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Book Review: "Silver Screen Buddha: Buddhism in Asian and Western Film," by Sharon A. Suh |
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| Author |
MacWilliams, Mark
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| Source |
Religious Studies Review
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| Volume | v.42 n.2 |
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| Date | 2016.06.22 |
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| Pages | 138 - 139 |
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| Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
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| Publisher Url |
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/
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| Location | Oxford, UK [牛津, 英國] |
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| Content type | 期刊論文=Journal Article; 書評=Book Review |
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| Language | 英文=English |
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| Note | Silver Screen Buddha: Buddhism in Asian and Western Film. By Sharon A. Suh. Bloomsbury Academic, March 26, 2015. 232 pages. ISBN-10: 1441105360 ISBN-13: 978-1441105363 |
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| Abstract | I first was attracted to this book when searching for a good textbook for my course on religion and film. And while it certainly can be used this way, this text offers much more; it is a sophisticated critique of how Buddhism is “re‐presented” in popular world films. What are film‐mediated images of Buddhism like and how do they effect and reflect the tradition itself? While at first I was disappointed that some of my favorite Buddhist films (such as The Harp of Burma, Ugetsu, and The Little Buddha) were neglected, I realize that the author has simply chosen other key films to develop her argument. The book opens with a useful introduction where she defines her terms clearly: “Buddhist film” as a genre has a complex, polyvalent set of features. But her book does not remain at the level of dry morphology. It offers a trenchant critique of the genre she identifies; such films often offer a constrictive spiritual vision of Buddhism by exclusively focusing on the meditating monk as the main character. These films also “exoticize Buddhists as fundamentally different from other humans,” valorizing the ascetic monk over the laity, meditation and monasticism over other forms of Buddhist practice, male over female Buddhists, and so on—all bundled together within a racist, Orientalist vision of Buddhism. Here the author's desire is to re‐imagine Buddhism beyond the hackneyed pop cultural image, which, indeed, some of her films can also do occasionally. What can be revealed from what typical Buddhist film images obscure? In particular, can these films also be like sutras, reimagining and representing Buddhism with more active and positive images of women, images that can transcend the female stereotype of the temptress who destroys male liberation by shackling them to samsara? Although the book could explore Japanese Buddhist films in far more detail, it still offers a stimulating and thoughtful analysis well worth reading. |
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| ISSN | 0319485X (P); 17480922 (E) |
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| DOI | 10.1111/rsr.12508 |
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| Hits | 96 |
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| Created date | 2017.04.12 |
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| Modified date | 2019.11.25 |
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