I am an English tutor, and every year I have a lesson teaching students about the Renaissance, even though none of their HSC texts are within that context. But why, my class asks; “Well,” I tell them, “because English tends to love two things—Latin and the Bible.” Even for someone who is not religious, religion, and Christian concepts of religion, whether you are overtly aware of it or not, is everywhere in wider pop culture. And its effect, likewise, permeates like ripples in a pond.
In a modern age where concepts such as “digital religion… (with) the progressive blurring of the line of online and offline religiosity” (Evolvi, 2021) exists, the landscape of modern media inevitably has to contend with the traditional physicality of practicing one’s connection to God—a practice that has existed for centuries. Modern religion is a constantly evolving concept, always adapting and changing. Just as grand narratives and scriptures require continual reinterpretation to resonate with contemporary contexts and audiences, discussions about religion and God must also evolve to fit an increasingly digitalised environment. In this, while pop culture has always been important for religious discussion—from the works of Tabrizi to Shakespeare to Dante—in a modern digital environment it is taking on an increasingly significant new set of roles. These works not only foster discussion and insight but also act as a medium in creating “comprehension, understanding and experience” particularly for the “personal religion” (Hosseini, 2022, pp.64) of not just believers, but a wider secular audience.
Gints Zilbalodis’ animated adventure film ‘Flow’ (2024) shows how a pop culture text, while not inherently religious in messaging and nature, can contain traces of religious motifs and concepts that can subtly influence a wide demographic, religious or irreligious.. Winning the 2024 Oscar for ‘Best Animated Feature’, ‘Flow’ shows how modern popular culture, adapting to a mass audience that is no longer primarily religious, can still include subtle references to religious themes, iconography and myth to prompt discussion and reflection. Despite popular culture’s large impact however, it is not entirely capable of replacing ‘the pulpit’, which is defined as traditional and often physical religious practice and communication vessels. Most religions that believe in a central ‘God’ figure are not only steeped in tradition, but are often intensely hierarchical, advocating not only a personal, but a significant institutional aspect of religion. As such, authority and tradition are foundational facets of these religious practices, with Mark Weber’s framework of religious authority leaving little in the way for pop culture’s potential effects of religious discussion or socialisation. While the power that pop culture has in supporting existing religious structures is immense, although subtle, pop culture is not a replacement, or any more effective than the pulpit’s supporting power. Moreover, as we tread toward an increasingly digitised world, new dimensions of possibilities open themselves to this power.
As time and technology passes, religion and religious institutions have been quick on the uptake to utilise social media, films and other aspects of pop culture for organization, connection and promotion. While the concept of ‘pop culture’ is a relatively modern phenomenon, the spread and discussion of religion has historically been greatly assisted by cultural mass media. Dante’s ‘Inferno’ (1321) with its depiction of Hell and religious themes and concepts, for example, utilises drama and “imaginative dilemmas…(to) appeal to the moral imagination of most readers”. This allowed the text to appeal not only to a broad and often increasingly irreligious Renaissance audience, but also to “address universally important issues in religion” (Henshaw, 2024), fostering ongoing religious discussion centuries later as Dante’s work continues to resonate with modern audiences across generations. However, in a religiously apathetic contemporary world, works like Dante have fallen by the wayside in exchange for “different forms of media…(to prompt) critical religious thought” (Robinson, 2014), especially as religion has lost a significant amount of its societal and political influence in a postmodernist, secular world. As religion has been “progressively pushed out of public life and confined to the private sphere” (Chandler, 2016), religious media followed suit, often manifesting in more muted or subtle integration. The Flood in the film, in its allusion to Noah’s Ark, subtly employs Judeo-Christian imagery and mythos to engage a broad audience. The lack of dialogue in film allows it to “move like a whispered fable”, engaging an atmosphere “of stillness where God’s voice can often be heard most clearly (Psalm 8)” (Gonsalves, 2025). The figure of the white secretary bird in the film, acting as a protector figure for black cat, the story’s protagonist, earns hostility from its own flock for its acts of compassion. In spite of this, it continues to defend the cat, eventually having to fight its own kind and losing, ascending upward to the sky at the story’s climax as we watch from the cat’s perspective. This symbolic allusion to Christ, along with the other “religious symbols and themes in movies…(invites audiences) to reflect on spiritual themes and religious culture” (Linze and Desa, 2024), especially for audiences that may be irreligious. In a post-Enlightenment and secular modern world, ‘the pulpit’ is oftentimes a daunting and uninviting way to prompt religious discussion and reflection for wider audiences, necessitating popular culture, whether this comes in the form of texts, social media, film or other media to bridge the gap between religion and a wider contemporary audience.
