Without Kneeling Down, One Can Also Feel Preaching: An Examination of Religious Films in Mass Communication

In today's secular world, religion continues to exert a prominent influence not only on its adherents but also on those who do not actively practice a particular faith. Film serves as a potent medium for disseminating religious ideas and values, making it an instrumental conduit for the propagation of religious tenets. In this research, we selected 25 typical religious films from the Stacker website for their diverse themes and recognition from critics. Emotion was chosen as the core metric for this quantitative analysis. By combining YOLOv5 object detection technology with deep learning, we precisely measured the emotional values of characters in the films and plotted their emotional curves. The results showed significant differences in the average emotions and standard deviations among religious films of different factions. By observing the emotional curve, we found that religious films, especially those with Christian themes, exhibit a unique trajectory of emotions. The sentiment tends to rise at the beginning of the film, followed by repeated fluctuations, and eventually reaching a climax. This aligns with the presentation patterns associated with spiritual transformation and revelation.