Religion in cinema : Buddhism and Taoism in popular films through a jungian lens

In this thesis, Buddhist and Taoist approaches to the development of “Self” and its relation to the human being’s conscious and unconscious minds, and the Jungian viewpoint of Self form an interdisciplinary framework to study the images and ideologies of these religions in popular films. Contents fr...

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Main Author: Low, Yuen Wei
Other Authors: Hao Xiaoming
Format: Theses and Dissertations
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/61827
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-618272020-06-01T12:12:12Z Religion in cinema : Buddhism and Taoism in popular films through a jungian lens Low, Yuen Wei Hao Xiaoming Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Stephen Teo Kian Teck DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films In this thesis, Buddhist and Taoist approaches to the development of “Self” and its relation to the human being’s conscious and unconscious minds, and the Jungian viewpoint of Self form an interdisciplinary framework to study the images and ideologies of these religions in popular films. Contents from both religions that are portrayed in popular films are discussed; symbols and philosophy from Buddhism and Taoism in relation to the Jungian perspective of archetypes and universal symbols within popular films are examined. This research is drawn from the fields of psychology and religion, and as such, contributes to an interdisciplinary outreach of research in film studies. It examines Buddhism and Taoism in a selection of five popular films, two of which are produced by Hollywood, while the remaining three are Chinese-language productions. Textual analysis through a Jungian perspective is carried out on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) directed by Ang Lee, The Karate Kid (2010) directed by Harald Zwart, The Promise (2005) directed by Chen Kaige, Seven Years in Tibet (1997) directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and Hero (2002) directed by Zhang Yimou. The thesis concludes that the cinema allows viewers to go through a journey of individuation similar to that undergone by the protagonists of the films. While traveling together with the characters in the space of the cinema, viewers are presented with ideologies and symbols from Buddhism and Taoism that have the potential to bring about transformations in their own minds. The cinema thus allows viewers to look at the characters on the screen with conscious identification or even judgment, and at the same time, allows the unconscious aspect to go through a journey of individuation together with the characters presented. DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (WKWSCI) 2014-11-04T02:15:18Z 2014-11-04T02:15:18Z 2014 2014 Thesis Low, Y. W. (2014). Religion in cinema : Buddhism and Taoism in popular films through a jungian lens. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/61827 10.32657/10356/61827 en Nanyang Technological University 233 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films
Low, Yuen Wei
Religion in cinema : Buddhism and Taoism in popular films through a jungian lens
description In this thesis, Buddhist and Taoist approaches to the development of “Self” and its relation to the human being’s conscious and unconscious minds, and the Jungian viewpoint of Self form an interdisciplinary framework to study the images and ideologies of these religions in popular films. Contents from both religions that are portrayed in popular films are discussed; symbols and philosophy from Buddhism and Taoism in relation to the Jungian perspective of archetypes and universal symbols within popular films are examined. This research is drawn from the fields of psychology and religion, and as such, contributes to an interdisciplinary outreach of research in film studies. It examines Buddhism and Taoism in a selection of five popular films, two of which are produced by Hollywood, while the remaining three are Chinese-language productions. Textual analysis through a Jungian perspective is carried out on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) directed by Ang Lee, The Karate Kid (2010) directed by Harald Zwart, The Promise (2005) directed by Chen Kaige, Seven Years in Tibet (1997) directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and Hero (2002) directed by Zhang Yimou. The thesis concludes that the cinema allows viewers to go through a journey of individuation similar to that undergone by the protagonists of the films. While traveling together with the characters in the space of the cinema, viewers are presented with ideologies and symbols from Buddhism and Taoism that have the potential to bring about transformations in their own minds. The cinema thus allows viewers to look at the characters on the screen with conscious identification or even judgment, and at the same time, allows the unconscious aspect to go through a journey of individuation together with the characters presented.
author2 Hao Xiaoming
author_facet Hao Xiaoming
Low, Yuen Wei
format Theses and Dissertations
author Low, Yuen Wei
author_sort Low, Yuen Wei
title Religion in cinema : Buddhism and Taoism in popular films through a jungian lens
title_short Religion in cinema : Buddhism and Taoism in popular films through a jungian lens
title_full Religion in cinema : Buddhism and Taoism in popular films through a jungian lens
title_fullStr Religion in cinema : Buddhism and Taoism in popular films through a jungian lens
title_full_unstemmed Religion in cinema : Buddhism and Taoism in popular films through a jungian lens
title_sort religion in cinema : buddhism and taoism in popular films through a jungian lens
publishDate 2014
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/61827
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