Festivals, Comics, and Craig Thompson

April 16, 2012 in Faith and Culture, General, Staff Posts with 0 Comments

Craig Thompson

Why is Jake excited for Calvin’s Festival of Faith and Writing 2012? Here’s a reason: Craig Thompson

Graphic novels, comic books, or comic strips; however you label it, I love comics.

Like a lot of people I grew up reading the occasional Superman or Batman comic. And like a lot of people I gave it up early on for more “mature” pursuits. Early in high school, however, I realized that comics and superheroes are not synonymous.

Sure, the comic medium developed primarily through its American mid-twentieth century portrayal of super-human characters, and if the recent blockbuster movies indicate anything, people still enjoy these iconic figures. But, to say that all comic books are about superheroes is as absurd as saying that all movies are romantic comedies. And who in their right mind would even want that?

I think we ought to think of comics as a medium through which different kinds of stories can be told. Comics should be thought of as similar to television, movies, and novels. And in many ways, it can be a more diverse and streamlined medium than any of those above.

Think about it. One person, with a lot of skill, and with basically no budget, can make comics. You don’t need to get a producer or studio’s approval. You don’t need to consult with anyone, unless you want to. And as a result, you can tell stories that no one else would allow, and do so completely on your own terms.

 

Craig Thompson’s Blankets is one of those books that first showed this to me. It was published in 2003 and has recieved a lot of attention over the years. Thompson is a highly skilled artist, and his autobiographical narrative feels impressively honest and personal. The story is primarily concerned with his first experiences of falling in love while in high school and his life growing up in a Christian church. The narrative concludes at the point where I assume Thompson was when he began the graphic novel. He is no longer convinced of the validity of the Christianity he believed earlier in life, but he seems to hold onto some elements as important. This resolution is fascinating in that it isn’t simple or neat: it is fundamentally and unflinchingly realistic.

Blankets is an subtle and thoughtful piece, and I think that speaks to the importance of it. The story could not be told as well or as artfully in another form. Its existence is a sign of the power and diversity of the comic medium as a whole. If you’ve never read a non-superhero comic or graphic novel, Blankets may be a great place to start.

Thompson is going to be speaking at Calvin’s Festival of Faith and Writing this weekend several times, including a gallery reception and book signing Friday evening.

I’ll be there. Will you?

Jake Slaughter is an editorial intern with Relief and will graduate from Trinity International University with a degree in English and English/Communications this spring.

Swirling in the Blue Like Jazz

April 3, 2012 in Faith and Culture, General, Staff Posts with 1 Comment

After being invited to a preview showing of Blue Like Jazz: The Movie in New York City, intern Jake Slaughter considers the movie’s role in culture.

A lot of people read Donald Miller’s book Blue Like Jazz when it was published in 2003, but somehow I managed not to. The book was in my periphery though; it’s not every day that a non-fiction book concerned with Christianity is a New York Times bestseller.

Nine years later with the theatrical release of the Blue Like Jazz film about to happen on April 13, it seems like there is another opportunity for an even larger audience to interact with Miller’s story, and I got a chance to see the film early.

In New York on Thursday, April 8, a friend and I were given a tour of part of the News Corporation portion of Rockefeller Center, during which we got to meet Don Miller and director Steve Taylor. We sat in on an interview (and my friend Garrett got to ask some very insightful questions) between Don, Steve, and Fox News host Todd Starnes. After the interview I was invited to see a preview showing of the film in Manhattan as part of a month-long tour across the country in order to promote awareness of the film.

Weeks later, and the film is still on my mind. I would prefer to watch it again before I give a full review, but I feel comfortable enough describing my initial reactions to what has already been a very polarizing movie.

In the interview I was a part of and before the screening of the movie, the team was very upfront about their opinions about the current state of “Christian” film. In a recent blog post Steve Taylor lists five things that the public believes about “Christian Movies.”

1. Sentimentality trumps substance

2. Good intentions trump artistry

3. All conflict must be tidily resolved

4. “Safe for the whole family” is a de facto requirement

5. Or as writer David McFadzean summarized, Christian movies are like porn – poorly lit, poorly acted and you always know how they’re going to end.

