Kingdom of Heaven and its ideological message

Yiou Liu

Abstract


As a Crusades epic, the film Kingdom of Heaven revives the 12th century history in the critical city of Jerusalem. The story surrounds a French blacksmith Balian who defends Jerusalem and contends with the Islamic leader Saladin who attempts to seize back the holy city from the Christians. Through the special themes in region, religion and war, Kingdom of Heaven seems to indicate the conflicts between the East and the West. Furthermore, the outbreaks of 9/11 and the Iraq War definitely make this film’s release more controversial. Kingdom of Heaven, being a film, an essential medium of mass communication, the style in which it expresses its story and ideology is worth considering in depth. By exploring this Hollywood film which lacks of the typical Hollywood style, this paper discusses the significance in making Kingdom of Heaven in the wake of 9/11 and how the critical debate surrounding the film is a reflection of contemporary ideologies.

Keywords


Kingdom of Heaven, Crusades, religion, orientalism, ideology

Full Text:

PDF

References


Justin, W. (1994) High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood. Austin: University of Texas,

Monroe, C. (2005) Kingdom of Heaven: a spiritual journey away from God and toward Humanism. Christian spotlight on entertainment. Last accessed: 16 May, 2010

http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2005/kingdomofheaven2005-interview.html

Tremblay, R. (2009) America’s New Crusade: Imperial U.S. vs Political Islam. Global Research.ca: Centre for Research on Globalization. Last accessed: 16 May, 2010

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16645

Maltby, R. (1995) Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.

Michael, R. & Kellner, D. (1988) Camera Politica: The Politics and Ideology of Contemporary Hollywood Film. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Said, E. (1978) Orientalism. London: Penguin Books.

Shaheen, J. G. (2003) Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. New York & Northampton: Olive Branch Press.

Hilborn, D. (2005) Review of Kingdom of Heaven. Evangelical Alliance. Last accessed: 16 May, 2010

http://www.eauk.org/theology/filmreviews/

Brosnan, B. (2005) Kingdom of Heaven. The Wire. Last accessed: 16 May, 2010

http://www.wirenh.com/Film/Film_reviews/Kingdom_of_Heaven_20050511456.html

Said, E. (1993) Culture and Imperialism. London: Chatto and Windus.

Louis, G. (1999) Understanding Movies. London: Prentice-Hall.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2017.158

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Copyright (c) 2017 Yiou Liu

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This journal is published by the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press.

 

ISSN 2159-2411 (print) 2158-8724 (online)