Audio-Visual Portrayals of Jehovahâs Witnesses

George D. Chryssides

Jump to Content

Chapter 8 Audio-Visual Portrayals of Jehovahâs Witnesses

In: Handbook of Contemporary Religion, Film, and Television

Author:

George D. Chryssides

George D. Chryssides
Search for other papers by George D. Chryssides in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 181â205

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004727595_012

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

â¬42.00â¬35.00Â excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

Abstract

The chapter provides a historical account of the ways in which audio-visual portrayals of Jehovahâs Witnesses have developed. Commencing with founder-leader Charles Taze Russellâs Photo-Drama of Creation (1914), the author discusses film and television depicting Jehovahâs Witnesses from throughout the second world war through to today. This includes recent documentaries covering revelations of sexual abuse among the community. The advent of the Internet has provided further opportunities for media portrayal of Jehovahâs Witnesses, providing unrestricted access for critics, but also enabling the Society to allow itself to be seen and heard through its own JW.org website, unfiltered by criticism. Notably, this includes criticism from former members of the Society. The reliability of such ex-member testimony is considered, and the chapter concludes that, contrary to the opinion of some scholars of new religions, ex-JW testimony is more likely to be reliable than ex-member testimony in other more recent spiritual groups.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789004727595/BP000019.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Handbook of Contemporary Religion, Film, and Television

Series:Â Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion, Volume: 24

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004727595

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 16 Jan 2026

Subjects
- Religious Studies
  - Religion and the Arts

Front Matter

Part 1 Drama, Romance, and Comedy

Part 2 Historical and Political Portrayals

Part 3 Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction

Part 4 Documentary, Reality Television, and the Media

Back Matter

ProCite

RefWorks

Reference Manager

BibTeX

Zotero

EndNote

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	65	65	19
Full Text Views	2	2	1
PDF Views & Downloads	3	3	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Chapter 8 Audio-Visual Portrayals of Jehovahâs Witnesses

Abstract

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

Handbook of Contemporary Religion, Film, and Television

Table of Contents

References

Metrics

Metrics

Chapter 8 Audio-Visual Portrayals of Jehovahâs Witnesses