Degree Name
Master of Science
Graduate Program
Mass Communication and Media Arts
Advisor
Walter Metz
Abstract
My research identifies the mythogenesis of the myth-hero, the All-American Christ. This figure is realized through motion pictures by fusing together the ideological strains of Judeo-Christian vicarious redemption, Biblical American Exceptionalism, and conservative, Muscular Christianity. Using the methodologies of historical criticism and American studies, I argue that the construction of this conservative myth represents a militant manifestation of theocratic media, and is evangelized in the 1971 Christ film, The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston.
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