Abstract:

An increasingly popular and vocal group of “New Atheists” has promulgated the idea that religion is an inherently violent phenomenon that the world would be better off without. But is this vision of an irreligious utopia desirable or attainable without further acts of aggression? Would ridding the planet of religion really result in more peaceful societies? Or does violence cut across the secular-religious divide, a partition more permeable than those who have constructed it are willing to admit? These questions inform an exploration of cinematic conflicts between various secularists and Christians in which juvenile males are depicted as both victims and perpetrators of violence. Resisting the lure of Hollywood spectacle, I will analyze ten lesser-known movies from world cinema on the topics of the Spanish Civil War (Butterfly, Black Bread), Catholic-run “reformatories” (Song for a Raggy Boy) and schools for the blind (Red Like the Sky), Cold War politics in South America (Machuca, Clandestine Childhood), Eastern-bloc “orphanages” for the children of political dissidents (Abandoned, The Great Water) and secular dystopias (Partisan, The White King). I will show how hegemonic masculinity and violence are linked in each film and how these socially-constructed identities for boys are simultaneously challenged and reproduced. I will then suggest ways in which juvenile masculinities might be re-imagined as part of the solution to reducing violence in the world, a task that will involve the cooperation of religious and non-religious peace-makers.