Buddhism and Cinema (Prolegomena)

Krzysztof Loska

kwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Jagiellonian University (Poland)

Abstract

The basic aim of the article is the analysis of the ways in which Buddhism is presented in feature films. Starting with simplified ideas about Buddhism, which dominated in the American cinema in the beginning of the previous century, Loska focuses on the way Asian artists - especially South Korean ones - used the audiovisual medium in order to show Buddhism as a way of life, and not just a meditative experience. In his analysis of the work of Bae Yong-kyun and Im Kwon-taek the author points to the critical potential contained within them and the possibility of a different view of a religious tradition, which arose out of the need to combine the sacral and secular dimensions, spirituality with physicality.


Keywords:

Buddhism, Bae Yong-kyun, Im Kwon-taek

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Published
2016-12-31

Cited by

Loska, K. (2016) “Buddhism and Cinema (Prolegomena)”, Kwartalnik Filmowy, (96), pp. 41–51. doi: 10.36744/kf.2137.

Authors

Krzysztof Loska 
kwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Jagiellonian University Poland

Profesor Uniwersytetu Jagielloń­skiego, dyrektor Instytutu Sztuk Audiowizualnych tamże; zajmuje się filmem japońskim i kulturą współ­czesną; autor ponad stu publikacji naukowych, w tym jedenastu książek, m.in.: Dziedzictwo McLuhana. Między nowoczesnością a ponowoczesnością (2001), Hitchcock - autor wśród gatunków (2002), David Cronenberg: rozpad ciała, rozpad gatunku (2003, wspólnie z Andrzejem Pitrusem), Encyklopedia filmu science fiction (2004), Tożsamość i media. O filmach Atoma Egoyana (2006), Poetyka filmu japońskiego (2009), Kenji Mizoguchi i wyobraźnia melodramatyczna (2012), Nowy film japoński (2013).



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