Christ Figures

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my discovery of the Incarnation Figure as an archetype in storytelling. There are obvious connections between this and the Christ Figure that w are so familiar with given that the Christ that the figures tend to emulate began being Christ through incarnation, the embodiment of something greater in than our world in our world. But the difference that I pointed out is that Christ Figures tend to have death and resurrection or sacrificial element to them and Incarnation Figures don’t always express that.
As intriguing and powerful as Christ Figures can be, I find them troublesome at times. I have seen too many Christians try to grade a story’s value on the presence or lack of Christ Figure. If it has one, it’s a good story, if not it fails. And this is whether the story is told well or the characters are believable or if there is any suspense to make us care what happens.
The other problem I frequently see is when a Christ figure is imposed in attempts to co-opt a story and make it a Christian tale. Take “The Matrix” for example. Certainly there is the element of sacrifice on Neo’s part as he stays behind to let the others escape. And there is something of death and resurrection. But did he really die? OR did he simply, finally understand the Matrix well enough to know that he didn’t have to die there? To me this story is more about faith and finding out what can happen when you truly believe more than it is about a Christ figure and the redemption that follows.
People often describe Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings as a Christ figure. Again there is a certain validity to that in terms of his death and resurrection. But as much as he is a Christ Figure, he is also an Odin Figure, at least up until the resurrection point. It’s almost as if Gandalf starts as Odin and finishes as Christ. And that’s not much a of a stretch given that Odin is a bit of Christ Figure himself, sacrificing himself unto himself.
But my favorite example of the failings of the overstressed Christ Figure is Hell Boy. In the second Hell Boy movie, the story follows the typical Christ Figure arch, as he sacrifices himself to save another, descends into the pits to eradicate the forces of evil and save all the Earth. Powerful stuff. But how many Christians stumble on this because he is a demon – and not just any demon, Satan’s son who’s true destiny is to bring ultimate destruction on the Earth? Is such a character an acceptable Christ Figure?
I think this is one of those examples that parallels the story of the Bronze Snake from scripture. God commanded Moses to make a bonze statue of a snake. This statue heals anyone that looks at it. The odd part is that most times that snakes appear in scripture, they are symbols of evil, demons or Satan himself. Jesus later tells us that the snake was an image of him. The image of evil expresses the ultimate good. Perhaps Hell Boy falls in this same category.

The Journey Inward

We took our kids to the movies to watch a kid film. Occasionally they don’t enjoy kid films, feeling they are too old for the story at times. “Finding Nemo” has become one of these. I watch it from time to time and they ultimately end up on the couch with me, but they insist that it is too little for them.
But this trip to the cinema proved just the opposite, with my wife and I enjoying the film better than our daughters. It wasn’t too young but rather too intense. I’m not bashing the film. The depths of the emotions (anger, fear, loneliness, sadness) was greater than they were ready to experience in one one hundred minute dose. They even enjoyed it for the most part; it was more of a cumulative effect.
The film was “Where the Wild Things Are”. When I first heard this film was being made, I didn’t want to see it. I enjoyed the book more as an adult than as a kid, but I felt certain the movie would suck. Recent history supports this. Most attempts to stretch a children’s picture book into a feature length film results in horrendous bastardizations of the original story. I changed my mind when I heard that Spike Jonze was directing. I love his films. It was a hard to picture him doing something for kids, but I knew it would be good. Then the trailers made it obvious that they had captured the look Maurice’s Sendak’s art. It was worth the gamble.
The story of a child being overwhelmed by his life and losing control of his emotions resulting in his running away caught my attention. For one thing, the film, like the original story, has the power to magically transform me into a kid Max’s age. I think this stems from an understanding for and strong remembrance of childhood expressed by the director, writers and actors, returning themselves to what it feels like to be that age too. Then they took the story deeper without adding much to it. Then the filmmakers let this all become real, to mimic life and kids without attempts to pretty up everything for a nice Hollywood experience.
The true beauty of this film wasn’t just a journey into the imagination but also a journey inward. Max, when facing the wild things, is actually facing his emotions. These are big, scary things he can barely control, even as their supposed king. The feeling that they will destroy him and consume him sounds all too familiar. The reality is that even as adults feel this way, so too do kids. They are humans and have the full human array of emotions even though they don’t have the language to articulate it; they also the ability to experience them more deeply because they haven’t always built up defenses and filters like adults. Too often, because children don’t have these complexities we forget that they can still experience the full complexity of feelings.
That reminder is the power of this film.

