Faithscapes, Femalescapes and Townscapes Interpreting the Bible in Film

Athalya Brenner-Idan provides a cutting-edge study of biblical influences on three films and one television series, namely: Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927), Pleasantville (Gary Ross, 1998), Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003), and the television series Joan of Arcadia (Barbara Hall, TV series for NBC, 2003-2005).

Brenner-Idan examines and reads these four 'visual texts' together and against each other in order to show what is common between them and to show how biblical tropes and themes are used in the telling of these stories. Brenner-Idan identifies several unifying themes, which form the basis of her discussion: dystopia/utopia; issues of location, place, and space; the dominance of female characters; the presence of a key male-female partnership; the importance of knowledge, the process of its acquisition, maintenance, influence and use or abuse. Brenner-Idan reads these elements alongside, and into, the relevant biblical texts examining encounters with the divine in the Bible, social conventions in the Bible and biblical ideologies of knowledge and power.

Athalya Brenner-Idan is Professor Emerita of HB/OT the Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and currently teaches Biblical Studies in the Department of Hebrew Culture Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel. In addition, she is Extraordinary Professor at the Department of OT/NT, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.This Year (2014) she serves as the Vice President of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Preface and Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction: Why These Films and What For?
Chapter 1: Visualities and Discontent
Chapter 2: Changing Places
Chapter 3: Characters and their Doubles
Chapter 4: Knowledge, Experience and Power
Chapter 5: Encounters with the Divine
Chapter 6: Social Conventions and Biblical Law and Order
Chapter 7: Ideologies between Kitsch and Irony
Chapter 8: Further Reflections on How It Is Done: Ways and Means for Referencing the Bible
Chapter 9: Concluding Remarks: The Bible as Popularized and Updated

Bibliography
Index of Ancient Sources