Indeed, the Blue Like Jazz movie actively fights falling into these traps. As a piece of film, I thought it was impressively done, especially considering the estimated $1.25 million budget, raised partially through Kickstarter donations. The cinematography was elegant, the soundtrack was impressive, the acting was certainly not cheesy, and the screenplay was clever.

But most importantly to those involved in the film’s creation, they avoided the clichés of a “Christian Movie.” The film is PG-13, and it certainly earns it. With most of the plot taking place at Reed College, know for its partying, anything less than a PG-13 rating would have been awkward and forced. Anyways, the movie’s “mature themes, sexuality, drug and alcohol content, and strong language” are all central to the narrative being told.

In brief, the movie is the story of a slightly fictionalized Donald Miller’s attempts to run way from his Christian faith by indulging in all the typical worldly pleasures available at a secular university. Ultimately (spoiler alerts!) Don finds himself drawn back to his faith, and confesses to all the individuals he wronged that “he misrepresented Jesus to them.” The resolution isn’t neat and tidy though, and Don still admits that he is unsure of the validity of all the religious trappings of his past.

I’ll admit I have some qualms with the movie. While I appreciate the attention to the avoidance of clichés, I think the makers are perhaps too cautious in sharing the full meaning and implications of the gospel. Don’s confession that “he misrepresented Jesus” is very effectively done, but I was still left wondering “What does it mean to properly represent Jesus?” It seems that between transitioning from the page to the screen, Miller and those involved decided to hold back part of Christ’s message, possibly because of their effort to avoid the aforementioned cliches.

Ultimately, I think that this movie has the potential to be a means through which we can begin some very important conversations with Christian and secular friends who may see it. I like that the film shows that Christians aren’t perfect, and that any attempt on our part to pretend to be is damaging to both us and others.

Throughout this month of preview showings the response has been fascinating. Steve Taylor’s post I linked to earlier describes how some Christians are writing off the film as offensive or damaging to the public’s perceptions of Christianity, to which he responds (accurately, I might add), “as if the public thinks we’ve got our act together perfectly, as if they don’t already see the hypocrisy in our midst. They just think we’re too dumb to see it ourselves.”

While secular audience may have some problems with the film, I am curiously awaiting to see how Christians respond. I think Mike Cosper explains it well in his review on the Gospel Coalition website:

“It’s testimonial; or as I said earlier, he’s a witness, not an authority. Miller shows a plausible way of trusting in Jesus in a post-Christian world… If it’s prescriptive, then Miller has advocated homosexuality, drug abuse, and more. If it’s descriptive, then it’s actually an encouraging message that even here, in the heart of progressive, post-Christian America, God is at work, and hope for the transformative effects of the gospel isn’t lost.”

Blue Like Jazz: The Movie opens in theaters April 13, and we at Relief want to hear your opinions. Post in the comments section with your thoughts.

Jake Slaughter is an editorial intern with Relief and will graduate from Trinity International University with a degree in English and English/Communications this spring.

Bills, Children, and a Dream of Poetry

March 27, 2012 in General, Staff Posts with 3 Comments

Tania Runyan

Guest Poetry Editor Tania Runyan pursues an alternative dream to the “American” variety.

A few months ago, one of my ACT prep students, a high school junior, shared his concerns about the future. Having grown up designing buildings out of Legos, he had always dreamed of architecture. Now, with today’s job forecasts, he has succumbed to the depressing outlook for architects and is trying to make peace with another area of study–biomedical engineering. “I was born to build,” he said. “But it won’t work for me.” On the outside, I listened carefully and nodded. Inside, I wanted to hurl a taupe chair through the library window. How have we reached a pass where a seventeen-year-old must abandon his dreams before even getting started? What do we say to kids who get starry-eyed around librarians and radio announcers, to education majors packing their bags for their parents’ basements as even tenured elementary teachers lose their jobs?