Incarnation Again

I recently discovered a new (for me) archetype in literature: the incarnation figure. This may be something that has been around for ages, I have even seen it before without recognizing it, but recently I became aware of it.
Many people would simply call this a Christ figure since the Christ story begins with incarnation. God became human and entered our world as one of us, bringing the Kingdom of Heaven with him and changing how we understand the world, bringing power to change the world. However, your typical Christ figure dies as a sacrifice to save another or as an innocent dying in a punishment undeserved. Christ figures have their own beauty power and problems that I’ll discuss another time.
But incarnation, I love it. It’s something of wonder that I’d like to see more of. Now that I’m aware of It., I find it’s part of some of my favorite stories. I once read an article about “The Shawshank Redemption” which claimed that Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins’ character) was a Christ figure. It just didn’t fit for me. Now I can see him as an incarnation figure (and thus partially a Christ figure), which makes more sense. He was truly an innocent man in with the convicts, sharing his different way with them. So much of “The Matrix” is incarnational with Neo, Trinity and Morpheus entering a different world to try to change things. Even “Monsters, Inc.” was a tale of incarnation with Boo drastically and permanently changing the world of the monsters by being part of it.
What unveiled this archetype for me? Soulstic, the second novel in the Devouring teen horror series, written by Simon Holt. The truth is the incarnation side of things appeared in the first book, Sorry Night, I just didn’t know what I was experiencing yet. Reggie, the main character in has the ability to descend into the minds of those possessed by the Vours, evil demons that feed on the fear of humans. They trap the soul of the possessed in a landscape built of their worst fears. Reggie enters this fearscape and helps the soul find the means to overcome their fears, escape the possession and ultimately kill the Vour. A great image of what Jesus did by becoming human and showing us how to break free from sin.
Now that I’ve discovered the incarnation figure, I have my eyes open for it and seem to find it everywhere, like the movie “Where the Wild Things Are.” And I’m glad.

Indictments of the Church

In his series Promethea, comic book writer Alan Moore makes a startling indictment of Christianity. He says that Christians want to turn gold back into lead. Obviously this is a reversal of the alchemy claim to be able to turn lead into gold. To some extent it is true of what Christianity has done, at least that represented here in America, which is quite sad considering that Jesus’ first miracle is turning water into wine.
Jesus’ ministry is about transformation, about taking something and making it into something else. The miracle of water turned into wine symbolizes this. It shows us that Jesus intends to take the mundane and simple and make it into something more, something spectacular, something extravagant.
With this in mind, Moore’s view of Christianity is troublesome. Partly because being a Christian in America is often more about aligning with specific cultural norms or a political agenda than it is about following Jesus,. That’s not to say that aren’t people sincerely following Jesus in America. I’m saying that many expect that I have similar political views because of my faith. Or, worse, that because they hold to certain political and cultural views, some believe that they are Christians without experiencing any transformation. It has become joining a club.
So we have made transformation into something less than it should be, turning something spectacular into something mundane. Turning gold into lead.
My guess though, is that Shane Claiborne and his followers would see this transformation from gold to lead as a good thing. He makes a case for the powerful new kingdom of Christ overthrowing the old kingdom of this world. Gold is no longer king. Christ is the king with his new order of the last being first and the least being greatest. In this sense, a Christianity that radically pursues these teachings of Jesus would truly be transformative, stripping the rich and powerful, dethroning wealth.
Perhaps the worst indictment against the Church is that we haven’t transformed gold into lead.

What’s so Funny?

