Occult Media

Course Description

With the etymology of “occult” translating to “hidden,” “secret,” and “concealed,” it is no wonder the influence of occultism on modern thought and media is obfuscated. The occult might conjure up images of Satan, secret societies, alchemy, divination techniques like astrology and tarot, and even conspiracy. We will traverse all of these areas and more to help students become familiar with how occult practitioners comprise an integral part of Western intellectual history, technological development, and ultimately, the media we consume today. We will work to define what “occult media” is, engaging with readings spanning from the magical and alchemical origins of modern science to various forms of media as conduits for the supernatural, to paranoid and conspiratorial readings of films. Course materials will help us navigate a number of occult media questions:

• What do we define as media? How can this category be stretched, especially through the lens of the occult?

• How do histories of occult practice trouble our notions of technological progress and modernity?

• How does occult media help us reevaluate the relationship between science and religion?

• What is the importance of occult media in understanding the contours of the culture wars today?

• What implications does this area of study have for film and media studies at large?

• And finally, how might engagement with occult philosophies enrich our analyses of media objects?

Throughout the course, students will complete readings in media studies and religious studies alongside exhibitions of various media, including horror films, tabloid reports of the Satanic Panic, magic lantern shows, spiritualist and countercultural periodicals, optical toys, podcast episodes, popular music, religious technology like Scientology’s E-Meter, and more. This overview of popular (oc)culture will be accompanied by an ongoing research project based in the archives at UCSB. Students will visit the American Religions collection to find occult media objects around which a research paper will be based. Over the course of the quarter, we will work towards a comprehensive definition of “occult media,” with active student participation in defining terms and finding occult media objects in the archive and beyond.