Gnostic Vision in Film

[Dave Monroe]

Wilson, Erik G.  Secret Cinema: Gnostic Vision
   in Film.  New York: Continuum, 2006.

In the last twenty years or so, numerous mainstream
movies have drawn from the ideas and images of ancient
thought to address the collapse of appearance and
reality. These films have consistently featured the
Gnostic currents that emerged from Plato: not only
Gnosticism itself but also Cabbala and alchemy.
Despite important differences, these traditions have
provided filmmakers with ready-made ruminations on the
relationship between surface and depth as well as with
engaging plot lines and striking scenes. In films like
The Matrix (1999) and The Truman Show (1998), Gnostic
myths have offered speculations on the real as well as
conspiracy theories. The Cabbalistic motif of
golem-making has provided such movies as A.I. (2001)
and Blade Runner (1982) with mediations on the human
and with parables of machines yearning for life.
Pictures like Dead Man (1996) and Altered States
(1980) have drawn on alchemical symbols to explore the
possibilities of transmutation and to feature stories
of the dead rising to life.

Recent commercial Gnostic films are meditations on the
conundrums of the post-modern age and the timeless
soul. These pictures constitute archetypal sites for
sacred contemplation. They create spaces akin to the
caves of Eleusis or Lascaux, chambers where habits are
annihilated and the ego is shattered. Maybe this
spiritual attraction is the secret reason behind the
recent abundance of Gnostic films. If so, then the
dream factory is betraying its purpose. It is negating
its deceptions and sales in the name of a bewildering
reality that cannot be found.

Secret Cinema explores these possibilities through
engaging in three related activities. One, the book
establishes the theoretical foundations and
implications of the genre of Gnostic cinema. It
develops these theoretical elements in the contexts of
Gnosticism and the esoteric traditions emerging from
it, Cabbala and alchemy. Two, in undertaking this
work, Wilson considers several collateral issues. The
book discusses the functions of genre, the
relationships between cinema and psychology, the
connections between the moving image and sacred power,
the role of the cinematographic apparatus, and the
romance of film. Three, the book is a broad meditation
on the seductions of cinema. It is attuned to material
attractions of the movies, those gorgeous lights and
lurid shadows, but also the film’s spiritual
invitations, the gaps between the pictures, the empty
spaces at the heart of life.

http://www.continuumbooks.com/Books/detail.aspx?ReturnURL=/Search/default.aspx&CountryID=2&ImprintID=2&BookID=125016

http://www.continuumbooks.com/Books/detail.aspx?ReturnURL=/Search/default.aspx&CountryID=2&ImprintID=2&BookID=125015


 
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