Essay on "Finding Buddhism in the Films Little Buddha and Wheel of Time"

Essay 4 pages (1172 words) Sources: 1+ Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Buddhism in the films "Little Buddha" & "Wheel of Time"

It is difficult for a movie to relate to religion in the present day, with such an undertaking preventing the respective movie from receiving true success. When thinking about religion, one often believes that no respectable movie director would want to involve the theme into his or her work. This happens because the audience does not express its interest in watching religious movies too often, with religion having become an outdated topic in the modern society. It is of no importance whether or not this is true, as movie directors normally want to have an extended audience, and not just a particular public. Even with that, when involving religion into their movies, directors cannot help adding a touch of irony to it, considering that drama and religion would only succeed in chasing away a potential public.

Bernardo Bertolucci's movie, Little Buddha, addresses certain important elements from Buddhism and from life generally. The director managed to incorporate several aspects from religion into the movie, without harming the image of Buddhism in any way. The movie has certainly gathered a noteworthy audience at the time that it appeared, with the actors playing in it being Hollywood icons. One cannot claim that the movie had only been intended to present religion, as it is obvious that its director had also aimed at getting profits over the motion picture.

In contrast to Little Buddha, Werner Herzog's movie, Wheel of Time, is a movie that is not really intended to become renowned, as the director simply wants to convey an important Buddhist event. Herzog had apparently abandoned concepts relating to what the audience wants, and, to the introduction of cliches which only contribute in making the public even more distant from the topic.

Little Buddha describes a series of events relating to a group of monks believing that they had found the reincarnation of their master in a young boy. Also, the script involves a story of Buddha, and, how he succeeds in a succession of tests. In spite of the fact that the actors fail from giving an impressive performance, the movie actually accomplishes one of its goals - that of providing the audience with an introduction to Buddhism. Most probably, the American public has expressed a greater interest in studying Buddhism and matters related to the Tibetan world after having seen the film.

The movie is likely to have been distributed on a greater extent in the Western World, even though it refers to matters present in Asia. Consequent to watching the movie, most people might believe that they had become better cultured concerning Buddhism and affairs relating to it. Clearly, one cannot possibly become educated in Buddhism consequent to watching a movie that has little to do with the real world. A false opinion that people can have after seeing the movie is that the whole of Buddhism is based on Tibetan Buddhism.

The facts that the actors and the script fail to impress the audience certainly contributes in them being able to observe other things about the movie. Whereas most people would consider the plot involved in Little Buddha meaningless, it actually allows people to become better acquainted with the story of Buddha. The plot cannot be categorized as being childish, as the genuine story of Buddha has little complexity in it.

The people present in the Wheel of Time play an important part in the overall feeling which the movie puts across, as they manage to… READ MORE

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