All the Updates (amazing guest speakers)!
See you Tomorrow?
Welcome to The Empathetic Imagination! This newsletter was born out of my interest in the relationship between the arts and spiritual formation, particularly the cultivation of empathy (which also led to my book). In this weekly newsletter, we will look at the connections between art, theology, and the hard work of being a loving, truthful human being. Thank you to all who subscribe, especially those who have opted for a paid subscription. This helps me to continue to do this work! Along with writing on the arts and theology, I will be offering some (non-credit) go–at–your-own–pace courses on these topics for paid subscribers.
Hi, all!
I am so excited to have so many new subscribers! THANK YOU! Thanks especially for paid subscribers. It means so much to have my work valued via your financial pledge. This is also a great help as I have recently lost my tenured professor post because my position (and our Humanities major) was eliminated because of our university’s financial struggles. This is a TOUGH time for higher education, especially Christian higher education.
I am delighted to have the privilege of sending my writing directly into your inbox. What a gift to me! And I am super excited that some of you are joining me on this exploration of the relationship between film, theology, and philosophy. The first two weeks are free so you can sample it out! Starting week three, most posts will have a pay wall. But please stick around even if you are a free subscriber as there will be some free posts.
I hope to see you TOMORROW at 2 pm ET (Saturday, Feb. 24)! You can find all the info you need about how to join us for the discussion by scrolling down to the bottom of THIS POST. Remember that you can go at your own pace and just join when you can! These film class posts will be up for as long as substack lets me leave them up! They are resources that you can visit even a year from now (if you are a paid subscriber).
If you would really like to join the film class and do not have the funds right now, send me a message! I would be happy to give you a short-term free subscription. I am most excited to create a community around this discussion, and I do not want the lack of funds to block anyone from participating.
EXCITING UPDATE: DISCUSSION GUESTS!!
I am thrilled to announce that my list of expert participants is growing! I am still sending some emails out, but here is the list so far:
Dr. Cheryl Bridges Johns: author of the amazing Re-enchanting the Text
Dr. Jemar Tisby: author of multiple books, including the NYT bestselling The Color of Compromise, professor, and cohost of the fantastic Pass the Mic
Rev. Tyler Burns: president of The Witness: a Black Christian Collective, and cohost of Pass the Mic
Dr. Steven Garber: author of The Seamless Life: A Tapestry of Love and Learning, Worship and Work.
Jaap van Heusden: award winning, brilliant Dutch filmmaker
Dr. Joe Kickasola: Baylor University film professor and author of The Films of Krzysztof Kieslowski: The Liminal Image (this week’s guest—watch convo here).
Dr. Ruth Wienk: Lee University Assistant Professor of Sociology
Dr. Arlie Tagayuna: Lee University Associate Professor of Sociology
Prof. Jeffery Overstreet: film critic, novelist, and English professor at Seattle Professor University. He is also author of the wonderful Through a Screen Darkly.
**This list will probably grow, so keep checking back.**
If you are interested in any of the above books (or mine!), I highly recommend ordering from the world’s best independent bookshop, Hearts and Minds Books. Byron and Beth Borger are folks you want to know and to buy from!
MORE FILM CLASS INFO:
I am going to post the class description and schedule below for those who are new to my newsletter. Please note that I have made a few date/ film switches.
Class Description:
This class is for anyone who wants to learn to think more critically and empathetically about the products, questions, and philosophies arising in contemporary culture. You might not currently be a film lover–but this course is for anyone who loves stories. In it, you will be engaging questions about the meaning of life, the nature of reality, the complexity of the human experience, and the existence and character of God.
What is included:
For each new week of the course, I will be posting:
Information about the film, the director, and the context of the filmmaking
An optional reading
A video introducing the film and the philosophical concepts that are relevant to the film
A Zoom link for an optional online group discussion
A Recording of the group discussion
Schedule and film list:
**Most live discussions will happen on the Saturday of the same week (a few will need to be a different day).
Monday, Feb. 19: For the first week of class, we will watch and discuss the short film (52 minutes long) Dekalog One by Polish film master, Krzysztof Kieślowski.
Monday, Feb. 26: We will focus on a classic this week–Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 satirical film, Modern Times. The film viewing/ discussion will be coupled with a lecture on some of Karl Marx’s main ideas about the “alienation of the worker.”
Monday, March 4: The watching of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope will be paired with a lecture and discussion on Friedrich Nietzsche’s main ideas about power, survival, and lack of intrinsic value.
Monday, March 11: We will watch Terrence Malick’s gorgeous Days of Heaven alongside looking at Blaise Pascal’s understanding of the human condition (and multiple biblical texts).
Monday, March 18: This week’s film is Memento, director Christopher Nolan’s first major feature film. My lecture video will focus on theories of the nature of reality posed by Plato and Descartes, as well as a discussion of meaning and hermeneutics via Jacques Derrida.
Monday, March 25: We will watch documentary film Stories We Tell directed by Sarah Polley. This will be paired with a lecture on historian/critical theorist Hayden' White’s concepts of “metahistory.”
Monday, April 1: It’s time for another satire! This week we will focus on the blockbuster film Barbie directed by Greta Gerwig. We will be discussing the film via the lens provided byLaura Mulvey’s seminal essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.”
Monday, April 8: This week’s film, Crimes and Misdemeanors by Woody Allen, focuses on ethical questions in a world in which God is perceived as dead. We will look at Jean Paul Sartre’s Existentialism is a Humanism alongside the film.
Monday, April 15: Perhaps the most difficult film of the class, Fellini’s 8 1/2 is this week’s focus. Its’ abstract, surreal, gorgeous, and fascinating! We will discuss the film alongside some short readings from Freud.
Monday, April 22: This week’s film is one of the most famous works of “visual philosophy”–Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. We will discuss the film alongside readings from Sartre, Nietzsche, and the Bible.
Monday, April 29: Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run is great fun! This week, we will watch the film and discuss the notion of competing narratives in a postmodern context (with help from Jean Francois Lyotard).
Monday, May 6: This week’s film is the dystopian Children of Men, Alfonso Cuarón’s (loose!) remake of the P.D. James novel. We will discuss some of Slavoj Žižek’s ideas about capitalism and culture, as well as some of the biblical allusions in the film.
Monday, May 13: We will focus on questions of class and human communication when discussing Michael Haneke’s Code Unknown this week.
Monday, May 20: This week’s film is a modern classic, an explosive examination of different ways to approach, acknowledge, and attempt to eradicate systemic racism. Spike Lee’s brilliant Do the Right Thing will be discussed alongside readings from MLK and Malcolm X.
Monday, May 27: Our last film is mind-bending blockbusterEverything Everywhere All at Once directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. Our main focus will be art and empathy.
Thanks for reading!! Hope to see you on ZOOM!
Mary