Religious identities in fiction and emotional engagement
Media research lately displays existing ambivalence towards the phenomenon of religion. In media debates general anti-religious secularistic discourses are detectable as well as an antimuslim discourses. Fictional characters involved in religious activities are often depicted through stereotypical perceptions of religious identities and especially so characters of Muslim tradition. Scriptwriters and filmmakers who struggle to depict a wide range of Muslim identities in contemporary society must deal with a long tradition of anti-Arab sentiments in Hollywood movies, expressed as persisting notions of Muslims as perceived threats to modern society and liberal values, often in line with the infamous idea of a clash between civilizations. In this presentation I discuss how fiction formats are used to display a wider range of religious identities, through movies such as On God’s and Men (2010) or Baghdad in My Shadow (2019). Through audiovisual storytelling, theories of mediatization are illustrated, as well as used as theoretical concepts for analysis of fiction as a vehicle for amplification of emotions on heated topics.