Buies Creek, N.C.–Television, music, film–Campbell University professors Elizabeth Rambo and Kenneth Morefield find literary motifs in modern media that illustrate how popular culture views religion and how the influences of classical literature continues to be felt. The professors’ new books, Buffy Goes Dark: Essays on the Final Two Seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Television, and Faith and Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema, respectively, are collections of essays from academic scholars, including Rambo and Morefield, that have been edited or co-edited by the professors. Buffy Goes Dark will be available in fall 2008 and Faith and Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema in 2009.In 2002, Dr. Elizabeth Rambo, associate professor of Medieval literature, presented a paper at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, titled, “Yeats’ Entropic Gyre and Season Six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” In it, she compares the action of the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to W.B. Yeats’ poem, “The Second Coming.” The essay is included in a collection of 13 essays in the book Buffy Goes Dark that explore the final two seasons of the groundbreaking television series through the perspectives of feminism, culture, auteur and fans. Rambo, who is on the editorial board of “Slayage,” an online international journal devoted to the study of the television series, said that Buffy is similar to literature in that it makes people think beyond the storyline.”It can be interpretive,” said Rambo, whose essay in the book uses the image of Yeats’ “gyre” or spiral cone to describe the plot of the sixth season. “Although the characters may be intriguing themselves and the events and the story, the show also seems to have meaning beyond just what is going to happen.”In his book with the working title, Faith and Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema, Morefield’s essay on Carl Theodore Dreyer’s 1954 film “Ordet” also explores meaning that extends beyond the film’s action.”I would say that both books in their way look to extend or broaden what it means to have a Christian approach to something,” said Morefield. “I think the origin of my project was that I was dissatisfied with what passes as religious film criticism and I wanted to model that Christian interaction with film could be something more than just counting swear words.”In “Ordet,” two families are torn apart by religious differences they are forced to confront when one of the family members dies.Both Rambo and Morefield use media as a means of teaching critical thinking skills to students.”I certainly think that in some ways the students that I run across have a greater familiarity with film than they do with literature,” said Morefield. “Sometimes I can illustrate points by using things they are familiar with.”For example, when Morefield taught works by Benjamin Franklin dealing with social mobility, a number of students compared Franklin’s advice that hard work is all it takes to get ahead with the movie, “The Pursuit of Happiness,” in which adverse circumstances cause a hard-working father to lose everything.”Students would come to me and say, ‘I know people who work hard and don’t get ahead. Besides Franklin was also white, he had both parents.’ Suddenly they are thinking about the ideas that Franklin was writing about and whether or not they agreed,” Morefield said.Rambo also uses media to help students visualize the period of history they are reading about or to illustrate how contemporary story-telling has been influenced by literature. For example, Buffy goes to the Underworld to rescue people in the television series, a theme that readers can find in the Old English epic poem “Beowulf.””Movies and television help students see certain motifs that go way back in world literature,” she said. “It shows students that this theme isn’t just some ancient, dusty scroll, but is still viable today.”Dr. Elizabeth RamboRambo received a bachelor’s degree in English from St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, N.C. She went on to earn a master’s degree in English from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She received her doctorate degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Published by McFarland, Rambo co-edited Buffy Goes Dark. The book will be available in fall 2008.Dr. Kenneth MorefieldMorefield graduated from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va., with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He received both Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in English from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Morefield edited and compiled the essays contained in Faith and Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema. Published by Cambridge Scholars Press, the book will be available in early 2009.Photo Copy: Drs. Elizabeth Rambo and Kenneth Morefield focus on television and film in their respective books. Photo by Shannon Ryals.
Campbell professors take scholarly approach to media in two new books