TY - JOUR

T1 - Born Again Heathenism

T2 - Enchanted worlds on film

AU - Grodal, Torben Kragh

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - The article discusses films with fantastic elements using evolutionary psychology. The fascination with the fantastic on film is a by-product of different evolutionary mental adaptations, like the interest in causality with the purpose of control that create interest in fantastic violation of naturalist expectations;  the horror fear of being preyed upon by powerful agents (animals or other humans) and the fear of contamination from dead bodies; and the need to enforce moral supervision and submission to powerful others to enhance group cohesion, and these functions get a powerful emphasis by invention of supernatural agents. The prominence of supernaturalism in media is not necessarily linked to an increase in religious interest vis à vis science but could also be caused by a diminished 'heresy control' allowing media to exploit a range of innate dispositions of being intrigued by different supernatural phenomena that might be called 'heathen' because it often reuses all kinds of folk superstitions.

AB - The article discusses films with fantastic elements using evolutionary psychology. The fascination with the fantastic on film is a by-product of different evolutionary mental adaptations, like the interest in causality with the purpose of control that create interest in fantastic violation of naturalist expectations;  the horror fear of being preyed upon by powerful agents (animals or other humans) and the fear of contamination from dead bodies; and the need to enforce moral supervision and submission to powerful others to enhance group cohesion, and these functions get a powerful emphasis by invention of supernatural agents. The prominence of supernaturalism in media is not necessarily linked to an increase in religious interest vis à vis science but could also be caused by a diminished 'heresy control' allowing media to exploit a range of innate dispositions of being intrigued by different supernatural phenomena that might be called 'heathen' because it often reuses all kinds of folk superstitions.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - evolutionary theory

KW - supernaturalism

KW - enchantment

KW - film melodrama

KW - fantasy films

KW - horror films

M3 - Journal article

VL - 6

SP - 45

EP - 58

JO - Nordic Journal of Media Studies

JF - Nordic Journal of Media Studies

SN - 1601-829X

ER -