RT Article
T1 Myth, Religion, and the Man Behind the Curtain
JF Journal of religion and popular culture
VO 26
IS 3
SP 275
OP 286
A1 Ostling, Michael
LA English
PB University of Saskatchewan
YR 2014
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1691061808
AB The Wizard of Oz exemplifies the "experience of order" some scholars have posited as the heart of both religion and film. But it also undermines the notion that such order requires a transcendent guarantee. Oz provides a vision of religion as no less powerful for having been unmasked as the product of interpersonal human collusion in illusion, thereby reversing the film's implicit critique of religion. The essay makes use of the motif of "the man behind the curtain" to explore and critique theories of myth and religion from Karl Marx to Russell McCutcheon, Sam Gill, and Jonathan Z. Smith.
K1 The Wizard of Oz
K1 Karl Marx
K1 Russell McCutcheon
K1 Jonathan Z. Smith
K1 Illusion
K1 Myth
K1 Religion
K1 Film
DO 10.3138/jrpc.26.3.275