Sunday, 25 January 2009
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The Separation of Church and Fiction?
A week or so ago I sent a Christian (and Sonic fan) friend of mine the following e-mail:
Subject: New Sonic project... I need some help.
Well, I believe God has given me a new Sonic project to work on... but I need some serious help, and I need to know where I can find some Christian Sonic fans to help me.
What I'd like to make is a comic and RPG titled Sonikku (the first issue of the comic is titled The Gospel According to Hedgehogs, and is about Robotnik's takeover and Sonic's coming to faith) based off several ideas I've got floating around in my head... but the only place I know of that has Christian Sonic fans en masse is Mobian Ministry on DeviantART, and I don't want to sign up for DeviantART because I'd have to put in my REAL name. I'm almost afraid to try Saturday Morning Sonic (the forum I frequent), because there are a lot of atheists on there, and while they've been respectful... blah blah blah, in short, I'm chicken. I guess I just need to buck up.
Anyway, I wanted to know if you knew of a good forum or anything for Christian Sonic the Hedgehog fans. Or just creative Christians. I'm not picky.
God bless,
Kate
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My friend replied:
Actually, DA doesn't require you to put your real name. In that space, most people just put a random quote about themselves. However, I have to say this: I have qualms with putting an obvious Christian spin on a cartoon/comic that wasn't intended to include that. The Sonic Universe isn't ours, obviously, and handling Christ within it would be - complicated, and maybe even sacrilegious. You've heard that Chris Rice song? 'Cartoons'? It's a silly song about what cartoon characters would sound like if they were Christians, but it ends with this point:
"But there's a lot of praisin' to do
And cartoons weren't made for that
It's our job"
Now, I think you can present Christian values into your stories, but I would not indoctrinate it. For instance - In the anime, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - while it may not be the purest show, does have a wonderful episode in which robots of some sort are discussing the presence of free will and souls in people. That's Christian theology. I loved it, because I agreed with it. It was one of those 'So true!' moments that I love. But I think that trying to mesh Jesus into a world in which He wasn't meant for - fictional worlds - will rub people the wrong way no matter what you do. And it might not be the best way to witness. The only time in which I immensely enjoyed seeing clear Christian references in a cartoon was in X-Men. In one episode, Charles Xavier's ancestor called Charles Darwin out about how his theory couldn't account for the human soul. In the same episode, he comforted a mutant in a church who was crying out to God for abandoning him, telling him that God does not abandon his creations. And in Justice League: Unlimited, Amanda Waller reflected upon how the Lord was a comfort to her through the years, spoke of His mysterious ways, and that, though she'd have a lot to answer for when she met Him, she hoped she'd done some good. But, by the same token, these series take place in a world based on our own. It's Earth with superheroes. While seeing Christian values and ideas in the entertainment industry could be great, I don't think it would be the best idea to use Sonic for that. That's just my opinion.---
I replied:
Tell that to C.S. Lewis, the creator of the Chronicles of Narnia. He depicted Christ as a lion named Aslan, and now both C.S. Lewis and Narnia are household words. Or tell that to the creators of VeggieTales, who use computer-animated vegetables to tell Bible stories and parodies with a Christian message and have videos in one out of every three households. God has used both to speak to me, never mind what Chris Rice says. (And I find it ironic that Rice uses cartoon characters to praise the Lord at the same time he says that they weren't made for that.) Why can't God use a vocation like storytelling to advance His kingdom?
I'll tell you point blank that you've brought tears to my eyes. That doesn't mean we can't still be friends, though.
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I don't think anything else needs to be said.
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Comments (1)
Remember that in Narnia contained only allegories to Christian themes and values, not explicit references. You see, if nothing else, it was nothing if not subtle. As an atheist, there are surely numerous popular Christian lessons that I can fully support -- the virtues of kindness, sacrifice, and so on, great, we can all agree on that. But if I opened up your project to a scene of Sonic being visited by an image of Christ, falling to his knees and screaming 'Oh lord I bow before you and beg your forgiveness'... that project would go straight into the bin.
Narnia is an example of taking your beliefs and expressing the virtues, and doing it right... if you want an example of someone doing it really wrong, I can suggest picking up the Doom novels by Dafydd ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver. They were wittily written stories, yes -- but midway through they cut away to extended quotes and discussions of Mormonism... what would you, or I, think of that? Needless to say, I was completely turned off and read no further into the series than the second book.
The problem with very callously inserting explicit references and depictions of your favoured religion into your works is, while it may seem noble from the perspective of yourself and others that think your exact way, to everybody else it appears nothing short of alienating, insulting, and self-indulgent.
Your friend is pretty much spot-on in his assessment, and I'd encourage you to go along with it. It's very possible to express your values while still considering the beliefs of others. If you can do that, I think you can come out with something really powerful and appealing. If not, at best you'll be preaching to the choir and far more likely, limiting your appeal to a very very tiny audience. I've seen on SMS that you're still working on your project, and I wish you the best of luck with it.