Martin Scorsese's divine comedy : movies and religion / Catherine O'Brien.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Brien, Catherine, 1962- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321--Influence.

Dante Alighieri.

Scorsese, Martin--Criticism and interpretation.

Scorsese, Martin.

Religion in motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (223 pages)

Place of Publication:

London ; New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Catherine O'Brien draws on the structure of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy to explore Martin Scorsese's feature films from Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967-69) to Silence (2016). This is the first full-length study to focus on the trajectory of faith and doubt during this period, taking very seriously the oft-quoted words of the director himself: 'My whole life has been movies and religion. That's it. Nothing else.' Films discussed include GoodFellas, The Last Temptation of Christ, Taxi Driver and Mean Streets, as well as the more recent The Wolf of Wall Street. In Dante's poem in 100 cantos, the Pilgrim is guided by the poet Virgil down through the circles of Hell in Inferno; he then climbs the steep Mountain of the Seven Deadly Sins in Purgatory; and he finally encounters God in Paradise. Embracing this popular analogy, this study envisions Scorsese as a contemporary Dante, with his filmic oeuvre offering the dimensions of a cinematic Divine Comedy. Drawing on debates at the heart of religious studies, theology, literature and film, this book goes beyond existing explorations of religion in Scorsese's work to address issues of sin and salvation within the context of wider debates in eschatology and the afterlife."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Contents:

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part One. Inferno: Visions of Hell. 1. Hell on Earth ; 2. Sympathy for the Devil ; 3. Treachery

Part Two. Purgatory: The Three Story Mountain. 4. Misdirected love ; 5. Insufficient love ; 6. Excessive love

Part Three. Paradise: (Lost or Found?). 7. Encountering Jesus ; 8. The compassion connection ; 9. The mystery of God's love

Conclusion

Bibliography

Filmography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes filmography.

CC BY-NC-ND

ISBN:

9781350003286

135000328X

9781350003309

1350003301

9781350003293

1350003298

OCLC:

1031368033

Access Restriction:

Unrestricted online access