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Angels and Gurus: Hypnotism and Self-Fulfillment in the Movies
The concept of angels has changed drastically from their origins in the ancient world and sometimes bizarre imagery captured in the Bible to a romanticized version created through Renaissance art. Yet 20th-century cinema has transformed angels once again from a superhuman, powerful winged being and guardian into a shockingly humanoid, even flawed creature that emerges from a parallel plane of existence to empower a protagonist’s journey. Often, the angel produces a glamour, spell, or alternate universe in which the hero can learn essential lessons.
Similarly, many films have used the premise of hypnotism or spellwork to achieve the condition in which a formerly ordinary protagonist must see the world in a fundamentally different way in order to grow. In these films, the character capable of engineering such a feat is not portrayed as a mage or a witch but rather as an angel, if not by name, or the New Age version, a guru.
Dogma
Angels compose most of the main characters in Dogma, a surprisingly nuanced offering by Kevin Smith, who usually relies upon self-destructive characters and minimal plots to mock current society. Dogma, however, builds a robust mythology in which heroine Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) learns that she is the Last Scion (the last living descendant of Jesus) and must…
