The Gnostic Trope in Contemporary Media Culture

The article applies the Gnostic trope as the most suitable tool for analyzing religious components of contemporary mass culture. Christopher Partridge’s theory of occulture serves as a methodological framework. The Gnostic trope includes the following elements: the idea that our world is a prison created for the torment of man; that it is controlled by the evil Creator of this world — the demiurge; that some exceptional persons, the Gnostics, are able to unravel the deceptive nature of reality and offer gnosis — a kind of extra‑rational experience. The way this trope functions is illustrated by examples of the writers such as L. Darell, F. Dick, and V. Pelevin; a rapper Oxymiron; the movies such as “The Matrix” or “The Truman Show”. The article offers an explanation of the popularity of the Gnostic trope. Сurrent global trends and the spread of digital culture led to general uncertainty and disorientation, and people feel imprisoned in a sort of panopticon, as described by Michel Foucault. The Gnostic trope means an attempt to personalize this impersonal power by identifying it with the demiurge.

Peter Weir and the Piano Concerto

Australian director Peter Weir’s career has spanned five decades, working in both Hollywood and Australia. One typical trait in his films is the subject matter that typically falls outside of Hollywood spectacle, choosing to focus on characters and introspection. Another trait is the use of preexisting art music in nearly all of his films. Weir’s use of art music spans more than 400 years, drawing on a wide range of composers such as Albinoni, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Vaughan Williams, Glass, and Górecki, among others. One genre, the piano concerto, is used particularly effectively in Weir’s films. The second movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor,” is used in two films, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Dead Poets Society. In The Truman Show, the second movement of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is used, in each case sounding a “voice of innocence” to the respective characters, a wordless voice that the characters are unable to articulate themselves. This musical voice protests the repressive structures that these characters confront, and the play between soloist and orchestra in these slow movements serves as a particularly apt musical metaphor for their highly regimented lives and their dreams of escaping the control.

El cine tiene la razón. La educación editada

Acercar el cine a la academia y la academia al cine es una de las principales pretensiones de la trilogía que en adelante se presenta, la cual nace a partir del entretejido entre tres reconocidas películas de culto y tres grandes razones que demuestran porque la sinrazón de la razón no escapa a la educación; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind develará la rebeldía de la emoción, Dogville, los siete excesos más pecaminosas de la conducta humana, y, finalmente, The Truman Show, producirá aquellos sesgos cognitivos que distorsionan aquellas certezas disfrazadas de verdades. En la escena final, la gran pantalla se proyecta como magia, que de tocar a los textos académicos, les permitiría ganar espectadores, más allá, de sus mismos creadores.