In this post I want to talk about one of my favorite aspects of Jewish mythology, the golem. Its a creation myth, but rather then a myth of a god creating humans, it is humans creating protectors, of clay. I what to focus on a few ideas first the idea of the protector in any mythology, then the idea of creation from clay or some from of earth present in other mythologies, and finally I want to talk about the golem in modern setting.
The idea of protectors, totems that help societies of peoples stay safe, for the Jewish there is the golem, for the medieval Christian's it was gargoyles, and to the Babylonians it was the lamassu. Fear is an emotion everyone share so even a made up sense of safety is comforting. The mythology around the golem is that it will protect the Jewish people from people who wish to harm them or get rid of them, and given the history of the persecution of the Jewish people its an understandable fear to have. The medieval Christians had fears of a different kind they had the fear of the world, quiet literally anything that wasn't explained by the church was something to be feared. The gargoyles were on the gothic cathedrals to protect them from evil spirits. The Babylonians believe that the lamassu would protect them from invading forces an thus they were put at the gates of cities to protect them from outside forces. Then there are the creation myths tied in with golem.
Mutiple creations myths involve the use of some form of earth, from the Judeo Christian creation myth, and Grecian creation myths, as well as the golem itself. The Judeo Christian creation myth is that God created the first man out of the dust of the ground and formed him in to the current shape of humanity. Then there are multiple creation myths in Greek mythology, one of which is that a man who threw rocks to the ground and these rocks sprung up as men to be part of his country. The golem itself is made of clay and then given life. The importance of all these being linked is that it results in an interesting connection to humanity and earth, in a sort of circle of life way, it explains our burial practices and out belief systems.
Now lets talk about the golem, like I said one of my favorite Jewish myths, if not one of my favorite myths period. The golem interests me because it is a creation meant for protection but also because it give a man the ability to be a god to give life to an object in a more real way then one could accomplish in any other way. What role does the golem play in the modern setting you might ask and the answer to that would be a favorite past time of mine, D&D. In D&D there are multiple types of golems not just clay, but iron and stone and golems made of flesh. I think these are interesting because the myth never states that a golem must be made of clay and thus anything formed into the shape of a human can be animated with a spell and serve as a protector. However they are always automatons, creatures without thoughts or feelings they serve a purpose in obeying their masters. Which really limits and confuses can they be seen as something that needs caring from a creator or can they be wiped away as marker on a white board and I think that leaves an interesting place when connected to the creation myths, does that mean man is mindless? Does it mean that we can be destroyed pointlessly and with out a 2nd thought?
Saturday, September 25, 2010
History Of Comics
In my last post I talked about the art change in comics and how it has affected other types of media. This time I would like to talk more about the actual history of comics. Particularly the golden age.
Lets start with what the golden age is. Its the age when comics first started up until about the 1960's. The early 1930's is when the comic book originated and that was originally a comic book had multiple different comic strips. This was so there was something for everyone. The first superhero comic and also the first comic to have its own serialized book was superman. However I don't want to spend this entire post telling you the story of comics books I actually want to comment on my thoughts on the old heros and the comic book censorship that took place in the 50's.
First my thoughts on the old heros the ones that have existed sense the dawn of comics, superman, batman, the entire lot of them. They were the heros that captured the imagination of the children of the great depression and of world war 2. These heros were something fantastic, but what about in our day and age how do they old up? Here is what I think, I think some have held up better then other Superman for instance is to over powered in my opinion he has one flaw an incredibly rare and expensive stone, it would be like a human only being able to die by swallowing plutonium. Then there is batman and this will show my personal bias because he is my favorite hero. Batman transcends time lines really because he could really be placed in any time with cutting edge weaponry and still fit, and he still mortal, with the right budget anyone could do it. Then there is Captain America, I think this hero is incredibly outdated, he is a character that played heavily on the nationalism of World War 2. Which in the modern day and age makes him appear like a rather flat character. Then I want to talk on the topic of the censorship panels.
Censorship, to me it is one of the ugliest words in the English language. It means repression of thoughts and ideas that could be important to a particular sector of the public, ideas that could shape and change the world. The foolishness of censorship really leads to deliberate ignorance, and that is why the censorship panels of comics and all censorship in general is completely foolish to me. The worst part was the suppression of art. Art, in my opinion, is one of the best mediums for expressing ideas, so when censorship represses art it is particularly heinous. Even if one believes that comics are the lowest form of art they have to see that comics do serve a purpose they can enlighten and educate a sector of the population that would normally not be exposed to these ideas even if they are radical, or stupid they serve a purpose.
Lets start with what the golden age is. Its the age when comics first started up until about the 1960's. The early 1930's is when the comic book originated and that was originally a comic book had multiple different comic strips. This was so there was something for everyone. The first superhero comic and also the first comic to have its own serialized book was superman. However I don't want to spend this entire post telling you the story of comics books I actually want to comment on my thoughts on the old heros and the comic book censorship that took place in the 50's.
