title: Pandora’s Box: Religion, Ecology and Popular Culture
metadata.name: dc.contributor.author
metadata.value: Mikhelson, Olga K.
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.accessioned
metadata.value: 2017-01-05T16:39:52Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.available
metadata.value: 2017-01-05T16:39:52Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.issued
metadata.value: 2016-12
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.citation
metadata.value: Mikhelson O. K. Pandora’s Box: Religion, Ecology and Popular Culture. Vestnik SPbSU. Series 17. Philosophy. Conflict studies. Culture studies. Religious studies, 2016, issue 4, pp. 91–97.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.identifier.other
metadata.value: 10.21638/11701/spbu17.2016.410
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.uri
metadata.value: http://hdl.handle.net/11701/5883
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.description.abstract
metadata.value: The paper is devoted to the link between the ecology of religion and popular culture. Recently these fields have become topical for both contemporary cultural discourse and religious studies while environmentalism itself has often been considered as a form of implicit religion. J. Cameron’s film “Avatar” being an exemplarily work of popular culture raising environmental issues is in the main focus of the paper. The ‘Na’vi’ culture and religion invented for the purposes of the film are interpreted in tight connection to Pandora’s nature. The methodological approach underling the importance of investigating archaic religions in their coexistence with nature was developed by Å. Hultkrantz whose theory became the basis of the ecology of religion, however here it is applied to the study of a product of popular culture. In “Avatar” one can see a range of religious beliefs starting with a Hindu term used for the title and finishing with “animism” and “pantheism”. These religious ideas gave rise to sharp criticism from some Catholics and Protestants who blamed the film for promoting worship of nature turning it into divinity and ecology into religion. On the other hand, Christianity itself has been criticized for its neglect of nature resulting from its fight with paganism. So, in some sense “Avatar” “promoting”  an absolutely different attitude to nature returns us to the pre-Christian epoch. The religious beliefs of the Na’vi can be taken as an example of “dark green religion” and the main hero resembles contemporary radical environmentalists. “Avatar” definitely romanticizes the so called “noble savage” but it is hard to deny that in the field of religion, ecology and popular culture Cameron’s work is a milestone. Pandora invented by Cameron has opened its box to make us think more carefully of religion and ecology as the means of popular culture which are very easy to understand. Refs 24.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.language.iso
metadata.value: ru
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.publisher
metadata.value: St Petersburg State University
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.relation.ispartofseries
metadata.value: Vestnik of St Petersburg University. Series 17. Philosophy. Conflict Studies. Culture Studies. Religious Studies;Issue 4
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: ecology of religion
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: popular culture
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: environmentalism
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: “Avatar”
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.title
metadata.value: Pandora’s Box: Religion, Ecology and Popular Culture
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.type
metadata.value: Article
metadata.lang: en_GB
resources.filename: 10-Mikhelson(eng).pdf
resources.url: https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/5883/1/10-Mikhelson%28eng%29.pdf
resources.format: Adobe PDF
resources.size: 135,78 kB