I was going back over old work, and rediscovered this statement I made elsewhere:
Sequential art is the single most effective artistic means for communicating a redemptive message to the postmodern world.
I’d love to know what you think! That was posted a little over two years ago, and I’m not even sure I agree with myself. Do you?
Here was my 2008 justification for the above:
- Sequential art is…
Sequential art (aka comics or graphic novels) can be visceral, thought-provoking, artistically complex, and powerful in visual and literary symbolism in capable hands. Sequential art has the efficacy of the novel when it first broke on the scene at the outset of modernism – it’s a radical new medium with thousands of unexplored techniques. Anyone can be a pioneer in the field of sequential art; and the best pioneers with the best message and the best method have the best chance of making their mark on a new literary terrain. - …the most effective…
Sequential art is cost-effective, marketable, and unrestricted. Whereas big cinema movies might reach a wider audience and have more cultural impact as a whole, few Christian artists have the means at their disposal to create a culture-impacting film (although this is not impossible, as Fireproof demonstrated this fall, causing CNN.com to call it “the surprise hit of the fall”). Much more available to the disposal of anyone with a scanner or Wacom tablet and an internet connection is the creation of sequential art, in the form of webcomics or a personally displayed sequential art longform story (aka a “graphic novel,” typically released in serial format on the web, often page by page). - …artistic means…
This is my big caveat – there is no replacement in communicating the salvific message for personal evangelism. What we’re talking about here is Christian Art, which has a key cultural role, but is completely distinct from the call of the Great Commission, in which Christ clearly directed his followers to go into the world and make disciples of all men. Our art should support our witness, but it cannot neccessarily be our witness. - …for communicating a message…
People are listening to what sequential artists have to say these days. Our culture is getting more and more visually sophisticated. There has been a skyrocketing demand for Graphic Designers in the corporate field, as more and more companies realize that logos and template websites have the potential to instantly kill their appeal to the Apple Market. In this visually sophisticated culture, a visually sophisticated, easily-absorbed message is the message that will get through the noise (nota bene: this does not mean a simple message; graphic novels have dealt with issues as complex as the Holocaust with surprising depth and subtlety). - …a redemptive message…
A quick scan of bookshelves will reveal a strong dychotomy – sequential artist weild a powerful medium, but the message is generally either escapist or pessimistic. Redemptive artists hold the most powerful message of all time, but the medium is frequently stale or easily lost among all of the noise. To break through the market that’s saying things powerfully, but not saying powerfully things, with the most life-changing message of all would be something indeed. - …to the postmodern world.
Postmodernism is not a topic that I have any hope of covering in a bullet point, a blog post, or even a single blog. Suffice it to say that postmodernism has to do with (1) a fusion of old and new, familiar and unfamiliar – thus laying the path wide open to an old message using a new medium, (2) narratives as opposed to constructed arguments – creating broad vistas for the stories of the faith to come alive, (3) celebration and light-heartedness – making the joyful Christian message of hope more intruiging than it has been for the past century, and (4) a renewed interest in both spirituality and nonfiction – so the presentation of a spiritual, nonfiction message has that one-two punch effect.
What do you think?
3 responses to “Was I on the right track?”
Um. Any universal (categorical) statement sends up a red flag for me. So. I doubt it.
And I think the Bible talks about preaching the word of God so others can hear it. And that can be done lots of ways. So. I doubt it.
I think we should all just keep doing it in whatever ways we have gifts to do it. Just be faithful and hopefully something will stick with someone and God may use it however he pleases.
See, this is why I like you, Connie. Thanks for setting me straight.
Ditto Connie. Add to it that people process data–and the world– differently according to how God has gifted them. It’s possible that sequential art could be a particularly effective way to communicate to people who process information a certain way.