Death at the Movies: Hollywood's Guide to the Hereafter

by Lyn Davis Genelli, Tom Davis Genelli

It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Resurrection (1980), Poltergeist (1982), Beetlejuice (1988), Ghost (1990), Groundhog Day (1993), The Sixth Sense (1999) -- these are only a few of the influential movies in recent decades dealing with the afterlife. But beyond entertainment, do they mean anything? The authors of this wise and well-informed guide believe so. They explore how popular motion pictures, from Outward Bound (1930) to Hereafter , play a perhaps unconscious role in guiding humanity toward its evolutionary comprehension of the meaning and purpose of death. They draw on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Buddhism, and depth psychology to review some of the most spiritually powerful films ever made. Death is, say the authors, at once the most immediate locked door and the ultimate frontier, a staggering paradox that invites us to search for deeper understanding based upon a level of consciousness beyond thought. After reading this book, you'll never view Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz the same way again.

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2013

Reviews

[MKF]

Death at the Movies is a book discussing how films can teach us about the Hereafter. Lyn and Tom Genelli explores different movies and points out how they relate to different Buddhist beliefs and ideas.
I do think that it is interesting but I also think that the same movies can be used described almost any religious beliefs and ideas. This book is good for those interested in Buddhism though.

[Coyle]

"With that said, Death at the Movies is a great place to begin for those interested in communicating well with Buddhists. It provides a taste of the sorts of things that Buddhists think about and will help us engage in conversation from the perspective of what they are interested in, rather than beginning from our own cultural biases. (Of course, we do not stop at such a beginning point—we obviously need to end any such discussion with an explanation of how Christianity alone can satisfy.) Consider the following passage drawn from the discussion of Ghost (52-53):

Most of us agree that love is the highest fulfillment of human life. Whether a spiritual believer or not, we know it intuitively and are drawn to love as a plant is to light. We sense that love is our ultimate purpose—the fullest expression of humanness. Love allows us to transcend the lonely prison of individual existence into a greater, warmer, and sweeter existence of unity with another—’souls yearning to fully meet other souls’ could be a spiritual way to put it. Religious traditions tell us that through love we achieve transcendence. Only love has the motivational power to carry us beyond the world of separateness into the realms of unity. Love, the Bible tells us, is stronger than death. Neither goodwill nor good ideas in themselves can achieve much unless energized by the motivating force of love.

If this is typical of Buddhist thought (and so far as I can tell with my limited background, it seems to be), then any evangelism that begins with iPads, nuclear reactors, or whatever the latest gadget may be and ends with “Jesus is my buddy and wants to be yours too” is going to fall flat. Love, unity, transcendence, and overcoming death are the tools we need to be using—every one of which is sufficiently provided for in the Bible. We can talk about the love of God for His enemies on display at the cross; the unity of the church in Christ despite all our cultural, economic, and personal differences; the transcendent God who became flesh and walked among us; and the victory over death we receive through faith in the Gospel."

Read the rest here:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/schaeffe...