First my thoughts on the old heros the ones that have existed sense the dawn of comics, superman, batman, the entire lot of them. They were the heros that captured the imagination of the children of the great depression and of world war 2. These heros were something fantastic, but what about in our day and age how do they old up? Here is what I think, I think some have held up better then other Superman for instance is to over powered in my opinion he has one flaw an incredibly rare and expensive stone, it would be like a human only being able to die by swallowing plutonium. Then there is batman and this will show my personal bias because he is my favorite hero. Batman transcends time lines really because he could really be placed in any time with cutting edge weaponry and still fit, and he still mortal, with the right budget anyone could do it. Then there is Captain America, I think this hero is incredibly outdated, he is a character that played heavily on the nationalism of World War 2. Which in the modern day and age makes him appear like a rather flat character. Then I want to talk on the topic of the censorship panels.
Censorship, to me it is one of the ugliest words in the English language. It means repression of thoughts and ideas that could be important to a particular sector of the public, ideas that could shape and change the world. The foolishness of censorship really leads to deliberate ignorance, and that is why the censorship panels of comics and all censorship in general is completely foolish to me. The worst part was the suppression of art. Art, in my opinion, is one of the best mediums for expressing ideas, so when censorship represses art it is particularly heinous. Even if one believes that comics are the lowest form of art they have to see that comics do serve a purpose they can enlighten and educate a sector of the population that would normally not be exposed to these ideas even if they are radical, or stupid they serve a purpose.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Comic Art
In this post I want to talk more about the artistic style of comic and graphic novels rather than the content of a particular graphic novel or comic. Frist I will examine how the art style has grown and then how the art is applied in modern setting not just to comics, but to other media as well.
I want to start out by discussing panels. They are the framework of any story quite literally. A panel is the picture where something happens in a comic. They also produce the flow in a comic, the way they are arranged directs the reader’s eyes to follow the story a certain ways, or in a full page panel allow the reader to explore the page as they see fit. This also allows for a character to exist a panel, meaning they break the border this means either they are usually being more dramatic, grabbing the reader’s attention by breaking the strait lines, or it is done to break the fourth wall. The panels can also be used to manipulate they speed at which the reader reads, a longer panel will slow the reader down which a bunch of quick short small panels will speed up the reader. So panels are an effective frame work for the art to take place, but what about the art style within the panels?
Well the art style has changed quite a bit over the years, from stippling in the 50’s to the heavy inking of the grittier dramas in conjunction with cell shading, and know in the era of more webcomics we she an mixture of a flash and anime mix as well as a large number of artistic styles. The art of comics has evolved along with comics as a medium, as the writing got more sophisticated so does the art as a way to tell the story. Stippling was a bright colorful medium, which made even the darkest melodramas seem to play across a clown’s face paint. Then as comics grew into a more adult medium a new art style grew as well darker, heavier, and scarier environments were created, like in the stories of the “darkest night” character arc or the graphic novels of V for Vendetta and Watchmen. So comics began to be taken more seriously as an artistic medium. Then as the internet grew as a place for media to flourish, webcomics began to pop up these usually one page weekly comics have become a mixture of many different art styles, for a great display of many artistic style I would recommend the Gutters ( http://www.the-gutters.com/ ) it is a funny series.
The art style of comics has translated into other media as they become a more popularized medium. This is seen in super hero movies as well as movies like Scott Pilgrim which actually barrow quite heavily from comics and video games. Then video games themselves the new game Halo Reach for instance has a special effect in the forge mode that turns the entire map into a heavy black and white contrast which is called pen and ink, which makes me think of graphic novels. Comics as an artistic medium as crossed borders, and not just the ones around panels, to create an aristic approach to all media.
I want to start out by discussing panels. They are the framework of any story quite literally. A panel is the picture where something happens in a comic. They also produce the flow in a comic, the way they are arranged directs the reader’s eyes to follow the story a certain ways, or in a full page panel allow the reader to explore the page as they see fit. This also allows for a character to exist a panel, meaning they break the border this means either they are usually being more dramatic, grabbing the reader’s attention by breaking the strait lines, or it is done to break the fourth wall. The panels can also be used to manipulate they speed at which the reader reads, a longer panel will slow the reader down which a bunch of quick short small panels will speed up the reader. So panels are an effective frame work for the art to take place, but what about the art style within the panels?
Well the art style has changed quite a bit over the years, from stippling in the 50’s to the heavy inking of the grittier dramas in conjunction with cell shading, and know in the era of more webcomics we she an mixture of a flash and anime mix as well as a large number of artistic styles. The art of comics has evolved along with comics as a medium, as the writing got more sophisticated so does the art as a way to tell the story. Stippling was a bright colorful medium, which made even the darkest melodramas seem to play across a clown’s face paint. Then as comics grew into a more adult medium a new art style grew as well darker, heavier, and scarier environments were created, like in the stories of the “darkest night” character arc or the graphic novels of V for Vendetta and Watchmen. So comics began to be taken more seriously as an artistic medium. Then as the internet grew as a place for media to flourish, webcomics began to pop up these usually one page weekly comics have become a mixture of many different art styles, for a great display of many artistic style I would recommend the Gutters ( http://www.the-gutters.com/ ) it is a funny series.
