2022 | 2
Recent Submissions
- Journal Issue
- Review
- ReviewBook Review. Stephanie Pridgeon, Revolutionary VisionsVohnsen, Mirna (2022)
- ArticleEditorial. Teaching with Short FilmsKnauss, Stefanie; Mäder, Marie-Therese (2022)
- ArticleExperiencing Responsibility: A Phenomenological Approach to the Teaching of Media EthicsMäder, Marie-Therese (2022)One central concept in media ethics – and more broadly, in the field of applied ethics in general– is “responsibility”. The contribution asks how can the term “responsibility” productively be considered in the class room? Since responsibility is always tied to agents, their actions and the consequences of these actions, the agents involved in the spaces of production, representation and consumption are identified. The phenomenological method of “lived experience” on which I draw as a pedagogical framework offers a particularly fruitful approach to put responsibility into practice. The framework puts the students’ viewing experience at the center of the considerations. In the second part of the contribution the considerations are discussed in the context of the short documentary 4.1 Miles (Daphne Matziaraki, GR/US 2016, 22 minutes). The film deals with the refugee crisis on the Greek island Lesbos, following the captain of a coast guard ship with his crew.
- ReviewFilm Festival Review. 22nd Nippon Connection 2022: Embracing the Stories of YouthLiefert, Ferdinand (2022)
- ArticleFlipping (and Giving) the Script: Using Short Films in Religion ExamsDerry, Ken (2022)For many years now I have put a question on the final exam in various religion courses that asks students to apply ideas from the course to a short film screened during the exam. This is a film we have not watched or discussed before, so it is essentially new data for the class. In this article I discuss some of the challenges I encountered when I began using short films in exams and how I resolved them. I also discuss the many advantages of this approach, some of which I had anticipated (or at least hoped for), while others surprised me. These surprises include congruencies between using short films in exams and principles of trauma-informed pedagogy. The article includes specific examples from three courses of exam questions and films, and answers that three students provided.
- ArticleHow to Find Meaning through Short Film Storytelling. A ResponsePaganini, Claudia (2022)
- ReviewManga Review. Yūji Kaku, Jigokuraku / Hell’s ParadiseGrilz, Katharina-Maria (2022)
- ReviewMusic Review. Billie Eilish, Happier Than EverMerkert, Katharina Luise (2022)
- ArticleTeaching Religion and Gender with THE COHEN’S WIFE (IL 2000)Knauss, Stefanie (2022)In this contribution, I reflect on my experiences with teaching the short film THE COHEN'S (ESHET KOHEN, Nava Nussan Heifetz, IL 2000, 23 min.) to critically analyze the constructedness of media as well as of gender and religious identities, and their mutual, complex relationships. I briefly present the context in which I teach with this film, discuss my choice of it as a “teaching partner”, and the pedagogical approaches and tools I use to work with it in the classroom, before elaborating on some details of what the film teaches my students. I conclude with some ideas for future changes when teaching with THE COHEN'S WIFE, based on my experiences so far.
- ArticleTheories of Religion Easily Introduced with Bruno Bozzetto’s A LIFE IN A TIN (IT 1967)Pezzoli-Olgiati, Daria (2022)A short animation film from the Sixties facilitates the access to theories of religion that react and conceptualise the changes of a decade that has largely influeced the way, we think of religion and the study of religion today.
- Article“Short Film Is Where Innovative Storytelling Is Born” Using the Science Fiction Short Film in the Religious Studies and Sociology ClassroomOrnella, Alexander Darius (2022)“Short film is where innovative storytelling is born” – the website shortoftheweek.com, a curated short film website, boldly and proudly declares. Such a bold and proud statement draws attention because short films lead a Cinderella existence: too often neglected, ignored, or not taken seriously, yet immensely rich, rewarding, and provocative. Their length but also their rich opportunities for engagement and immersion make short film an ideal conversation partner in the religious studies and the sociology classroom. The speculative fiction short, the science fiction short, and the documentary short are particularly able to document, address, visualize – and thus render visible – structures and hierarchies of power, financial and economic interest, gender, or resource distribution and the fears and anxieties about what it means to be human. This contribution demonstrates that shorts, in particular science fiction shorts, can act as conversation partners in the religious studies and sociology classroom, even if the student-audience might not be particular avid science fiction film fans. In this contribution, I make references to three shorts, RISE (David Karlak, USA 2016), CODE 8 (Jeff Chan, USA/Canada 2016), BLACK SHEEP (Ed Perkins, UK 2018), and will provide a more in-depth discussion of the use of RISE in the classroom.