Entertaining angels unawares: The social construction of angelic imagery in millennium era culture

From the vantage point of the millennium era, this dissertation examines the ways cultural texts construct images of angels. Approaching the subject from a constructionist theoretical base, the study involves semiotic examination of cultural texts and incorporates concepts from other theoretical traditions such as the sociology of religion and postmodernism. After an initial review of angelic imagery in historical culture and literature, the empirical research program focuses on representative examples from three types of cultural texts: television and film, material culture, and Internet websites. Of central importance to this study, issues of religion and secularization emerge in the empirical research, demonstrating that angels serve as a particularly contemporary form of spirituality that bridges traditional religion with more secular modes of personal spiritual expression. Similarly, angels operate as a symbol of apocalyptic thinking in the face of cultural challenges in the millennium era. In another vein of contemporary culture, angelic imagery illustrates gendered constructions of characters, with female angels characterized as beautiful helpers, while male angels act as virile consumers of physical pleasures. Although the research focuses primarily on texts, the role of the millennium era consuming subject creates an interesting possibility, as angel images serve as mirrors of sorts for their human consumers who can thus insert themselves into the idealized role of an angel. Finally, the political economy of culture emphasizes the commercial nature of cultural texts, driven by the forces of commodification to include certain images and representations and exclude others. Thus, while cultural trends and contexts certainly impact the construction of angelic characters, the underlying profit motive shapes the texts at a fundamental level. While the touch of angels in contemporary cultural products may certainly fade with time, this dissertation demonstrates how traditional signifier/signified relationships with angelic imagery have given way to more contemporary interpretations. In the face of secularization in the millennium era, at least, consumers seek out personal forms of spirituality, including the "entertaining angels" in this study.