We laughed so hard we couldn’t breathe. It was your typical giggle-fest where you get to the point where everything is hilarious and just increases the laughter. You cry. You try your best not to pee your pants. When it was finally over my ribs, my face, my throat and even the muscles in the back of my neck are sore from the ordeal.
This was a church meeting, mind you. A men’s gathering that was intended to be more serious, something to help us become more introspective and ultimately become better men, and understand how to live our faith more fully.
Instead, non stop, howling laughing.
This wasn’t one of those “holy” laughter things you hear about in some Pentecostal churches. This was good old fashioned funny stories from our lives.
We had an agenda for the meeting. We wanted to get to know each other better. Ultimately, the group is designed to help us grow spiritually and emotionally. Trust is crucial to that we spent time getting to know each other, setting the foundation for what is to come. We were asked to share something about ourselves that the others didn’t know.
I can’t share what we discussed. But when the first person to speak told us that he once was the quality control inspector at a breast pump factory, a few chuckles rolled out. Chuckles turned to guffaws and the night had a whole new agenda. Most of it sophomoric and gross. Enough so to pass for a meeting of sixth grade boys as we rattled off crazy story after crazy story that involved odd, embarrassing or even disgusting bathroom incidents.
By then, the laughter was far into the realm of unbridled. There was no way that it was coming back to something serious.
Later, as we were finally wrapping up, one of our number asked, “why can’t we have fun like this in church all the time?”
Which is a great question. Obviously, there are times when such humor is inappropriate. There are times when things need to be more serious; part our interaction with life as a church encompasses those bad, sad and even horrible times. Some things aren’t appropriate for certain audiences. But the truth of the matter is, we all have funny and embarrassing stories. They are part of life too. Why can’t they be part of Christian experience?
There are places where this kind of being real is good. Even important. There is a point when being goofy is necessary. I’ll even go so far as to say it’s holy.
The scriptures I read say that God found his creation good. Even the gross parts. Even the base parts. It’s the way he made it. Embrace it.

Discovering Independent Comics

I am still learning my way around the current landscape of the comic industry and one thing seems missing to me, the presence of black characters and black creators. Granted, I know a small portion of all there is, so there may be vast armies of both that I have yet to discover.  Early indications don’t support that, at least no in the mainstream.

A quick side point, I know that the proper term is African American, but there seems to be a dearth African Africans or African Europeans as well, both as creators and characters – especially heroes. So, for simplicity, I am not so politically correct. Hopefully I don’t offend too many.

Recently I spent a weekend at Wizard World Chicago, the comic con in the Windy City. One of the striking features of this event was the large proportion of independent creators in Artists Alley that were black. The underground appears to be abounding in black comic creators and black characters.

I took the time to hang out with a few of them, to get to know what they were creating and why. Brian Williams proved the most fascinating to me and his superhero Lucius Hammer really caught my attention. The first full issue is yet to come but his rough cut preview impressed me. Great art and astounding writing filled the pages.

Intriguingly, both the origin tale of Lucius and the letter from Williams at the end address the absence of or at least the limited presence of black superheroes.

Williams raves about his discovery of Luke Cage, aka Powerman of the Marvel Universe, when he was child and how that shaped his love for comics, his hope for comics and his desire to create comics. I too remember Luke Cage from my early days reading comics. He was one of the reasons that I kept reading. He truly was one of the coolest characters, both as a hero and a person to grace the pages of comics in my formative years.

While speaking with Williams, I remembered an interview with Whoopi Goldberg in the movie “Finding Debra Winger” (well worth the rental fee if you haven’t seen it yet; seriously, as soon as you finish reading this, go watch it.) She talks about seeing Star Trek on TV when she was young and telling her mom to come see this black lady (Lt. Uhura) on the show “and she’s not even anybody’s maid.” The striking inspiration of that character in her life moved me. Artists and writers have the opportunity to inspire even if they aren’t creating high art. Williams’ love for Luke Cage echoes the power of art to change lives.

That makes me even more desirous for there to be greater diversity of characters and creators. Who knows who will be inspired next? Who knows what will be the revelation or inspiration to some kid that they have a shot at something more than what they see in front of them.

And by the way, tell your local purveyor of comics that they need to get copies of Lucius Hammer on the shelves.

