The outcome of an empirical audience study in Sweden, including questionnaires, focus groups and 10 in-depth individual interviews discussing favourite films, supports claims about viewers as active and playful (cf. Frampton, 2006; Hoover, 2006; Plantinga, 2009). The soft side of mediatization processes is illustrated showing young adults experiencing enchantment through films (Jerslev, 2006; Klinger, 2008; Oliver and Hartmann, 2010; Partridge, 2008). The outcome is in line with a growing number of empirical case studies which support conclusions that both thinking and behaviour are affected by film watching (Axelson, 2014; Marsh, 2007; Oliver and Hartmann, 2010; Suckfüll, 2010). The results of the interviews exploring specific scenes of idiosyncratic relevance support theories about fiction films as important sources for moral and spiritual reflection (Lynch, 2007; Partridge, 2004; Plantinga, 2009; Zillman, 2005). The concept of ‘thick viewing’ is proposed for capturing these moments of film experience when profound and enchanted emotional interpretations take place.
AmmermanNancy (2013) ‘Spiritual but Not Religious? Beyond Binary Choices in the Study of Religion’, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion52(2): 258–78.
2.
AndersonJoseph D. and AndersonBarbara Fisher (eds) (2004) Moving Image Theory: Ecological Considerations. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
3.
AvilaMitch (2007) ‘From Film Emotion to Normative Criticism’, in RobertK. Johnston (ed.) Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline, pp. 219–237. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
4.
AxelsonTomas (2008) ‘Movies and Meaning: Studying Audience, Fiction Film and Existential Matters’, Particip@tions: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies5(1).
5.
AxelsonTomas. (2014) Förtätade Filmögonblick. Den Rörliga Bildens Förmåga att Beröra [Condensed Film Moments. Moving Images and Deeply Moved Minds]. Stockholm: Liber.
6.
BarkerMartin (2009) ‘Changing Lives, Challenging Concepts: Some Findings and Lessons from the Lord of the Rings Project’, International Journal of Cultural Studies12(4): 375–93.
7.
BestSusan (2007) ‘Rethinking Visual Pleasure: Aesthetics and Affect’, Theory & Psychology17(4): 505–14. Calgary: SAGE Publications.
8.
BordwellDavid (1985) Narration in the Fiction Film.London: Methuen.
9.
BordwellDavid and ThompsonKristin (1997) Film Art: An Introduction (5th edn). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.
10.
ButlerLisa D. and PaleshOxana (2004) ‘Spellbound: Dissociation in the Movies’, Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 5(2): 61–87. London: Routledge.
11.
CallawayKutter (2013) Scoring Transcendence: Contemporary Film Music as Religious Experience. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.
12.
CarrollNoël (1999) ‘Film, Emotion, and Genre’, in CarlR. Plantinga and GregM. Smith (eds) Passionate Views: Film, Cognition, and Emotion, pp. 21–47. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
DahlSteven (2013) Folkmord som fiktion [Genocide as fiction]. Licentiatsavhandling. Lunds universitet [Lund University].
15.
DetweilerCraig (2007) ‘Seeing and Believing: Film Theory as a Window into a Visual Faith’, in RobertK. Johnston (ed.) Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline, pp. 29–50. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
16.
Elsaesser ThomasHagener Malte (2010) Film Theory: An Introduction Through the Senses. New York: Routledge.
17.
FramptonDaniel (2006) Filmosophy: [A Manifesto for a Radically New Way of Understanding Cinema]. London: Wallflower.
18.
GeertzClifford (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books.
19.
GrodalTorben Kragh (2009) Embodied Visions: Evolution, Emotion, Culture, and Film. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
20.
HjarvardStig (2012) ‘Three Forms of Mediatized Religion’, in Stig Hjarvard and Mia Lövheim (eds) Mediatization and Religion: Nordic Perspectives, pp. 21–44. Göteborg: Nordicom.
21.
Höijer BirgittaWerner Anita (eds) (1998) Cultural Cognition: New Perspectives in Audience Theory. Göteborg: NORDICOM-Sverige University.
