The success of the religious

Abstract

In this work we propose to outline responses to the success of some of the most popular series of the moment whose theme focuses on the religious.

For this purpose, first, we will inquire about the success of the serial form, and then guide this brief journey in The Triumph of Religion (Lacan, 2005) as stated by Jacques Lacan. Finally, we will return to focus on the series Unorthodox (Netflix: 2020), The Handmaid’s Tale (HBO: 2017-2019), The young pope (HBO: 2016) and Ride Upon the Storm (Netflix: 2017-2018); also, in the rise of evangelism on Catholicism in Brazil.

The success of the religions, circumscribed at the time of the fall of the father’s name, can be specified in two ways:

1- The triumph is no longer so much of the traditional religion but of the religious. We refer to those religious communities that enact at all costs with capitalism.

2- Traditional religions, such as Catholicism and Judaism, is «a return to tradition» increasingly radical and closed.

In both modalities we place a nominal religious thrust, which shape the social bond and regulate the relationship of the speaking being to his body, bordering on «being named for.» (Lacan, 1974) “Being named to” verifies that in the face of the decline of the paternal and the power of the word, it is imposed as an iron order, returning in the real the father of jouissance, that is, the foundation of the modern superego.