Wiccans Stay Mum

Recently I discovered a handful of Wiccans in my town and inquired about interviewing them for the newspaper. Almost all of them declined stating that their faith is personal and don’t want to talk about. This seemed odd since many of them posted this interest on their MySpace page or on MeetUp.com. They appear to be seeking people to discuss this with, just not me.
My immediate thought was that since I am an outsider, they do not trust me enough to have the conversation. I figure it is for one of two reasons.
My first guess is that their faith is so sacred to them that any real discussion of it with outsiders would profane their beliefs. Perhaps what they believe and what they practice has such a deep sense of holiness to them that those not of the same mind cannot know about it. Perhaps various degrees of dedication and commitment are necessary to understand.
And this may be the case.
My second guess, and the one that I think is correct, is that too many people have judged them too harshly for too long for them to trust anyone to not react that way. And even if I could get them to trust me to interview them, would they trust my readers?
The fact is that even though entertainment media has given Wicca and other magical faiths a lot of time in the spotlight lately, they have sort of made light of it. As much as Wiccans believe in the magic in our earth and their ability tap into and make use of that, is it really as spectacular as it appears on TV and in movies? Are these people tapped into so much power that they are ready to rule the world? As much as someone might secretly desire what they see in movies, most of us tend to still smirk and giggle when we hear of someone that truly subscribes to the beliefs of Wicca.
I personally am not a Wiccan. I don’t fully get all that Wicca is. I believe that there are some real and powerful spiritual or perhaps even magical phenomena that Wiccans experience. I am not ready to change my beliefs but I would really like to be able to have a conversation with someone to find out what they believe, to have them stop judging me as Christian long enough to prove that I am not judging them. Granted, we Christians have given them a lot to judge us for.
I would just like the chance to be curious without being judged personally. I like to think that most Wiccans can appreciate that.

Is it sport?

For many years, there have been debates about what makes a sport a sport. ESPN provides coverage of auto racing and poker championships. They are competitions certainly, so they must fall closer to the realm of sport than most other TV. Well, maybe game shows. Lacking the product placement.
But this question resurfaced recently and in the realm that puzzles me more. Activities that require physical movement that seem odd. Basically, to me, the idea of a sport is something that involves use of athleticism and motion. The body is in involved somehow. Thus baseball, with it’s small spurts of activity is a sport. Cycling and swimming, although not requiring the athleticism of soccer or basketball or gymnastics, still require a lot of the body, therefore they qualify. Even events that involve learned skills like archery qualify.
The problem is that these are all accepted or to some degree accepted as sports. The Olympic committee recognizes them or some other governing body and thus television coverage is warranted and print space allotted. We take it as sport.
But there are those that refuse to accept anything outside this as a sport. So, when ESPN.com ran this story http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=mccluskey/090722 about Muggle Quidditch, the debate began again.
First of all, for those of you who don’t know what quidditch is, read a book; there is this guy named Harry Potter, he has lots of books and movies about his adventures, including his exploits on quidditch pitch.
So, in Harry’s world, people fly on broomsticks when they play this game. For those non magical folk among us who can’t fly (muggles), this is out of the question. Some brilliant college guys came up with an answer. Replace the flying with running. They made some rules, published them online and then held a tournament. Several colleges had teams make the trip, not official school teams mind you, but teams nonetheless. Many students took exception to this, claiming that this isn’t a real sport.
Now, the fact that the teams had a kegger the night before the tournament lends this more the mystique of other odd alcohol induced idiocy. Streaking comes to mind. But, if I hold to my earlier argument, streaking would require movement…
I think the real point is that people are embarrassed that their prestigious institutions of higher learning have someone in it doing something they think embarrassing. So what is more embarrassing, underage drinking leading to idiocy like streaking? Or some kids finding away to get some actually exercise and entertainment through something involving books from their childhood?
I remember this argument surfacing several years ago when the movie Dodge Ball brought attention to the many dodge ball leagues out there. The point then was that dodge ball is merely a grade school game, not a sport. But it includes running, catching and throwing, like many other sports, as well as dipping, ducking, diving and dodging. Just because we did it as kids doesn’t mean we can’t do it as adults for entertainment and call it a sport. I played baseball as a kid. And football and basketball. Just because I stopped playing baseball as a kid doesn’t mean it isn’t a sport. I merely outgrew it.
Or sucked at it really.
But that’s not the point. The point is whether or not he colleges ever adopt muggle quidditch as a varsity sport, the game still requires more athleticism and activity than poker; it may not be as cool, but it’s still a sport. A goofy sport, yet a sport nonetheless.
That and this video of Bruce Lee http://ow.ly/i7nY. They could redefine sports forever.

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