Why We’re So Obsessed with Nuns

Riddle me this: When is a nun not just a nun? Answer: when she's a pop culture icon. The woman in the wimple has long fascinated filmmakers and storytellers, but of late the interest seems to have kicked into hyperdrive -- and not just with this weekend's release of Paul Verhoeven's characteristically wild Benedetta, or Lauren Groff's lauded novel Matrix, or the recent FX series based on Black Narcissus. And though nun stories fall into all kinds of categories, from horror and romance to drama and comedy, they usually draw on the same dramatic tension: the inherent potential, whether or not it's exercised, for women in organized religious orders to pose a threat to male-dominated religious hierarchy.