Film as Religion, Second Edition. John C. Lyden

myth everywhere, from the Bible to popular culture, and so avoids the elitist judgments that distinguish “our” myths from “theirs” or view one as better than the other. This does not mean that he suspends the role of judgment altogether, for he looks to find interpretations of myths that are socially progressive rather than regressive. In this way, he neither rejects popular culture altogether (as “ideology”) nor avoids judgment of it out of a supposed attempt at “tolerance.” In chapter 4, I shall look more closely at the question of how to make informed judgments on religion that are based in an effort to understand rather than on mere prejudice, and I will suggest how this might apply to the study of religion and film as well.

      This chapter has sought to critique various ideas of myth in order to suggest that the best aspects of them might profitably be applied to film. The next chapter looks at the concept of ritual and how it might apply to film—and also includes some reflections on the third aspect of the definition of religion, a set of morals, which forms the connecting point between myths and rituals. Myths develop an imaginary view of “that which is,” but this is always linked to a notion of “that which should be”—and this ideal is often enacted in ritual.