Alissa Wilkinson
and
David H. Kim:
Enchantment in
Pop Culture

Even within a seemingly “dis-enchanted” world, we clearly see a deep yearning for the transcendent. Cultural forms and movements all bear different expressions of that yearning, but one notably potent place it exists is in our popular narratives. In this video resource from the CFW Conference, author Alissa Wilkinson explains how “filmmakers and TV creators and painters and novelists are forever striving to re-enchant the world with their work.” She and David Kim explore how our culture has taken themes of the supernatural or mystical and uniquely appropriated them for today’s world.

Alissa Wilkinson is a critic, journalist, and professor living in Brooklyn. She recently joined Vox.com as a staff film critic and writer, after three and a half years as Christianity Today's film critic and a decade freelancing for publications including Rolling Stone, Vulture, RogerEbert.com, Books & Culture, Pacific Standard, The Washington Post, The LA Review of Books, The Atlantic, and Paste. 

Alissa is an associate professor of English and humanities at The King's College in New York City, where she teaches cultural theory and criticism. Her book How to Survive the Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, Faith, and Politics was published by Eerdmans in May, and her next book, Orphaned Believers: Reframing Religion in the Age of Faith-Based Film, is due out in 2017 from The Critical Press. She regularly comments on topics at the intersection of religion and pop culture for a variety of media. 

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