{"title":"Developing religious literacy through popular culture fandom: engaging religious issues in <i>Fleabag</i> fan fiction","authors":"Andrew Crome","doi":"10.1080/13537903.2023.2247699","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article examines 120 fan-authored stories focusing on the character of the “Hot Priest” in television comedy Fleabag (BBC/Amazon 2016-2019), examining how fans use their fandom to explore religious issues and develop religious and theological literacy. This challenges the “banality” of media representations of religion suggested by Stig Hjarvard’s mediatisation thesis through examining fan responses to a “secular” television show. As they engage through fandom, fan authors participate in reflection on contemporary Catholic issues, discuss God’s character, and interpretations of scripture. This is a form of “serious play” that allows for detailed meditation on these subjects. Although fans’ engagement with religious issues is not a reversal of the decline of religious affiliation in the West, it is a sign of the “new visibility of religion” in which examples of both “traditional” and new religion emerge in novel, and often unexpected, contexts.","PeriodicalId":45932,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2023.2247699","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article examines 120 fan-authored stories focusing on the character of the “Hot Priest” in television comedy Fleabag (BBC/Amazon 2016-2019), examining how fans use their fandom to explore religious issues and develop religious and theological literacy. This challenges the “banality” of media representations of religion suggested by Stig Hjarvard’s mediatisation thesis through examining fan responses to a “secular” television show. As they engage through fandom, fan authors participate in reflection on contemporary Catholic issues, discuss God’s character, and interpretations of scripture. This is a form of “serious play” that allows for detailed meditation on these subjects. Although fans’ engagement with religious issues is not a reversal of the decline of religious affiliation in the West, it is a sign of the “new visibility of religion” in which examples of both “traditional” and new religion emerge in novel, and often unexpected, contexts.
期刊介绍：
Journal of Contemporary Religion is an international peer reviewed journal. Its purpose is to both document and evaluate the anthropological, sociological, psychological, and philosophical aspects of emerging manifestations of religiosity in any part of the world—whether within innovative movements or mainstream institutions. The term ''religion'' in the title of this journal is understood to include contributions on spirituality. Moreover, as the journal title suggests, the focus is on contemporary issues. Therefore, the editors of Journal of Contemporary Religion welcome submissions which deal with: classical topics in the study of religion, such as secularisation and the vitality of religion or traditional sectarian movements; more recent developments in the study of religion, including religion and social problems, religion and the environment, religion and education, the transmission of religion, the materialisation and visualisation of religion in various forms, new forms of religious pluralism, the rise of new forms of religion and spirituality, religion and the Internet, religion and science, religion and globalisation, religion and the economy, etc. theoretical approaches to the study of religion; discussions of methods in relation to empirical research; qualitative and quantitative research and related issues. The Journal includes reviews of books which reflect the above themes.
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