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Biblical Reading Outside Source

      This semester I also took a class on religion and politics in America. This source gave me a lot of information I already knew because of that class, and the movie I picked was strongly influenced by the class as well. I wanted to write about modern religion because the discussion in my political science class was so interesting to me, that I wanted an opportunity to expand on it. In the source, it was said that Biblical literalism has gone down incredibly in the early 2000s, but to expand on that, my other class taught me that secularism is now the largest identification in the United States. While our media and other people seem to talk nonstop about religion, I have learned that most people fall into the middle, where they are either not religious or are religious but are pretty private about it. I think that these statistics are important to remember. Whenever we get overwhelmed and think about the polarizing viewpoints in America, we need to remember that the v...
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Midrash-Outside Source

 My midrash source for my essay was very similar to the source that was available in class, but it was a little bit easier for me to understand which is why I picked this one. I used all of the evidence showing how Evan Almighty was an example of midrash and how it connects to modern audiences by showing a modernized Biblical story. Something I found super interesting in the essay was that Midrash is actually primarily Western. The idea was actually to explore culture, mostly Biblical, without becoming completely absorbed in the practice. This feature of midrash did not fit well into my essay but I thought that it was incredibly interesting, and thinking of midrash as a type of summary is a completely new way to think about it that I have never thought of.  Source:  Midrash and Indeterminacy, David Stern, Critical Inquiry 
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Grand Theft Auto V

 John Willis's "Ain't the American Dream Grand:" Satirical Play in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V explores Rockstar's depiction of a crime-ridden America to create a satirical play to expose the underbelly of American society and that is the result of the systemic failures within all levels of American government. Despite "Grand Theft Auto V" being a different medium for storytelling, a video game, it portrays similar violence also seen Scarface. Likewise, the game highlights the desire to escape poverty using crime. 
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The Fountain

 Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain was hard to watch. The idea of a person wanting another the importance of living life is not new, but it can be fun. I do think The Fountain was capable of doing this; however, the science in the film is a nightmare. Arguably, there is relatively small population that would notice the research process in biotech and possible mistreatment of primates. Regardless, Aronofsky made a dizzying film on a dying wife's desire for her husband to take advantage of his life and being alive using a story that she wrote. 
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Profane Parables

 Profane Parables: Film and the American Dream     In this article, Joel Mayward reviews the book Profane Parables: Film and the American Dream by Matthew S. Rindge. This review suggests that Rindge explores the nature of the American Dream and the use of parable within secular American film to critique "the American ethos" (2016, 1). By defining parable as "narratives of disorientation, stories of subversion, in which conventional and cherished worldviews are demolished" (Mayward 2016, 1).  Modern films critiquing the American Dream and the, supposed, cookie cutter American experience, the auteurs are pulling back the veil on the deeply ingrained concepts of the American experience and distorting American exceptionalism.  The cyclical nature of American exceptionalism and the American Dream reinforces "the gospel of success" (Mayward 2016, 2). The perceived significance of Americas as a safe haven that promotes a capitalistic analysis of success.
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The Fountain- Emily McGovern

Had I not had the knowledge I gained from this class, the movie The Fountain would have been completely and utterly lost on me (now it was only kind of lost on me). However, I was able to pick out many religious themes, especially Buddhism. Though the switching between timelines was confusing at times, I was able to understand that it was the same characters in each universe living out similar stories. I soon realized that it was Izzi telling the stories. Through her story telling she was trying to tell her husband Tom to let go as she was dying. However, Tom was not ready to let his beloved wife die. He spent his whole career operating on monkeys in hopes to find a cure for Izzi’s brain disease. It is not until she finally dies that he understands that it was time all along for him to let go.
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Dungeon and Dragons- Emily McGovern

I have never had the experience of going off campus for a class before. That was until I went to the movie theater for this class. It’s funny, AMC was the movie theater I always went to as a child, but it felt different this time. It felt more to me like a college town theater than my hometown one. The ticket was cheaper than I expected, only eleven dollars. But the water I got at the snack bar was much more expensive than expected, six dollars and eleven cents for one bottle of water! The movie was late, and I started to get tired while watching. However, the action-packed scenes kept me wide awake with my eyes glued to the scene. The story of a father trying to regain the trust of his daughter warmed my heart while the intense sword-fighting scenes made it race. I had no idea what Dungeons and Dragons were before I watched the film, it piqued my interest and made me want to play the game. I am glad I had the opportunity to see a movie in the theaters with my classmates.
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