The Sublime Cosmic Abyss and the Bruno Exemplum in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
This article investigates the persuasive practice involved in the sublime depiction of space and the execution of Giordano Bruno in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014). After a brief discussion of the aesthetic of the sublime, I explore how the writers and producers of Cosmos, first, attempt to evoke...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2020]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
Year: 2020, Volume: 32, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-14 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bruno, Giordano 1548-1600
/ Execution
/ Cosmos, a spacetime odyssey
/ The Sublime
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| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AG Religious life; material religion CB Christian life; spirituality KDB Roman Catholic Church |
| Further subjects: | B
Depictions of the Counter-Reformation in Popular Culture
B Scientism B the sublime B Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey B Rhetorical criticism B Giordano Bruno |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article investigates the persuasive practice involved in the sublime depiction of space and the execution of Giordano Bruno in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014). After a brief discussion of the aesthetic of the sublime, I explore how the writers and producers of Cosmos, first, attempt to evoke an experience of the sublime and, second, adapt the trial and execution of Giordano Bruno in order to redirect the emotional arousal of the sublime experience, dividing the complex aesthetic experience into its positive and negative valences—awe and fear; they claim the former for scientism and project the latter onto non-scientific epistemologies, which, in this case, are represented by the Catholic Church. Ultimately, such a persuasive practice aims to regulate the boundaries of scientific identity and secure public patronage of scientific institutions; however, it risks alienating crucial audiences in a time when anti-intellectualism is flourishing. |
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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.2017-0072 |