Popular culture: the search for the miraculous

He article is devoted to the specifics of the search for a miracle and the proposal of the theme of the miraculous in modern popular culture. The author considers popular culture as that part of commercial mass culture that is widely in demand by consumers; in particular, stories related to miracles are very popular. In the article, a miracle is understood as extraordinary happy events that radically violate the usual and generally understood order of things, but precisely those that are assessed as good because they meet the desires and aspirations of a person. Unlike Christianity, where miracles rely only on intrusions into the world of God, modern eclectic mass consciousness considers a miracle the sudden realization of one’s own persistent desires, obtained in any way: prayer, magic, ritual, work with consciousness. This idea of a miracle has much more to do with a fairy tale than with faith. Popular culture provides many ways to expose consumers to possible wonders, given personality types. The active, “masculine” type is offered various magical ways to actively influence their own destiny through energy and mental practices; Receptive, “feminine” clients are offered a range of predictive and protective magical services. Any people interested in a miracle not as a moment in their own lives, but as a curious phenomenon, are offered an abundance of fairy tales, fantasy, mystical and magical literature, including books on transpersonalism, as well as computer games that include a miracle as a necessary plot point. “Magical services” associated with hopes for the miraculous are moving to a huge extent on the Internet, becoming part of information networks, and carried out remotely. The author notes that a miracle, which has always seemed like an extraordinary event, rare and accessible to the experience of a few, thanks to popular culture, begins to seem like something accessible and ordinary, is devalued, and, becoming a permanent element of action films and detective stories, acquires a tinge of brutality.