The art style of comics has translated into other media as they become a more popularized medium. This is seen in super hero movies as well as movies like Scott Pilgrim which actually barrow quite heavily from comics and video games. Then video games themselves the new game Halo Reach for instance has a special effect in the forge mode that turns the entire map into a heavy black and white contrast which is called pen and ink, which makes me think of graphic novels. Comics as an artistic medium as crossed borders, and not just the ones around panels, to create an aristic approach to all media.
A contract with God
To discuss Will Eisner's "A Contract with God" is to discuss not only the Jewish relationship with God but also the ideas of sexuality, and, suffering. Cookalein was my personal favorite so I'm going to address these themes with respect to that story. While the most potent theme in Cookalein is sexuality, I will start by addressing the idea of suffering.
In Cookalein the most apparent suffering is loneliness, whether it is the loneliness of Goldie and Benny searching for lovers, and money, or Sam’s wife being cheated on. Loneliness is constant theme in the story, Goldie talks about spending all her savings to buy two dresses just to find a husband. This In my option speaks of desperation, she’s willing to spend all her money in order to obtain a husband. Then Sam’s wife appears to be lonely because she spends all day doing house work, and the only reason she will not get a divorce from Sam is because they have children. Then at the end of the story she tells Willie he has to be the man of the house because his father is going to be around less often. Benny appears lonely not only in the extremes he goes to attract a mate, but also that he wants to have sex so badly he rapes Goldie, and while I know this is a heinous and villainous act to do, it also speaks of a desperation for a basic human need that I think Benny has. The other person who seems to be lonely is Maralyn, her husband mention how she is back to her old tricks when she is sleeping with Willie, which implies she is in the habit of sleeping around. This could mean she is either an overly sexualized woman or she is lonely and looking for attention, or both are possible. Eisner focuses heavily on the idea of loneliness but not nearly as much as he does on the role of sexuality in the lives of his characters.
Almost every one of the characters Eisner presents to the reader in Cookalein has some sort of experience with sexuality over the course of the story. Sam has sex with his mistress and tries to have sex with his wife but she rejects him because she knows that he is sleeping around. Maralyn has sex with both Willie and her husband. Benny rapes Goldie, and the two young children watch. Each of these characters reacts to the sex differently as well. Sam enjoys the sex with his mistress, but the sex with his wife she more like it is out of obligation then out of love, or even lust which seems like a larger driving force behind sex in this story. This leads me to both Maralyn and Benny, who both seem motivated by lust to seek out sexual encounters. Then the children witness the rape of Goldie but in their innocence that just what adults do when they are being “naughty” so they are exposed to sexuality at a young age and it leads to them already having an interesting exposure to sex.
In Cookalein the most apparent suffering is loneliness, whether it is the loneliness of Goldie and Benny searching for lovers, and money, or Sam’s wife being cheated on. Loneliness is constant theme in the story, Goldie talks about spending all her savings to buy two dresses just to find a husband. This In my option speaks of desperation, she’s willing to spend all her money in order to obtain a husband. Then Sam’s wife appears to be lonely because she spends all day doing house work, and the only reason she will not get a divorce from Sam is because they have children. Then at the end of the story she tells Willie he has to be the man of the house because his father is going to be around less often. Benny appears lonely not only in the extremes he goes to attract a mate, but also that he wants to have sex so badly he rapes Goldie, and while I know this is a heinous and villainous act to do, it also speaks of a desperation for a basic human need that I think Benny has. The other person who seems to be lonely is Maralyn, her husband mention how she is back to her old tricks when she is sleeping with Willie, which implies she is in the habit of sleeping around. This could mean she is either an overly sexualized woman or she is lonely and looking for attention, or both are possible. Eisner focuses heavily on the idea of loneliness but not nearly as much as he does on the role of sexuality in the lives of his characters.
Almost every one of the characters Eisner presents to the reader in Cookalein has some sort of experience with sexuality over the course of the story. Sam has sex with his mistress and tries to have sex with his wife but she rejects him because she knows that he is sleeping around. Maralyn has sex with both Willie and her husband. Benny rapes Goldie, and the two young children watch. Each of these characters reacts to the sex differently as well. Sam enjoys the sex with his mistress, but the sex with his wife she more like it is out of obligation then out of love, or even lust which seems like a larger driving force behind sex in this story. This leads me to both Maralyn and Benny, who both seem motivated by lust to seek out sexual encounters. Then the children witness the rape of Goldie but in their innocence that just what adults do when they are being “naughty” so they are exposed to sexuality at a young age and it leads to them already having an interesting exposure to sex.
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