Holy Subtext: Meta-Narrative Trends in Cinema

Who is Jesus? What is Theology? Can these answers be found in a movie? The author, Chester Elijah Branch, agrees with Tolkien in that all mythos reflects our deep-seeded affinity to the Gospel. Even the Apostle Paul used familiar narratives to point people to the 'Unknown God.' In his book Holy Subtext, Branch shows how every successful film mentioned in his book follows the prodigal son storyline or the martyr storyline. This has also been called absentation, a.k.a. the orphan story. Chester shows how the narrative path of 'orphan to wanderer to warrior to martyr' has its origins in the Gospel.