In her first year at Queen’s, Vienna Wiens, ArtSci ’26, enrolled in RELS 137 Religion and Film simply because it was one of the few electives with space to . Little did she know this casual choice would lead her down a spiritual and cinematic rabbit hole.
“I didn’t think it would be an overly enjoyable class beforehand,” Wiens wrote in a statement to The Journal. “However, when I began the first few weeks of the course, I quickly discovered that this course was much more [aligned with] my interests than I had expected.”
RELS 137 is a course within the School of Religion, but much of the course content focuses on film analysis. According to the School of Religion, the course “[explores] how religion is portrayed in film, noting particularly the depiction of religious belief, practices, practitioners, and institutions, and the use of religious symbols and metaphors.”
For Wiens, the most interesting aspect of the course was its discussions of how individuals and groups can be “othered” through the use of film techniques. Using visual and narrative techniques, filmmakers can portray marginalized groups as “the other,” often reinforcing racial or religious stereotypes.
“I didn’t think the course would explore more than religion itself, but I was pleasantly surprised when we explored worldviews, and specifically how marginalized and racialized communities are portrayed in film,” Wiens said.
Learning about the concept of “the other” enriched Wiens’ understanding of religions throughout the course as she analyzed films about Hinduism, Indigenous spirituality, and the intersection between Black identities and religion.
“I also greatly appreciated having a list of additional films per week of content that were optional and recommended,” Wiens said. “These films ranged from the early 1900s to very recent in the 2020s, which allowed students to explore themes in film and religion from many different decades, showing how worldviews and representations may have changed over time.”
Wiens was largely satisfied with both the content and structure of the course. She took the course under the instruction of Dr. Richard Ascough, who was selected for the 3M National Teaching Fellowship in 2018. This is “Canada’s most prestigious recognition of excellence in educational leadership and teaching at the post-secondary level,” according to the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.
“I found his lectures fairly interesting and that they ultimately explored a lot of important content—not only in religion, but lots of film theories and techniques as well,” Wiens said.
Wiens found Ascough’s lectures enjoyable and valuable, encouraging future RELS 137 students to attend lectures to get the most out of the course.
“Although I did not major or minor in film or religion, I am incorporating a lot of theories I have used in the course into research I do today for sociology and gender studies,” Wiens said.
Taking RELS 137 has also impacted Wiens’ academic career by influencing the courses she has selected in second and third year. Wiens took FILM 210 The Horror Film, in her second year because she wanted to continue to learn about the concept of “the other,” first introduced to her in RELS 137.
FILM 210 analyzes the evolution of horror cinema in America, connecting shifts in the horror genre to cultural shifts in society.
“I highly enjoyed FILM 210, and I am glad that RELS 137 introduced me to film theories so I could take further classes that are similar, so I have electives that I enjoy,” Wiens said. “I am currently taking RELS 163 [Religion and Popular Culture], which I only took because I liked RELS 137 so much.”
Wiens has been able to apply the knowledge she gained about self-representations and colonial representations of marginalized communities in RELS 137 to her degree in gender studies and sociology.
“This directly relates to some of my gender studies and sociology courses where we discuss race, culture, gender, and intersectionality,” Wiens said. “It allows me to understand these concepts in of pop culture and film.”
For Wiens, RELS 137 was an unexpectedly impactful course.
“Ultimately, this course did a lot more for me [other] than being an elective in my first year,” Wiens said. “I can’t imagine taking any other course now looking back.”
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Kurtis Weaver, ArtSci ’27, took RELS 137 in his first year under the instruction of Dr. Eric Chalfant, a film and media adjunct assistant professor, because it merged two of his major interests: film and religion.
“[Chalfant] was a skilled lecturer who made an effort to keep the class engaged in the content,” Weaver said in a statement to The Journal. “They felt kind of casual and you did not need to take too many notes to be fine.”
Weaver explained the lectures covered how the assigned films related to specific religions or general concepts about religion. The tutorials, on the other hand, focused solely on the fundamentals of each religion studied in the course.
“The tutorials were very laid-back and often included Kahoots and other quiz games,” Weaver said.
Weaver benefited most from the writing assignments in the course, particularly the final paper, which involved analyzing a film and religion of each student’s choice. He noted students were given a lot of freedom in this assignment, being able to choose their topics as well as how to structure their papers.
“Writing about things you enjoy in this fashion I feel improves your writing skills as it reminds you that writing is not only a chore, but an art, if that makes sense,” Weaver said.
Weaver also enjoyed the wide variety of films shown throughout the course, as well as the intersection between religion and film.
“These could be foreign films, or films I just would not usually watch,” Weaver said. “Connecting religious studies and film studies creates interesting research avenues and allows you to look at film in a new light, as the class forces you to recognize religious influences on cinematography and writing.”
Some of the films Weaver studied in RELS 137 include The Tree of Life, A Serious Man, and Star Wars: A New Hope. His only critique of the course is the majority of films studied were English-language and American-directed.
“Viewing more films made by people from nations where the religion being examined is more widely practiced may improve the class,” Weaver said.
Overall, Weaver had a positive experience with RELS 137.
“It did not change my life, but it was a fun course that encouraged me to take more film classes as electives in the future,” Weaver said. “I would recommend it to any students interested in film or religion.”
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Chalfant, a past instructor for RELS 137 and current professor of FILM 336 Film and Politics: Religion on Screen, encourages students to take RELS 137 because it is both fun and important.
“Religion and film are two of the most culturally significant ways that we construct and imagine our world,” Chalfant said in a statement to The Journal. “They can show us how the littlest things relate to the biggest things, visualising our place in the cosmos. They can both objectify and deconstruct our shared values. They can dramatize our sense of agency, free will, or fate. And they can be incredibly moving through the engagement of our bodies and senses.”
RELS 137 teaches students how to break down film and religion into specific techniques or practices, and then analyze their effects on people.
“In film, things like editing, cinematography, sound design, and acting are tools that can have profound effects on audience experience in the same way that a religious service might employ incense, music, or visual iconography to move a religious practitioner,” Chalfant said.
The course also tackles broad religious debates, exploring how religions around the world approach existential matters in different ways.
“We get to ask the big mind-blowing questions that different traditions answer in radically different ways—questions like ‘does life have a purpose,’ ‘what happens after we die,’ and ‘is this world real?’” Chalfant explained.
The professor encourages current and prospective RELS 137 students to embrace creative interpretations of films that may even contradict the filmmaker’s intentions.
“A film doesn’t have to be about religion to generate interesting religious questions,” Chalfant said. “Try to approach new ideas, whether religious or not, with sympathy, bravery, and an open mind.”
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