Arcade Fire's Parodic Bible
Arcade Fire’s 2006 album Neon Bible is currently one of the darlings of the entertainment world (winning a Juno in 2008 in the category Alternative Album of the Year). The album includes a surprisingly harsh critique of contemporary North American church life, though this critique does not extend to...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Saskatchewan
[2009]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
Year: 2009, Volume: 21, Issue: 4 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Arcade Fire’s 2006 album Neon Bible is currently one of the darlings of the entertainment world (winning a Juno in 2008 in the category Alternative Album of the Year). The album includes a surprisingly harsh critique of contemporary North American church life, though this critique does not extend to Christianity itself. What is interesting about Arcade Fire’s approach to religious subject matter is the way they construct their commentary on church and society. Neon Bible is a clever parody of Christianity, one that recalls Mikhail Bakhtin’s descriptions of medieval carnivals (Rabelais and His World), in that carnivals introduce “a second world and a second life outside officialdom” (6). The band does this very thing, ridiculing the official ecclesial authority by usurping its rightful place, in effect, through an unofficial, popular culture medium. They not only recorded their album in the sacred space of a church (literally), they even call the finished product a “bible.” These comments on Arcade Fire’s use of parody in Neon Bible also draw on Linda Hutcheon’s definitions of the term. Estimant insuffisante la distinction entre patrimoine matériel et immatériel, Olivier Bauer privilégie le concept de « matrimoine », une approche du patrimoine qui permet de valoriser le rôle des femmes, de reconnaître la valeur patrimoniale des biens indivis et de prendre en compte les mondes imaginaires qui leur sont associés. Jetant un regard neuf sur le Québec, il montre la place fondamentale que l'hostie y occupe, le mot fait partie du vocabulaire religieux, mais il est aussi le juron favori des Québécois ; la chose est consommée par les catholiques romains au moment de l'Eucharistie, mais elle est aussi vendue dans les magasins pour être grignotée comme goûter. Par conséquent, il propose d'inscrire l'hostie au matrimoine du Québec. Il énumère trois avantages qu'il y aurait à matrimonialiser l'hostie, reconnaître le rôle fondamental des femmes dans l'Eucharistie, refuser que l'Église catholique romaine s'attribue le monopole de l'hostie, prendre en compte le monde imaginaire du corps du Christ. |
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| ISSN: | 1703-289X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.21.suppl_1.002 |