Cinema and Religion Essay -- Religious Religion Culture Essays

Cinema and Religion Entertainment media are contributing to the emergence of new and novel forms of spiritual and religious phenomena in our contemporary (and past) culture. The essays in this issue explore diverse facets of the morphing relationship between entertainment, spirituality and culture. Over the last century, the cinema has played a vital role in the expression and representation of Judeo-Christian religious practices and beliefs. Early cinema told the life of Christ in the Passion Play and Cecil B DeMille produced two spectacular versions of The Ten Commandments in 1923 and 1956. While cinema represented religious themes and figures, religious institutions also shaped the emergence of this moving image technology and its role within Western society; the wondrous moving image provided by the cinematrographe could open the viewer’s eyes to the work of God or, somewhat paradoxically, do the Devil's work by deceiving them with its illusionary spectacles. Two significant changes in this relationship between cinema and religion are occurring in our Post-millennial era. Firstly, the cinema is now participant in a complex audio-visual and textual culture that includes both established and emerging media – a Multiverse created from computer games, comic books, television programs, theme parks, virtual reality technologies and other new media. Secondly, traditional forms of religious practices and spiritual beliefs are shifting from their familiar locations in the church and community. Once, the cinema was seen as analogous to the Church because it provided a sacred space of worship. Now, however, the theme park, the computer game and cyberspace are the realms for an emerging Post-Millennial spirituality. We need to... ...rent media that shape and inform the fantastic and the spiritual in Western culture: from Francis I, C16th King of France who, reflecting a nascent version of the media star, constructed himself as a figure of worship; to the landscapes of Stephen King story worlds that present the reader with uncanny, Gothic spaces and narrative scenarios that question the ‘normality’ of everyday reality; to the transcendental pursuits of the magician and magic lantern technology; or the worship-like experiences inherent to fan cultures. We are living in an era where cultural identities, beliefs, forms of religious community, models of consciousness and what it means to be human are being transfigured. In the light of this transfiguration this issue of Refractory considers the relationship between media, religion, and the fantastic; and the every day and the sacred and the uncanny.

Jane Eyre Character Essay

â€Å"The humblest individual exerts some influence, either for good or evil, upon others† said Henry Ward Beecher. Everyone has some type of influence on another, whether it is big or small, good or bad. For example, outside influences, such as other characters, can affect a characters actions and thoughts in either a positive or negative way. In the novel Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte, many characters influenced Jane, but Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers had the most influence on her personality. Although the two men were very different from one another, they both had an impact on Jane’s transformation into a strong and independent women thought their actions, love, and influence. Mr. Rochester differs greatly with St. John though their outlook on religious and moral beliefs. â€Å"I advise you to live sinless; and I wish you to die tranquil.† (p.398) Mr. Rochester is portrayed as a sinner because he did not inform Jane that he was still married to Bertha Mason. His desire to keep Jane at Thornfield as his mistress displayed his lack of morality. While Mr. Rochester is passionate and desperate, St. John is cold and determined. St. John’s somber personality is made clear when he said, â€Å"I want a wife: the sole helpmeet I can influence efficiently in life and retain absolutely till death. (p.506) St. John, unlike Mr. Rochester, followed religious principles and moral values. These two men are both the most influential males in her life, but they are both so different from one another. Although Mr. Rochester and St. John had very different beliefs, they both brought out changes in Jane’s character. If Jane were to accept Rochester’s first proposal, she would had sacrificed her dignity for love. â€Å"I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.† (p.398) Jane does not accept his proposal in marriage in order to preserve her self-esteem. This struggle with Rochester farther developed her morality and self-worth. In refusing his marriage proposal because he has a wife, she became morally superior to him. Jane was able to keep her moral value through sacrificing her feelings for what was right. St. John longed to marry Jane and invited her to accompany him on his missionary trip to India. He says, â€Å"God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife. It is not personal, but mental endowments they have given you: you are formed for labor, not for love.† (p.502) St. John thought Jane would make a great missionary’s wife because of her morals. Jane replies saying, â€Å" Oh! I will give my heart to God, you do not want it.† (p.507) As the quote shows, if Jane was to accept St. John’s proposal, she knew she would be settling on someone that did not truly love her, nor did she truly love in return. Though this experience Jane realizes love can on be found in a relationship with mutual feelings. Therefore Jane denies St. Johns love for her and his marriage proposal. Through Jane’s obstacles throughout the novel, she overcame her weaknesses. The influences from both Mr. Rochester and St. John shaped her character, strengthened her moral principles, and taught her to make the right choices. With each situation Jane made the right decisions. The two men, although completely diverse from one another, they both played a vital role in Jane’s growth as a character.

Internet The Eyes Of A Router - 3830 Words

From The Eyes of a Router Router devices have become popular in the networking world today. Routers are devices that forward data packets along networks. Often, they are used for small to medium networks, and overall prove efficient for users. Routers are now considered vital to the internet as well as many home and small business networks. The Internet is one of the 20th century s best developments because it allows people worldwide to conduct e-mails and communicate back and forth in a timely manner, view web pages, make purchases, view videos, have live chat, and keep up to date with certain people on web pages such as Facebook. The internet is now considered a means of communication. Many people are all so accustomed to a computer†¦show more content†¦When one of the graphic designers sends a file to the other, the very large files will exhaust most of the network s volume, making the network operate very slowly for other users on the network. One reason that a single intensive user can affect an entire network deals with the way Ethernet works. Each packet of information sent from a computer is seen by all other computers on the local network. Each computer then has to verify the packet and decides whether it was intended for its address. This helps keep the straightforward idea of the network simple, but has performance issues as the size network size or level of network activity increases. To keep the graphic designers’ work from interfering with the production line computers, the business sets up two separate networks. One network is for the animators and other for the production line assistants. A router links these two networks and connects both networks to the Internet. The router is the only device which views every message sent by any computer on any network within a company. When one of the graphic designers sends a large file to the other graphic designer, the router checks the recipient s address and keeps the traffic on the graphic designer’s netw ork. But when a graphic designer sends a message to the production assistant’s e-mail in the other network, the router recognizes the recipient s address and forwards the message between the two networks to the correct