Steven Chung: Landscapes of the Sacred blog 2

In his book, Landscapes of the Sacred, Belden Lane addresses three approaches in interpreting the unique qualities of sacred places and what constitutes them as being sacred.  One of the three, the ontological approach, provides a perspective that "a sacred place is radically set apart from everything profane; it is a site recognized as manifesting its own inherent, chthonic power and numinosity.  It is a place of hierophany, where supernatural forces have invaded the ordinary" (Lane 43).  I agree with the ontological approach in its stating that sacred places alone inherently possess an extraordinary power.  This can be seen especially in a location in the wilderness, such as a large mountain or in the midst of a storm in the ocean.  In the film, Cold Fever, the scene where Hirata finds himself off track and his car breaks down somewhere in Iceland's arctic landscape in midst of a blizzard, is a great example of this approach.  Hirata is trapped in the cold and engulfed by the landscape and its power.  It wasn't until a mysterious power, a girl, appears and displays supernatural powers--exploding a mound of snow and starting Hirata's car with the sound of her voice.  The location where Hirata was trapped was distinct from everything profane and it manifested its own chthonic power and numinosity.

-Steven Chung