As a child and teen, I never entertained—much less understood—the state of the economy. People grew up to do what they wanted to do, and somehow food and houses magically appeared. I said I wanted to be a writer, so that’s what I did, what I aspired to, without apology. At an amusement park, a caricaturist drew a picture of me sitting at a typewriter with a long braid and glasses, the words “Pulitzer Prize” in a dreamy thought bubble. Well, duh, I thought. My childhood is pretty much summed up by a cardboard box full of animal stories and writing awards. Sure, I went through my brief zookeeper phase when our house ran amok with pets, and even in college I took a little detour into child development, but I’ve always come back to writing.

Perhaps it is so typically American, so Jay Gatsby, of me to presume that we deserve to pursue our dreams, to even dabble in the idea of dreams, when the great majority of people in the world struggle to keep their hearts beating one more day. But I believe God gifts us with talents that we can never fully untangle from our souls. My mother didn’t pursue what could have been a promising art career, but she also never fully let it go. Perhaps unconsciously, she has allowed her artistic genius to inform nearly every area of her life: decorating her house like a sumptuous museum, turning a daycare classroom into a wonderland of handcrafted leaves, spiders and bats, and now, at the age of 76, quietly spending her days creating miniscule flowers from Post-its for her quarter-inch scale Victorian greenhouses.

Likewise, the derailed counselor who finds himself in a cubicle will often wander to the coffee pot to ask his coworkers the truly probing questions. The chef-turned-pastor will find as many excuses for potlucks as possible. And as the job market continues to narrow, those not spiritually gifted in home health care or large animal veterinary studies will find themselves largely denying their identities in the work place while seeking to nurture their gifts elsewhere.

Like writers. And, Lord help us, the poets, who have been given (thanks a lot, God) one of the most impractical, unwanted gifts of all. It’s debatable whether I have a gift, but I’m better at poetry than just about anything else, and whenever I take on a job that prevents my writing (like when I taught high school English–a job I loved but that precluded any other activities in my life), life feels “off,” like I’ve shut my ears to the Spirit. I know poetry doesn’t bring in the dough. I know it’s ridiculous that I feel like J.K. Rowling when my book reaches 98,000 on Amazon. But when I refuse to give my writing the time, the thought, the painstakingly slow chiseling of words, I am telling my Creator that he made a mistake, that his decision to indwell me with a passion for words at birth was quaint but not worthy of my attention, because, well, it’s not worthy of many people’s attention.

But is God bound by economy, time, or culture? Does he have to follow the rules of what works in the world? The idea of an “audience of one,” has grown tired, I know, but it rings truer to me every day that I write. Yes, I write for others. I want to reach people and make them think, feel, or pray in a different way. But whether one, one hundred, or one thousand (astounding for a poetry book) sell, or whether there is a book at all, is of little consequence when I realize I’m developing my talents for eternal use. We know that today there are too many writers and not enough readers. But can there be too many poets in a place like heaven?

It’s not off-base to recommend that writers put a few practical plans in place. There will be bills and children. While earning two writing degrees, I ensured I also got experience in publishing and teaching, and I have never been without enjoyable employment in some sort of English-related field. But in making any choice about career, church, or “free time,” the artist, who will usually have to pursue his or her gifts outside of the regular work day, will have to prioritize the time to create. If you’re called to writing, it’s not just another hobby, like a quick game of Angry Birds. It’s a slow, sacred unfolding of whom God created you to be. Give it room.

Tania Runyan‘s latest book, One Thousand Vessels, was recently published by WordFarm Press. She is currently working on a new book of poems based on Paul’s epistles under a grant from the NEA.

In Flames We Trust

March 26, 2012 in General, Staff Posts with 4 Comments

In Flames

After surviving a heavy metal concert, Lyle Enright reflects on what God was up to in the meantime. 

“As soon as I say, ‘F—ing explode,’ I want all you motherf—ers to f—ing explode!!”

This was the exhortation Matt Heafy gave to us as he closed out the set with his band, Trivium, last month at the Chicago House of Blues during the last night of the Sounds of a Playground Fading tour, headed up by Swedish heavy metal band In Flames.

And by “‘effing’ explode,” he meant for all of us in the audience to begin throwing ourselves at each other as hard as we could. Which we did. Jubilantly.

