Hollywood Dreams and Biblical Stories

by Bernard Brandon Scott

Overview

An accomplished biblical scholar here juxtaposes movies and New Testament themes to uncover the mythic dimensions of each and to explore the primary conflicts in American society.

Brandon Scott's sage and savvy analysis of more than fifty recent popular American movies, from Dirty Harry to Robocop 2, from Pretty Woman to Thelma and Louise, opens a unique slant on American mythology. He delves into the deepest dreams and perennial tensions in American culture: wealth and poverty, race relations, moral aloneness, the superhero and the solo redeemer, violence and war, the mythical West, relations of the sexes, and fears of the future. These portrayals in turn launch him into the chief themes and mythic elements in the New Testament. In the conversation and mutual criticism that his book engenders, Scott clarifies the values that contemporary culture and the Bible might bring to each other.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800627539
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	12/01/1994
Series:	Science
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Bernard Brandon Scott is Darbeth Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Phillips Graduate Seminary, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Among his several books is Hear Then the Parable: A Commentary on the Parables of Jesus (Fortress Press, 1989).

Editorial Reviews

Scott (Hear Then the Parables, Fortress, 1989) provides an analysis of biblical storytelling from the postliterate perspective of the motion picture as the primary dispenser of myth in the late 20th century. He draws heavily on Levi-Strauss's definition of the nature of myth. An examination of representative biblical stories follows lengthy plot summaries of motion pictures of various genres. Scott attempts to relate the two in their approach to myth. He succeeds more in comparing Blade Runner and the Mad Max series to the biblical apocalyptic than in comparing the Dirty Harry series to St. Paul's image as a lonely fighter struggling for the rights of the individual "by faith alone" or in comparing John Wayne to Jesus. A limited success in an attack on a difficult premise; for informed readers and specialists.-Richard S. Watts, San Bernardino Cty. Lib., Cal.

Library Journal