i also meant to say thanks because it's a great example -- the tensions between popular and mass culture, popular culture and art, and mass culture and art are thrown into very difficult engagement by it. the CC's authority is in fact located in part on this attempt to command both art and popular culture, and the intersectiosn between them, and mass culture only means that requires a different set of strategies
the church is even ambivalent about the massive amount of people who treat its art as secular art, and has always been concerned about the incontrollability of popular culture, whether it was mass produced or not
oh and finally, maybe, there are critical representations of the crucifix, or of scenes where the crucifix should be and is not
there's a lot more to say, but maybe none of that was what you intended to generate anyway
Catherine
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