Music and Religion

A Paper by M. Rinn

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Sound is a key part of modern film. The most important aspect of sound in film is not the addition of things such as sound effects, but dialogue and music They help to narrate the film and to increase depth and emotional impact of scenes, making it integral to modern film. Movies such as Jesus Camp (Grady and Ewing, 2006), Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus (Douglas 2003) and Children of Men (Cuaron 2006) use music that is a part of the scene itself rather than simply an overlay. Using music in this way highlights the mood of the scene to make the film seem more realistic. In addition, in these films the music helps to illustrate the fact that music and religion and intimately connected because of the feelings about religion that music can express.

The documentary Jesus Camp follows several young children through their lives attending a Pentecostal evangelical summer camp and offers a rare look at the highly political and controversial side of evangelical Christianity. In the footage from the camp, it is demonstrated that music is a key aspect of these services and to the religion as a whole. This connection is shown almost immediately, as the film cuts from the radio host discussing the evangelical movement to a scene inside of the Christ Triumphant Church where the Children’s Pray Conference is occurring. This service begins with an extremely dramatic set up, threatening voice over and then cuts to several children dancing along to Christian music. The music itself is a fusion of rock and electronica, and the children dance along to it in what could be considereda militaristic manner. This dance is lead by children in costumes, of which military face paint and fatigues are included. Parents are shown clapping along with the song and smiling along, pleased with the performance. The contents of the song are repetitive, discussing the eminent coming of Christ in the current generation and need to spread the evangelical message.

This scene relies primarily on the music to drive it and creates an impact of shock for most viewers not well informed about the beliefs and services of the Pentecostal evangelical movement. Media is a key element of most evangelical movements, primarily because of how adaptable the beliefs are and the fact various forms of media make it far easier to spread evangelical beliefs. This is discussed at length in the article Where We Are and How We Got Here written by Mark A. Noll for Christianity Today. Noll discusses how evangelical Christianity has gotten to the point where it is today and how media has played an influence. He discusses groups such as the Jesus People who embraced popular music to reach out to “young people disillusioned by the corporate rat race of the Vietnam War” (Noll 47) in order to save souls. Such things became more prominent as evangelicals embraced popular culture and used it to their own ends, finding television to be helpful as well as becoming involved with politics. The sequence from Jesus Camp demonstrates the amount of progress that has been made. There is now modern music focused on the evangelical message and uses evangelical language in regards to the rapture and that there is actually a strong market. It also shows how close the two are in so much as that modern music is now used in church, where as in “the 1920s to 1950s American evangelicals had tended to view popular culture as an enemy” (Noll 47).

In Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus, Andrew Douglas offers another view of evangelical religion, turning his focus on the Deep South. The film shares some of the shocking qualities of Jesus Camp. However, where Jesus Camp is shocking because of the ideas espoused by the children and their views of religion, Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus is shocking because of the pitiful living conditions of the people who live in this area of the south. In addition, music is used much more often here than in Jesus Camp and is shown being performed live by musicians such as Jim White and Johnny Dowd in order to add to the stories about life in religion in the south.

While there are many scenes that involve music in Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus, there are two scenes that make the connection between religion and music extremely powerful. The first scene is the radio sermon. During this scene an old woman, perhaps in her late 70s or early 80s, speaks into a radio station’s microphone and delivers a heart felt plea to those listening to convert to Christianity out of fear of Hellfire and damnation. It is a change of pace from the country music used in the rest of the film, but there is a musical quality to the woman’s voice because of the immense amount of emotion and belief behind her words. The fact that she is on the radio also connects to how evangelical Christianity relies on various forms of media to spread it’s message, as is demonstrated through Christian rock and dancing in Jesus Camp.

Several scenes after the radio sermon, the cameras cut to inside of a church where indistinguishable country music can be heard as the congregation dances during services. While it is not the frenzied, militaristic dancing as seen in Jesus Camp, it again shows how music is used in evangelical services in order to create a sense of movement and life in the congregation. Moreover, this demonstrates the particular flavour of Southern religion. The church isn’t a mega church with elaborate pews and impressive sound equipment, it’s a humble building with a few rows of pews and instruments on stage. This connects to the statement made by Jim White in between the radio sermon scene and this and the radio station sermon scene in which he states that people have terrible lives in these areas, and turn towards their religion in order to help them get through. The sequence in side of the church shows a real sense of community, which was far less predominant in Jesus Camp. In addition, there is group singing instead of reliance on speakers and pre-recorded music, which continues to add to the idea of community and reliance on one another and God due to social status. To these people God is a very real figure in their lives, and music and community help to express that reality.

Children of Men departs from documentary and instead focuses on a futuristic dystopia where the human race is doomed to extinction due to female infertility. Most people, at this point, “apathetic creature[s] with no great passion or commitment…[and] seek only comfort and security” (Zizek 87.) The main character, Theo (Clive Owen), is seemingly no different until he is kidnapped by a terrorist organization who is helping to spirit a pregnant African woman (Clare-Hope Ashitey) to a group known as the Human Project who are dedicated to curing infertility. Here, music is interjected naturally, seemingly part of the background. However, this background music makes subtle additions to the film’s commentary on present society and religion.

The most prominent scene where background music plays a key role occurs early on in the film, where Theo is visiting Jasper (Michael Caine). As the two talk about politics and Jasper cracks jokes about the Human Project, Theo mentions that his ears are ringing from earlier, where he was near a bomb that went off Jasper laughs and proceeds to change the music from very peaceful and relaxing music to what seems like just noise It is utterly disjointed, composed primarily of a record being scratched and an unknown voice making primordial screams. While it is only a part of the scene for several moments, the noise offers commentary on the world in which Theo inhabits. Apathy, crystallized in Theo’s character, has led to a complete break down of society where most people live dealing with the fact that they are the last generation of humans and feel that there is no value in life. This reduces them to a state where the only way to express what they feel is through noise posing as music, letting out primordial screams of frustration out of fear of everything that humanity has worked towards and tried to accomplish has been for nothing. Unlike the music used in the churches of Jesus Camp and Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus, there is nothing worth praising or being happy about. Life has no goals or purpose, and even religion cannot help to understand what has happened.

This apathy and frustration is reiterated several scenes later as Theo goes to visit his cousin Nigel (Danny Huston). On the car ride to visit him, King Crimson’s “Court of the Crimson King” is heard on the stereo. As the car moves along crowded London streets and past a throng of religious believers performing a public demonstration in which the infertility plague is viewed as the wrath of God, the music continues to echo an extremely apathetic, broken and bizarre world. This is reinforced when the song concludes and Nigel walks on screen, revealing Michelangelo’s David sculpture to be partially destroyed, with the left leg being supported by a steel rod because the original marble had been destroyed. Nigel mentions that the Pieta was also smashed, emphasizing how humanity has become careless and perhaps even angry at their inability to survive. The mention of the destroyed Pieta indicates a rejection of religion. But Court of the Crimson King’s lyrics do suggest an air of hope and wonder still remaining in the world despite everything seeming to be at an end.

Religion and the use of music can mean many things, but more often than anything else it is a means of spreading religious messages and themes of hope and deep seeded belief. The music in Jesus Camp emphasizes the evangelical message whereas in Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus and Children of Men, the music helps to narrate the lives of those who live in a seemingly hopeless world by offering a means of channeling that hopelessness and trying to continue on with life. Music can mean all things to all people, just as religion can. It is no surprise then, that the two are so often used in conjunction with each other.