West Side Story movie poster. Source: Amazon Prime Video West Side Story is a film that showcases the conflict and struggle that accompanies immigration, poverty, and the American dream. The main characters are from rival street gangs that, despite sharing several similarities, despise each other. They both come from poor backgrounds, are immigrants or the children…

  Catholicism, one of the world’s most well-known religions with its rich traditions and moral teachings, deeply influences the lives of millions worldwide. In the film “The Godfather,” directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Catholicism is tied within the very makeup of the story. The film contrasts the religious rituals and ethical principles of the Catholic faith…

The movie También la lluvia is a movie in Spanish about a film crew that documents their movie’s production about Christopher Columbus’s first arrival in the Caribbean, meanwhile the locals at their film site in Cochabamba, Bolivia, face civil unrest. The film crew hires many locals to work as extras in the scenes and laborers…

The 2017 Disney Pixar film Coco surrounds the Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). This movie follows the main character Miguel on a journey to the Land of the Dead where he must fight alongside his deceased relatives to make it back to the land of the living before sunrise…

Political resistance, lust, religious trauma, hellfire!  In a Disney musical?  The 1996 movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame is arguably Disney’s darkest musical adaptation as it follows the grim themes of Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel by the same name. The story begins in Paris, with the murder of an anonymous Romani woman committed by Judge…

(The nun: source IMDB) Horror movies often employ religious elements, whether to make the circumstance more realistic or to add an element of mystery, the horror genre has tapped into the religious realm since the Supreme Court granted freedom to Hollywood producers to portray religion as they pleased. A prime example of this practice and…

By Reagan Woods Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross), a 2014 film directed by Dietrich Brüggeman and written by Anna Brüggeman, tells the story of 14-year-old Maria as she goes through her own fourteen stages of the cross. Told in only fourteen shots, this film tells the struggles of the teenager as she grows up in…

In “American Horror Story: Asylum,” the portrayal of the Catholic Church highlights issues of corruption and abuse of power within religious institutions. The Catholic Church’s teachings on sexuality and morality are portrayed as repressive and hypocritical throughout the season. Patients and staff members struggle with their sexual desires and identities, which often conflict with the…

Estelle Metz Introduction: Throughout the history of the Catholic Church, science and Catholicism have had a complex relationship. From the famous arrest of Galileo by the Catholic Church to Saint Thomas Aquinas and other Catholic scientists, the Church has both supported and hindered scientific research. When looking at the modern scientific world, nuclear research and…

The Lost Boys, a cult classic from the 80s, revolves around the struggles of adolescents in a new town and connects to the subcultures of vampires and Catholicism. The film subtly critiques the societal shift from traditional family structures, offering a complex portrayal of family dynamics. It also reflects the political climate of the Reagan era.