The Sublime Cosmic Abyss and the Bruno Exemplum in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

This article investigates the persuasive practice involved in the sublime depiction of space and the execution of Giordano Bruno in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014). After a brief discussion of the aesthetic of the sublime, I explore how the writers and producers of Cosmos, first, attempt to evoke...

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Published in:Journal of Religion & Popular Culture Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 1 - 15
Main Author: Owen, Corey
Format: Article
Published: University of California Press Spring2020
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        au: Owen, Corey
        affil: University of Saskatchewan
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        Bruno, Giordano, 1548-1600
        Spacetime
        Catholic Church
        Aesthetic experience
        Scientism
        Patronage
        Anti-intellectualism
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          Bruno, Giordano, 1548-1600
          Spacetime
          Catholic Church
          Aesthetic experience
          Scientism
          Patronage
          Anti-intellectualism
      keyword:
        Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
        depictions of the Counter-Reformation in Popular Culture
        Giordano Bruno
        rhetorical criticism
        the sublime
      ab: This article investigates the persuasive practice involved in the sublime depiction of space and the execution of Giordano Bruno in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014). After a brief discussion of the aesthetic of the sublime, I explore how the writers and producers of Cosmos, first, attempt to evoke an experience of the sublime and, second, adapt the trial and execution of Giordano Bruno in order to redirect the emotional arousal of the sublime experience, dividing the complex aesthetic experience into its positive and negative valences—awe and fear; they claim the former for scientism and project the latter onto non-scientific epistemologies, which, in this case, are represented by the Catholic Church. Ultimately, such a persuasive practice aims to regulate the boundaries of scientific identity and secure public patronage of scientific institutions; however, it risks alienating crucial audiences in a time when anti-intellectualism is flourishing.
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