ritual corn. We hush gins. Throughout the filmic narrative we identify with the hero. We vilify the antihero. We vicariously exult in the victories of the drama. And we are spiritually inspired by the moral of the story, all while believing we are modern techno-secular people, devoid of religion. Yet the depth and intensity of our participation reveal a religious fervor that is not much different from that of religious zealots.
