Abstract

New Age spirituality as a phenomenon balancing on the edge of alternative and mainstream can be expressed as “New Age capitalism” or, on the other hand, as the process of construction of the self. This article examines the ways in which these two sides of spiritual discourse are reflected in modern TV and film. Typical descriptions of New Age spirituality manifest in two ways: (1) as a kind of search for the inner capacity of humans and (2) as an inevitable part of the modern cultural landscape. In the first case, the audience can see characters with strong personalities who have the ability to swim against the social tide. In the second case, spirituality is portrayed as an “everyday banality.” The first group of examples demonstrates a common attitude toward spirituality, depicted by some scholars as the “cult of the self.” In the second group, aside from the perception of the researched phenomenon as a quotidian fact of life, we can also see the sarcastic aversion of it.