Cinema and Secularism

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Cinema and Secularism is the first collection to make the relationship between cinema and secularism thematic, utilizing a number of different methodological approaches to examine their identification and differentiation across film theory, film aesthetics, film history, and throughout global cinema. Prompted by the recent emergence of critical secular studies, this book sets out to rectify the unexamined assumption within the field of film studies that cinema is secular and to invite critical reflection upon its titular terms. The collection poses for the first time in the study of film the questions: Is cinema secular And what would that mean Chapters in this book examine the question of whether cinema is secular by engaging with particular film thinkers and traditions of thought (Cavell, Deleuze, Buddhism). Other aspects explored include the relationship between cinema and enchantment in a particular set of filmmakers (Lanthimos, Lynch, and science films), as well as distinct cinematic manifestations and forms of secularism within different cultural settings (in chapters on Middle Eastern cinema, Hindi cinema, and a film by Ousmane Sembne). Taken together, the essays in Cinema and Secularism provide a wide-ranging interrogation of the topic and clear the way for wholly new avenues of thought in the study of both film and secularism.

Author Bio

Mark Cauchi is Associate Professor in the interdisciplinary Department of Humanities, the Graduate Program of Humanities, the Graduate Program in Social and Political Thought, and the Graduate Program of Communication and Culture at York University in Toronto, Canada. He is co-editor of Immanent Frames: Postsecular Cinema between Malick and von Trier (2018).