Lecturette 1:

Media and Spirituality

By: Fr. Christian B. Buenafe, O. Carm

Media

: channel through which the

message is transmitted.

A substance through which an effect is

transmitted from one thing to another; as,
air is the common medium of sound.
 FORMS OF MEDIA
PRINT GROUP
BROADCAST FOLK/TRADITIONAL
ELECTRONIC NON-MEDIA
PRINT

Newspapers
Manuals

Magazines

Pamphlets,
booklets

Newsletters

Letters (direct
mail)
BROADCAST & Electronic

Radio

Television

Tape recorders

Video Cassettes

Satellite dishes

Cinema

Cellphones

WAP / Internet
GROUP/VISUAL MEDIA

slides
extension /

flip charts information kits

poster
blackboard

stickers
bulletin board

banners
maps/charts/diagra

billboards (on ms
public transport)
wall paintings

Photos
stamps

journals
video productions

public debates
FOLK MEDIA

Dance
Praise singers

Rituals
Meetings

Drama
Songs

Story-telling
Popular theatre

Ballads
Drums

Chanters
The gong

Flute
NON--MEDIA COMMUNICATION
NON

Face-to-face
Networking

home visits
drama

Public meetings
Symposia,

games/contests
seminars and
workshops

Group discussion

folk theatre, case

role playing
study

exhibitions

Demonstration
MEDIA
Is just a part of a
COMMUNICATION process. . .

:WHO says WHAT in which

CHANNEL to WHOM and with
what EFFECT.
(Lasswell, 1948)
 BERLO’S MODEL OF
COMMUNICATION (1961)

Sender Message Channel Receiver Effect

S M C R E

Feedback
SPIRITUALITY

How one understands the “experience of
God” affects one’s understanding of

 Christology
 Ecclesiology
 Eschatology
 Morality
 Spirituality
: dynamic relation between the divine Spirit
and the human spirit
“lived and a multiform phenomenon “
“layered process of transformation”
Digest:
Divine – person, thing or Supreme Being that you consider
as divine (applicable to all faiths and beliefs)

Human – interaction and relationship of the human to the

one he considers divine which would lead him eventually to
change or transformation.
 FILM AND
SPIRITUALITY
Can we experience God in films?

Why do we watch films? Or why
not watch them?

What are your considerations
when you watch a film (mood,
values, regulations, etc.)

What are your immediate
reactions after films?
IMPORTANCE OF FILM
Immediate Reactions to Film
Peter Malone (On Screen)
 ‘I want to enjoy myself when I see a movie.’
 ‘I need a bit of escapism.’
 ‘Tickets cost so much these days and I’m not sure
they’re worth it.’
 ‘Everybody’s seen it, it’s the in-thing.’


‘Movies today are too permissive, too
much foul language, too much violence,
sex and nudity. Why isn’t there something
decent for the family?’

I like a more serious film. I like a
message. A movie should have something
worthwhile to say.’
Film and Spirituality
Three Key Areas:

How do we understand Spirituality?

Characteristics of film language

The dialogue concerning Spirituality in
Film
OR
Entertainment

Anything that pleases us, lifts us out of ourselves, helps us

enjoy ourselves.
Sometimes it can be easy and quick bit of relaxation – just
vegging in front of the box – or simply a time-filler.

True and genuine entertainment is something that really

satisfies and help us be our better selves.
 Education

Thinking of it as facts and figures being drummed into us

relentlessly, we may not be very keen on education at all.

While thinking of ‘education’ as the process in which we are

led out of our ordinary into something better, it might seem
more attractive. Education is then seen as more satisfying,
more pleasing, helping us to become our better selves.

Education is not information, it is transformation!

FILMS
Films tell stories and drama of all kinds. When
we view films, we engage, participate,
identify, reject, classify, enjoy evaluate,
digest and criticize. Mostly in a spontaneous
way, jumping without order. We speak of
many things about the film informally with
one another during or after viewing: often
casually.

In short, we engage in interpersonal

communication about the film. We are doing
film dialogue, informally.
 Media and Spirituality
Film as the medium, the
language where to experience
the divine-
divine-human relationship
that eventually leads to
transformation..
transformation
Film and Spirituality

Bring out the
“spiritual dimension”
of the story!

Fish out the divine-human

relationship in the story..
Three Areas to Consider

Social Impact of Film

Film as Art

Film as Business
Characteristics of the Medium Film
to Express Spirituality

Spirituality takes a form of a story or drama,

of dramatized-life stories. (narrative than
argumentative level)

Always expressed in the form of a
concentration/condensation of crucial life
events.

Always situated in concrete socio-cultural
contexts, showing confrontation.

Has its roots in religious or secular events or
developments like socio-religious context.
Characteristics . . .

Always individualized and incarnated in living

persons. (lived spirituality).

Quite often takes the form of an
audiovisualized life journey.

The audiovisual language of film has at its
disposal its own facilities to express spirituality
and spiritual values and to experience the
same.
Characteristics. . .

Spirituality implies
visions/appreciation of life,
human nature, world and being
– often very different and
conflicting interpretations and
evaluations of them.
Characteristics. . .

Spiritualityin the context of the

film dialogue is a dialogical
spirituality

 It concerns spirituality and spiritual

values implied in the film story and
explored/discovered through the
dialogue in the group about the film’s
spirituality.
Experience Film Dialogue. . .
GUIDE QUESTIONS

From the characters in the film, to whom
do you connect the most?

What symbols do you see in the film and
what do they mean to you?

If you will be asked to end the story, how
would you like it to be?
CHILDREN OF HEAVEN

Title: Children of Heaven (Bacheha-Ye
Aseman, Iran-1997)

Cast: Mohammad Amir Naji, Mir Farrokh
Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi, Fereshte
Sarabandi, Karnal Mirkarimi

Producer: Mohammad Sared Seyedzadeh

Cinematographer: Parviz Malekzade

Editor: Hassan Hassandoost

Director/Screenwriter: Majid Majidi

Running Time: 88 minutes

Genre: Comedy/Drama