For everything that heavy metal has ever been known for, ‘restraint’ has never been one of those things, and this applies thematically as well as socially. “Do I end this all for the world to see?” Trivium asks on their newest album, In Waves. “I know that death approaches fast – What’s the purpose if this life won’t last? Pulling everyone down with me.”

No one, of course, is thinking about the metaphysical implications of such questions in the moment, but they do enjoy the “pulling everyone down with me” part. To be in the middle of an authentic modern metal concert is to participate in a hurricane of bodies and limbs. I earned my tour shirt, and by the end of the night it was covered in blood, sweat and tears. And booze. And spit. And tobacco. And pot.

“So…there is no ‘God’ part to this?” (Yes, I can hear you.)

It seems as though this sort of event, this sort of place, would be where you check God in at the door and leave him there while you go and have a good time. This is certainly what most of us do on a regular basis with far less ‘questionable’ activities. “My way is hidden, my cause is disregarded by my God,” we may be tempted to say with Job in order to justify ourselves, secretly hoping that it’s true and all the while knowing that it’s not.

But I’d been there before. I know what it’s like to think in those terms, so this time I decided to try an experiment: Let’s take Brother Lawrence up on his challenge and practice the presence of the Almighty while in the middle of something that otherwise seems so unwelcoming to him.

The truth is: He’ll follow you anywhere.

It’s a surprising experience, letting yourself get carried away like that. You wind up finding things you would never have expected – the huge smiles you get from people in the mosh pit, the ones who will pick you up and set you out of the way to catch your breath just after they’ve knocked you down, those who don’t even know your name but will seek you out throughout the show to make sure you’re alright and haven’t broken a rib yet. And the occasional drunk dude who adopts you as his best friend for the evening but is still very, very nice about it.

These are the sorts of things no one expects from something like the heavy metal community. There is the pervasive (and not unwarranted) assumption of misanthropy and resignation to Hellfire, but ultimately these people are just like you and me. Or you can argue that I’m just like them and nothing like you, and to that I intend to heap burning coals on your head by replying, “I receive that, brother (or sister; I’ll cover my bases).”

The point is, they don’t hate each other, they don’t hate you, they don’t want to hate you – they’re looking for redemption, just like you and I are. We all need redemption. This is the way they’ve gone about it and somehow, sometimes, they think they’ve found it. They at least believe they’ve found someone who’s asking the right questions. And here they’d be right.

“I won’t let the world break me, so I need to change direction. Nothing special, I’m far from perfect – Light the way for me!” sang Anders Frieden as he and In Flames performed the song ‘Where The Dead Ships Dwell’ off their new album, Sounds of a Playground Fading. Now that isn’t exactly a cry of “Hail Satan!” or a moan of self-pity and alienation.

For twenty years, In Flames have been consistently writing songs that lead their fans to ask questions about bigger things, and to look outside themselves for the answers. None of the members make any statement of faith, but the sense of social responsibility and the need for rescue and reconciliation that comes through in their lyrics is unmissable.

“Fear is the weakness in all of us,” they insist on the same album. “It’s not meant to be easy but you drag us down; burden of the evidence grows… Faith has been denied, let’s not pretend this is the first time we just don’t belong.”

Clearly, there are others out there who see that faith should be a necessary part of our lives. They’re out there, making the claims and asking the questions – loudly, and from the stage – and leading thousands of others to ask them too; people we wouldn’t necessarily think even cared about things like that.

But In Flames was who we all came to hear that night, and many went to hear the words of a God they don’t know sung by voices that they did. And the Word isn’t picky about who shares him, or where.

“If I ever, if I never, make me understand the thought, whatever,” Frieden and company sang to close the night, and I prayed right along with them: “Make me see, make me be, make me understand you’re there for me: Take this life, I’m right here; stay a while and breathe me in.”

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11

Lyle Enright is an editorial intern with Relief and will graduate from Trinity International University with a degree in English this May. 

Your Image Here – Or, Rather, In Print

March 21, 2012 in Relief News with 0 Comments

Though our submission period is technically over, Relief is still willing to accept your b&w images and graphic narratives – but we can’t wait a whole lot longer. Submit by April 1st for the best chance of getting into our May issue.

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