When the doll played by Margot Robbie in the movie Barbie reaches Mattel heaven (i.e. the executive suite), she encounters an enactment of the patriarchy led by the CEO (Will Ferrell), who wants to lead her back to her shackles. . Faced with the protagonist’s hesitation, in the midst of an existential crisis, when confronted with the values of a world alien to her pink paradise, she begins to shout at them: “Go back to your box, Jezebel!” The allusion to the queen of Israel from the Bible, thrown from the top of her palace by her own servants for being despotic and permissive, an archetype of a godless whore, reveals one of the many Judeo-Christian sub-readings that appear in the blockbuster of the year.
In Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb plays God, with all the moral dilemmas that his creation brings with it. In Everything at Once Everywhere, Michelle Yeoh’s character receives a revelation through a bagel that contains the entire universe and offers an answer to the drama of her useless life: “Nothing matters.” The latest Oscar winner’s multiverse is dominated by Taoist, Confucian, and driven by Buddhist references. We can find a theistic drive, a non-theistic drive, and everything in between in almost every film or series.
From the strict censorship of the Hays Code of the 1930s to the current ideological crisis, Hollywood (understood as the epicenter of entertainment culture) has exerted a strong influence on our worldview. Manufacturing companies today boast diversity, equity, and inclusion departments that embrace more egalitarian criteria both within the company and in the cultural products they produce. Perhaps religion is the only facet that remains to be revealed. To raise awareness of their representation, promote religious pluralism and a more empathetic view of spirituality on screen, DeeperDive was created, a course module prepared at Harvard Divinity School and aimed at screenwriters, content creators and media professionals directed.
Her sponsor, Salvadoran Mario Cader-Frech, worked for 20 years at what is now known as Paramount Global, the conglomerate that includes Paramount Pictures, CBS and MTV. As Vice President of Social Responsibility, his job was to improve the content of messages with social impact. “When I reached retirement age, I realized that we had never broached the subject of religion,” he says via Zoom. “In the US there is an unwritten pact in the media to remain secular. However, this is not the reality, because spiritual ideology permeates everything.” His project on religious literacy for Hollywood includes a strategy manual for tackling it from the explicit to the subtext.
According to the latest Pew Research study, there are about 4,200 religions, although more than 75% of the world’s population is divided between Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. With the DeeperDive project they want to dilute the barriers between cultural narratives and promote interreligious dialogue. “In Hollywood we continue to reflect role models from 50 years ago: the same priest, rabbi or, unfortunately, the evil Muslim terrorist. I was part of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, where we combat homophobia in the media. Until 30 years ago, the image of gays was rather negative and lurid. Today you ask a child what a gay person is like and they won’t give you a concrete description. Our goal is that in 30 years when you ask a young person what a Christian, a Muslim or a Jew is, there will no longer be such concrete definitions.”
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