In addition to appealing to a wider, predominantly secular world, popular culture is also becoming increasingly invaluable for prompting discussion and reflection for believers. Religious institutions and organisations have been quick to adapt through social media accounts, digital access to scripture, and the funding of media and cultural projects: religion and the idea of ‘God’ have permeated the wider landscape of modern culture consumed by their followers. As we have moved from the state-scale religion of Classical and Medieval times to “an extensive deinstitutionalization of religion”, modern religion is now heavily focused on the individual, emphasising one’s personal connection to God, with “religion…as a freely chosen stance…[and a] paradigm of individual appropriation” (Scheer, 2022). This evolving, postmodern dimension of religion moves away from the institutional, now instead relying on one’s personal interpretation and connection that can be influenced by one’s exposure to pop culture. Cloete (2017) argues that pop culture’s capability of meaning-making for individual identity is now significant for religious experience “outside the traditional and institutional setting of religious practice”, having an advantage over ‘the pulpit’ in better depicting “lived religion…[the] phenomena of ordinary life”. This is incredibly evident in ‘Flow’, where the lack of dialogue and “ethereal and immersive” atmosphere relies heavily on audience inference and individual meaning-making, where “the silent whispers of the earth tell stories beyond words” (Shafni, 2025). The subtle allusion and imagery of Christian symbolism and themes of survival, community and transformation/rebirth is not only relatable to audiences of believers, but important for their personal meaning-making and influencing individual connection to God. With an increasing deinstitutionalisation of religion in a modern age, “popular culture as a possible source for religious experience becomes paramount” (Cloete, 2017) in filling this void. It holds growing significance for believers, particularly younger generations, who are often more attuned to the media and popular culture around them than to traditional institutions or the authority of ‘the pulpit’. Even films like ‘Flow’, which are subtly rather than overtly religious in nature, can be critical to a believer’s dimension of ‘personal religion’. Possamai (2005) goes a step further from Cloete’s (2017) idea of popular culture as a dimension of ‘lived religious experience’, arguing that even films like ‘Flow’ that are not specifically religious in nature can function as a simulacrum, or a de-facto “hyper-real” conception of religion: in essence, it is a “simulacrum of a religion partly created out of popular culture which provides inspiration for believers/consumers”, becoming effectively indiscernible from any other area or means of religious expression. Naturally, this dimension of the argument is inherently subjective: individuals cannot be fairly homogenised as a collective. How can you appraise one’s connection to God? Religious discussion and reflection prompted by pop culture cannot be quantitatively measured; regardless of this, for believers pop culture’s impact is undoubtable: from the poems of Tabrizi to the animation of ‘Flow’, culture has always served as a facet that functions as a dimension of ‘lived’ religion, allowing an individual to reflect and discuss their connection to their religion.
Despite the increasing importance of pop culture in religious communication, it is still incapable of replacing 'the pulpit’. Monotheistic religions, namely the primary three of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are inherently very hierarchical, relying heavily on institutional structure and authority to function despite the deterioration of the collective element of religion in more modern, secular times. For example, the community aspect of religion, embodied most readily by religious leaders such as rabbis, priests and imams, are critical for the practice of religion at a family or community level that cannot be easily reached by popular culture. Weber’s tripartite framework of religious authority, for instance, only allows popular culture to fall under the classification of ‘charismatic authority’, while rational-legal authority and traditional authority (Vejar, 2023), fulfilled by institutional religion, remain untouchable and irreplaceable by facets of pop culture. Just like how Dante’s ‘Inferno’ can be an artefact of religious culture yet cannot exist as authoritative treatise or scripture, modern pop culture has not and cannot override institutional authority regardless of its evolution and changes. This is a view that is corroborated by the Dicastery of Communication (2002), that notes that “the virtual reality of cyberspace cannot substitute for real interpersonal community, the incarnational reality of the sacraments and the liturgy, or the immediate and direct proclamation of the gospel”. This caution can also be seen as extending to the modern realm of popular culture, which is increasingly shaped by digital media. As such, regardless of pop culture’s increasing influence, its inability to break into specific, more officiated sectors of religion mean that ‘the pulpit’—at least for the foreseeable future—cannot be fully replaced for religious communication, discussion and reflection.
References:
Campbell, H. A. (2022). Digital creatives and the rethinking of religious authority. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003045625
Chandler, S. (2016). Private and public religion. In Vocabulary for the Study of Religion Online. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004249707_vsr_COM_00000033.
Cloete, A. L. (2017). Film as medium for meaning making: A practical theological reflection. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 73(4). https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i4.4753
Evolvi, G. (2021). Religion, new media, and digital culture. In Oxford Encyclopedia of Religion and the Arts in the West: Renaissance to the Present (pp. 1–18). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.917
Gonsalves, B. L. (2025, February 27). Christian symbolism and the flow of the Spirit. Omnes Magazine. https://www.omnesmag.com/en/news/christian-symbolism-flow/
Henshaw, A. J. (2024). Exploring the depths of Dante’s Inferno: Its theological roots and modern reception. https://www.academia.edu/120629560/Title_Exploring_the_Depths_of_Dantes_Inferno_Its_Theological_Roots_and_Modern_Reception
Hosseini, S. H. (2008). Religion and media: Religious media or media religion? Theoretical studies. Journal of Media and Religion, 7(1), 56–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348420701838350
Linze, L., & Desa, M. A. M. (2024). Exploring the intersection of religion and cinema: Trends and reflections in contemporary film culture. Journal of Ecohumanism, 3(4), 225–235. https://doi.org/10.62754/joe.v3i4.3500
Pontifical Council for Social Communications. (2002). Ethics in internet. The Vatican. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_ethics-internet_en.html
Possamai, A. (2005). Religion and popular culture: A hyper-real testament. Peter Lang.
Research Starters – EBSCO. (n.d.). Max Weber: Religious ideals and capitalist society. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/religion-and-philosophy/max-weber-religious-ideals-and-capitalist-society
Robinson, K. N. (2014). Dante’s Inferno in the modern world: A study of religiosity in a world of religious apathy [Honors thesis, Colby College]. https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/honorstheses/730/
Scheer, M. (2022). Culture and religion: Remarks on an indeterminate relationship. Religion and Society: Advances in Research, 13(1), 111–125. https://doi.org/10.3167/arrs.2022.130107
Shafni, S. (2025, March 8). Flow 2024: A mesmerizing animated journey through nature, friendship, and spiritual reflection. https://lifestylewithsarah.com/2025/03/08/flow-2024-a-mesmerizing-animated-journey-through-nature-friendship-and-spiritual-reflection/
-