Does anybody know what religion Kubrick was. He might not have been religious at all, but if he was, can somebody tell me? He was brought up in the Bronx, a highly Catholic area, but he then moved to England, a highly Episcopalian area...
shareStanley Kubrick was a jew.
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non-practicing jew :)
shareI read an interview, given around the time of CLOCKWORK ORANGE, where he described his view of the world as "basically Christian"(exact words, I think), ie. man is essentially evil. But of course he was speaking about the Christian philosophy, not religion.
shareI beleive that he didn't agree with organised religion.
Strength Through Peace, not peace through strength.
Well, ya see, I was interested in this very question as there has never really been any concrete information given one way or another regarding Mr. Kubrick's religious background. I have therefore come to believe that Mr. Kubrick was not an overtly religious person. Much like myself. Although I was raised Catholic.
Which brings me to my next point. Only Priests or Nuns can be excommunicated from the Catholic Order. So I doubt that the Catholic fervor over the release of Lolita would have mattered one way or another regarding his religious background.
Honestly, Mr. Kubricks religious background is not a vitally important subject. Just another mysterious, curious question surrounding this unquestionable genius.
I thought he was an atheist. The music Thus Spoke Zarathustra in 2001:A Space Odyssey fits this theory, though it is hardly proof. I am sure that Kubrick, nevertheless, gave a lot of thought regarding religion. For example, Christianity is very specifically thrown into the thought pot in A Clockwork Orange.
sharei don't think he was an athiest. StephenKing called Kubrick up because King did not like Kubricks adaptation of 'the shining'. King asked Kubrick whether he believed in God and Kubrick said yes. King, an athiest, then hung up on him. My take on the use of Strausses Zarathustra is a bit different. I think he used it primarily because of the theme of transcendence and overcoming that Strauss obviously picked up from Nietzsche. But, well, the music itself doesn't strike me as particularly 'athiestic' (even though, of course, Nietzsche was an athiest), rather, it smacks of a series of slow movements leading up to a grand overcoming.
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I don't disagree with what you're saying about how there will always be so called immoral people, but when Kubrick expresses his belief universal indiffernce, I beleive that it doesn't nessasarly mean he is expressing a disbelief in God or any other higher being. The existance of immorality doesn't deny an existance of a God, nor does the responsibilty of creating one purpose.
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"Perhaps there is a certain element of the lumpen literati that is so dogmatically atheist and materialist and Earth-bound that it finds the grandeur of space and the myriad mysteries of cosmic intelligence anathema."
"I'd be very surprised if the universe wasn't full of an intelligence of an order that to us would seem God-like."
Devout atheist?
Those who emphatically deny the concept of a higher power are equally disturbed as those who emphatically affirm it.
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Um, actually I thought it was the other way around. Kubrick rang King at 3 am & asked him if he belived in god, there are three different theories about what happened when King said he did believe in god, one was that Kubrick simply hung up, the second is that he called King a liar & the third is that Kubrick said "No, I don't believe there is a god." At least, thats what I read.
Yawn, stretch. Snore.
Kubrick did not believe there wasn't a God. In fact, he found it quite ignorant for any one man to tell everyone if there really was a God or not for certain. However, he said that he would like to believe God exists and was known for celebrating Christmas very much at his house........
shareYou don't have a citation for that claim. According to his friends Jack Nicholson and Michael Herr he was an existentialist.
share"i don't think he was an athiest. StephenKing called Kubrick up because King did not like Kubricks adaptation of 'the shining'. King asked Kubrick whether he believed in God and Kubrick said yes."
Andy-1981 is right, you've got the two mixed up. It was Kubrick who called King, and he did it during (not after) the production of The Shining.
First of all, King has had three different versions of the story. In one he said Kubrick simply hung up. In another he states Kubrick said "I knew it." and hung up and in the other he states Kubrick said "No, I don't think there is a God."
Secondly, any evidence of Kubrick's theological stance coming from King is so questionable as to be worthless. King didn't like Kubrick's version of the Shining because it didn't have all the ghosts, goblins and bad acting (aside from Nicholson) that are the trademarks of King films. Thus his assertion that Kubrick was a godless, spiritless, unimaginative bore.
Kubrick obviously didn't have any use for organized religion, but to say he was an outright atheist is to admit that an entire level of Kubrick films has passed smoothly over your head.
A person's religious persuasion doesn't necessarily concur with their on screen beliefs.
Kubrick never stated definitively what his theological standing was. For all we know he may have been luciferic.
He was jewish. I think his father was jewish. But he wasn't a very religious person at all. I am aswell as a jewish, and am fairly religious, but i respect Mr. Kubrick's films and work.
He was an artist.
Jake
'I CAN WALK' - [b] Peter Sellers, Dr. Strangelove (1963).
Here's a quote from an interview that his daughter, Katharina, did in 2000.
Did your father believe in God or was he an atheist? Was he religious?
Hmm, tricky. I think he believed in *something*, if you understand my meaning. He was a bit of a fatalist actually, but he was also very superstitious. Truly a mixture of nature and nurture. I don't know exactly what he believed, he probably would have said that no-one can really ever know for sure, and that it would be rather arrogant to assume that one could *know*. I asked him once after The Shining, if he believed in ghosts. He said that it would be nice if there "were" ghosts, as that would imply that there is something after death. In fact, I think he said, "Gee I hope so." I for one, keep hoping to see him walk in the room that is my kitchen one evening. It was the Avid room and he usually worked at night. He did not have a religious funeral service. He's not buried in consecrated ground. We always celebrated Christmas and had huge Christmas trees.
I was at a Q and A at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image earlier this year with Jan Harlaan and Christianne Kubrick. She said something along the lines of an 'agnostic jew'. And i believe in the extended 3 part TV broadcast version of this documentary, she says something similar in relation to the productin of Lolita.
shareI highly doubt he was Catholics, but it does seem that latter in his life he was somehow influenced by Christianity, but I do know he was born into a wealthy family of Jewish immigrants of Austro-Romanian and Polish origin, but he wasn’t very religious at all.
I also think he did believe in God, but didn’t belong to a certain church or religion, more spiritual than religious I guess. He wasn’t atheist, at least not all of his life.
Most people will tell you he was Jewish, but he was know for celebrating Christmas at his house.
"Regrets?: Creating The PETA Founders"
~ God on PETA
"Most people will tell you he was Jewish, but he was know for celebrating Christmas at his house."
Well Christmas for many people is a cultural holiday, not religious. It's fun to celebrate it and give away presents without involving faith issues. So it doesn't mean that if he was Jewish (an he was a non practicing one) he couldn't celebrate Christmas.
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