Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts

Master of the Mysteries: The Life of Manly Palmer Hall Review

Master of the Mysteries: The Life of Manly Palmer Hall
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Master of the Mysteries: The Life of Manly Palmer Hall ReviewThis is a deliciously gossipy & insightful book on one of the major figures in 20th century American esotericism. Manly P. Hall was America's answer to Madame Blavatsky and served to pioneer and document the rise of southern California as an occult Mecca. His Philosophical Research Society was a major influence through its publications in educating and influencing many to the cross cultural currents of comparative myth and religion. The cast of characters he encountered serves as a who's who of the American metaphysical underground between the 1920's through 1950's. Both noble and pathetic at times like occultism itself, this book never ceases to fascinate. A careful reading will also reveal several typos and errors that better editing should have caught.
Mr. Sahagun is a remarkable writer who I hope to read more of. His research is impeccable and many of those who played a role in Hall's life opened their hearts, minds and doors to him in documenting this larger than life figure both literally and figuratively. Knowing some of the people in this book that knew Hall and associated with him over the years this biography rings true from the stories I have heard from those that knew the "Maestro".
On another level, fans of Kenneth Anger's classic "Hollywood Babylon" will find much to keep them amused, the occult Hollywood subculture is here with such revelations as Rhonda Fleming's alternative health regime, Glenn Ford's belief in reincarnation and astrology (did you know he had a deformed spine that resulted in the need for special camera angles in the films he appeared in?), John Denver's unrequited attempt to become Hall's disciple, to Gloria Swanson's (the real Norma Desmond) finding a crashed flying saucer in the Hollywood hills? Culminating like a Greek tragedy in the mysterious death of this master of the mysteries- will linger in the mind of the reader long after the last page is read.Master of the Mysteries: The Life of Manly Palmer Hall Overview
"And for anyone wishing to learn more about Manly Hall, Louis Sahagun's gripping biography is an insightful look at the life and times of one of the last century's most important mystical thinkers."—The Fortean Times

In 1919, a Canadian teenager with a sixth grade education arrived by train to the wilds of Los Angeles. Within a decade he had transformed himself into a world-renowned occult scholar.

His name was Manly Palmer Hall, author of the landmark publication The Secret Teachings of All Ages, regarded as the best introduction to Western esoteric ideas, and the founder of the Philosophical Research Society, which houses one of the biggest occult libraries in the United States.

Hall became the twentieth century's most prolific writer and speaker on ancient philosophies, mysticism, and magic, and a confidant of Hollywood celebrities and politicians. In 1990, he died—some say he was strangled—in what remains an open-ended Hollywood murder mystery worthy of Raymond Chandler.

Master of The Mysteries: The Life of Manly Palmer Hall offers an intimate portrait of this elusive luminary who set as his life's work the daunting task of reconciling scientific reason with ancient wisdom—issues that seekers and scientists still struggle with today.

Author Louis Sahagun draws from Hall's massive archives and a wealth of interviews to provide an insider's view of the birth of a metaphysical subculture that continues to have a profound influence on movies, television, music, books, art, and thought.


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Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen Review

Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen
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Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen ReviewDemonic creatures, the undead, and evil are all vaguely religious concepts. "Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen" is a discussion of the strong presence of religion in horror films. Saying that horror films tend to prey on the religious sense that exists in most people, even those who are not exactly weekly church goers, author Douglas Cowan discusses many examples of popular movies and the most common fears used in these films. "Sacred Terror" is a key volume to better understanding horror and why it's frightening.
Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen OverviewSacred Terror examines the religious elements lurking in horror films. It answers a simple but profound question: When there are so many other scary things around, why is religion so often used to tell a scary story? In this lucid, provocative book, Douglas Cowan argues that horror films are opportune vehicles for externalizing the fears that lie inside our religious selves: of evil; of the flesh; of sacred places; of a change in the sacred order; of the supernatural gone out of control; of death, dying badly, or not remaining dead; of fanaticism; and of the power--and the powerlessness--of religion.

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Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith, Film, and Culture Review

Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith, Film, and Culture
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Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith, Film, and Culture ReviewBehind the Screen is a collection of essays written by Hollywood writers and producers longing to integrate their faith and work. Their years of experience shine through in thought provoking essays regarding culture, faith and the entertainment industry. These are people that know of what they speak, and those that 1) wish to make a living in the entertainment industry and 2) think they know how to *fix* Hollywood need to read this book and take its words to heart.
I initially read this book in one sitting, but there is too much contained in these pages for just a one-time read. While I'm not a screenwriter and won't be moving to Hollywood, this book resonates with me as a writer, for much of its wisdom is applicable to writing as a whole, and life in general.
The essays in this book are thought-provoking and in a few instances, have even challenged me---something a book rarely does for me these days. Behind the Screen is a book that will remain on my shelves for a long time to come.Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith, Film, and Culture Overview

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The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust Review

The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust
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The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust ReviewIt sounds like a good premise if a bit of a tall order, examine Disney's animated features for the role that their themes have played in the moral and spiritual development of generations of children. The idea being that these themes originated in the minds of Walt Disney and his successors, who were not entirely motivated by a bottom line, but had certain political and social agendas to advance.
Unfortunately, Mark I. Pinsky, the religion reporter for The Orlando Sentinel, conducts his analysis of the Disney animation world like a reporter running late for a press run deadline. Mostly this consists of a cursory viewing of 31 Disney films, plucking out a few nuggets of content that support his theme, and creating short chapters speculating on the symbolism within each film.
At the end is a non-philosophical analysis of the 1990's boycott by the Southern Baptist Contention.
Shortly into the book it becomes obvious that Pinsky has made little if any attempt to examine the source material for each film, attributing each relevant element to Disney rather than to the source material from which each screenplay was adapted.
This becomes especially glaring when a reader is familiar with the source material. A more useful approach would have been to compare and contrast the original material with its adaptation; identifying which elements Disney elected to keep, to cut, and to alter. It is likely that what was excluded is just as important as what was included in understanding the motivational forces at work within the Disney empire.
For example, the animated film "Alice in Wonderland" (1951) was more inspired by than adapted from the original Lewis Carroll story. Little more than title, some character names, and the basic premise (little heroine dreaming about going down a rabbit hole into a strange wonderland) was utilized by the Disney movie. That most viewer's believe it was a closer adaptation stems from the use of John Tenniel's original prints as inspiration for the character sketches.
Pinsky details several scenes in the film that were not even part of Carroll's story, then states: "For all the complaints about Disney's tinkering with and sanding down the edges of fairy tales, "Alice in Wonderland" demonstrates the pitfalls of fidelity to the original, of illustrating a classic story rather than transforming it and making it your own". As anyone even vaguely familiar with the book and the film know, on this point Pinsky is totally incorrect. Only someone unfamiliar with Carroll's original could have reached such a faulty conclusion. The failure (be it error or laziness) to do basic research in this case should set off reader alarm bells regarding most of the other assertions Pinsky makes in this book. No doubt some are valid but readers would do well to not accept any of Pinsky's points at face value.
Which doesn't mean that Pinsky's ideas are totally useless. They introduce fresh ways to examine many elements within Disney's features and might actually provide some useful insights to anyone motivated to aggressively explore his cursory assertions.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust Overview

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