22.
HooverStewart M. (2006) Religion in the Media Age. London: Routledge.
23.
JerslevAnn (2006) ‘Sacred Viewing: Emotional Responses to The Lord of the Rings’, in Ernest Mathijs (ed.) The Lord of the Rings: Popular Culture in Global Context, pp. 206–221. London: Wallflower.
24.
JohanssonThomas (2002) Bilder av självet: vardagslivets förändring i det senmoderna samhället [Images of the Self: changes in everyday life in late modern society]. Stockholm: Natur och kultur.
25.
JohnstonRobert K. (ed.) (2007) Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
26.
KlingerBarbara (2008) ‘What Do Female Fans Want? Blockbusters, the Return of the King and U.S. Audiences’, in MartinBarker and ErnestMathijs (eds) Watching the Lord of the Rings: Tolkien’s World Audiences, pp. 69–82. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
27.
LövheimMia and BromanderJonas (2012) Religion som resurs. Existentiella frågor och värderingar i unga svenskars liv [Religion as resource : existential matters and values in young Swedes life]. Skellefteå: Artos.
28.
LydenJohn (2003) Film as Religion: Myths, Morals, and Rituals. New York: New York University Press.
29.
LynchGordon (2007) ‘Film and the Subjective Turn. How the Sociology of Religion Can Contribute to Theological Readings of Film’, in RobertK. Johnston (ed.) Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
30.
MarshClive (2007) Theology Goes to the Movies: An Introduction to Critical Christian Thinking. London: Routledge.
31.
MonacoJames (2000) How to Read a Film: The World of Movies, Media, and Multimedia: Language, History, Theory (3rd edn). New York: Oxford University Press.
32.
NolanSteve (2009) Film, Lacan and the Subject of Religion: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Religious Film Analysis. New York: Continuum.
33.
Nordicom-Sveriges mediebarometer.2012. (2013) Göteborg: Nordicom-Sverige, Nordiskt informationscenter för medie-och kommunikationsforskning [Nordic knowledge centre int the field of media and communication research], Göteborgs universitet [Gothenburg University].
34.
OliverMary Beth and HartmannTilo (2010) ‘Exploring the Role of Meaningful Experiences in Users’ Appreciation of Good Movies’, Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind4(2): 128–50. Berghahn Journals.
35.
PartridgeChristopher Hugh (2004) The Re-enchantment of the West: Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular Culture, and Occulture (Vol. 1). London: T & T Clark International.
36.
PartridgeChristopher Hugh. (2005) The Re-enchantment of the West: Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular Culture, and Occulture (Vol. 2). London: T & T Clark International.
37.
PartridgeChristopher Hugh. (2008) ‘The Occultural Significance of The Da Vinci Code’, in StigHjarvard (ed.) Northern Lights: The Mediatization of Religion (Film & Media Studies Yearbook 2008, Vol. 6). Bristol: Intellect.
38.
PerssonPer (2000) ‘Understanding Cinema: Constructivism and Spectator Psychology’. Doctoral thesis, Stockholm University.
39.
PlantingaCarl (2009) Moving Viewers: American Film and the Spectator’s Experience. Berkeley: University of California Press.
40.
SuckfüllMonika (2010) ‘Films That Move Us: Moments of Narrative Impact in an Animated Short Film’, Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind4(2): 41–63. Berghahn Journals.
41.
TurnerGraeme (1999) Film as Social Practice (3rd edn). London: Routledge.
42.
TybjergCasper (2008) ‘Forms of the Intangible: Carl Th. Dreyer and the Concept of “Transcendental Style”’, Northern Lights6: 59–73. Bristol: Intellect.
WussPeter (2009) Cinematic Narration and Its Psychological Impact: Functions of Cognition, Emotion and Play. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.
45.
ZillmanDolf (2005) ‘Cinematic Creation of Emotion’, in JosephD. Anderson and BarbaraFisher Anderson (eds) Moving Image Theory: Ecological Considerations, pp. 164–180. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
