Ethnographic Approach to the Film The Secret Book: Bogomilism as a Myth and Identity in Contemporary Cinema
Keywords:
The Secret Book, Bogomilism, Balkans, film, film ethnographyAbstract
This paper analyzes the Macedonian feature film The Secret Book (2006), whose plot is based on a fictionalized search for the apocryphal manuscript of the same name, attributed to Bogomil origins and bearing strong cultural and spiritual significance. Film ethnography, as a form of anthropological analysis, examines how a film is produced, what it represents, and how society interprets and responds to it. Through film ethnography, we get insights about the ways in which a film can be understood as a cultural document. In accordance with this anthropological approach to the study of feature film, the thematic framework of The Secret Book is considered in the context of recognizable narratives and stories present in literature and cinema. The analysis explores the relationship between these narratives and the historical and religious subject matter (the secret book) as well as its presumed author (the religious community of Bogomils). The study also aims to address how Bogomilism is conceptualized and perceived within the film, with particular attention to narratives derived from popular culture as a form of public discourse.
References
Драгојловић, Драгољуб. 1974. Богомилство на Балкану и у Малој Азији I - Богомилски родоначелници. Београд: Балканолошки институт Српске академије наука и уметности.
Драгојловић, Драгољуб. 1982. Богомилство на Балкану и у Малој Азији II - Богомилство на православном Истоку. Београд: Балканолошки институт Српске академије наука и уметности.
Петровић, М. Миодраг. 1998. Кудугери- богомили у византијским и српским изворима и “Црква босанска”. Београд: ГП “Нови дани”.
Петровић, М. Миодраг. 2003. “ ‘Бабунска реч’ у Законику Цара Стефана Душана 1349. и 1354. године”. Археографски прилози 25: 143-161.
Тимотијевић, Милош. 2017. „Легенде о закопаном благу Западне Србије”. Зборник радова Народног музеја XLVII: 137-163.
Angelov, Dimiter. 1987. The Bogomil Movement. Sofia: Sofia Press.
Banić-Grubišić, Ana. 2013. „Antropološki pristup medijima – kratak pregled (sa posebnim osvrtom na igrani film“. Antropologija 13 (2): 135-155.
Banić Grubišić, Ana. 2018. „Između prirode i kulture – antropološka analiza filma „Ničije dete”. Antropologija 18 (3): 87-100.
Castaldini, Alberto. 2013. “Una nota antropologica sul Graal”. Anuac, Volume II (2): 118-126.
Chulev, Basil. 2015. The Bogomils in Macedonia – Medieval Roots of Protestantism, Renaissance and Socialist Movements, The Secret Book of Bogomils. Skopje. https://www.pollitecon.com/Assets/Ebooks/TheBogomils-in-Macedonia.pdf
Daković, Nevena 2008. Balkan kao (filmski) žanr – slika, tekst, nacija. Beograd: FDU, Institut za pozorište, film radio i televiziju.
Dillinger, Johannes. 2012. Magical Treasure Hunting in Europe and North America: A History. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hopkins, Stephen. 2023. “The Questions of John (Interrogatio Iohannis): A new translation and introduction”. In: New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol. 3, Tony Burke (ed.), 565- 583. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Iordanova, Dina. 1998. “Balkan film representations since 1989: the quest for admissibility”. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 18 (2): 263-280.
Juhlin, Johanna. 2018. The Medieval Myth of The Holy Grail and its Resonance in Contemporary Popular Culture: A Reception Theory Analysis of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Faculty of education and business studies, Department of Humanities. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1209781/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Kostić, Dejana. 2009. “Analiza autobalkanizacije u filmu ‘Underground’ Emira Kusturice”. Zbornik Radova, Sociokulturna antropologija (Petničke e-sveske): 526-531. https://esveske.github.io/god-2009.html
Kovačević, Ivan. 2015. “Fudbal i film: Drug pretsednik–centarfor”. Етноантрополошки проблеми 10 (3): 743-763.
Kulenović, Nina i Ana Banić-Grubišić. 2019. „Cepaće se neki narodnjaci!“: nova čitanja turbo-folka”. Etnoantropološki problemi 14 (1): 47-78.
Minderović, Zoran. 1981. „Gnosticizam: drevna misao o novom čoveku“ (Elen Pejgels „Gnostička Jevanđelja“). Beograd: Rad.
Nodilo, Natko. 1981. Stara vjera Srba i Hrvata. Split: Logos.
Оbolensky, Dimitri. 1982. „Papas Nicetas: A Byzantine Dualist in the Land of the Cathars“. Harvard Ukrainian Studies 7, (Okeanos: Essays presented to Ihor Ševčenko on his Sixtieth Birthday by his Colleagues and Students): 489-500.
Pejgels, Elejn. 1981. Gnostička jevanđelja. Beograd: Rad.
Saldzhiev, Hristo 2021. “On the Prehistory of Bogomilism – the Historical and Religious Continuum of the Dualistic Groups in Early Medieval Bulgaria (8th–10th Century).” Studia Ceranea 11 (2021): 721- 761.
Stojanov, Jurij. 2003. Skrivena tradicija u Evropi: Tajna istorija srednjovekovne hrišćanske jeresi. Čačak-Beograd: Umetničko društvo Gradac.
Stojanović, Đorđe. 2024. „S one strane zapadnog ogledalakonstrukcija drugosti Balkana i Istočne Evrope u horor filmovima prve decenije XXI veka“. Kritika 5 (1): 73-93.
Todorova, Maria. 1996. „Konstrukcija zapadnog diskursa o Balkanu“. Etnološka tribina 19: 25-41.
Wakefield, Walter L. 1991. Heresies of the high middle ages : selected sources. New York: Columbia University Press.
Wood, Juliette. 2002. “The Seatch for the Holy Grail: Scholars, Critics and Occultists”. Proceeding of the Harvard Veltic Colloquium 22: 226-248.
