Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Stylized temptation

From Rushkoff's Testament and the Manga Bible, we see two very different approaches to reaching the same goal of stylizing the creation story, and, as a result, focusing on and exaggerating certain aspects of it.
In Testament, we see the story of Genesis related in such a way that focuses on the role of temptation in the creation of stories. The main character (coder) is a clear representation of Adam, and the girl he pursues is a clear representation of Eve. They even meet in a garden where she encourages him to to do something that he has been told, and thus believes, would have dire consequences. As the new Gods begin the creation of a story, the wish to block out old Gods so that they may start anew. However, refusing to be ignored, the old ways find there way into the new story, and tempt Eve with the apple that condemns both her and Adam. This suggests to me the difficulty that is inherent in trying to ignore temptation. Also, the representations of temptation shown in this story are highly sexualized. That may be a function of the visual medium through which the story is written, but it is also likely a representation of the blinding nature of love and how it will cause us to ignore authority, as happens in both the Genesis and Modern story depicted in the comic.
In Manga Bible, we see a much more unaltered telling of the story, however, due to its medium, the stylization of the characters lends another dimension to the story. Typical in any manga, the characters all have flowing hair, expressive and large eyes, and lean physiques. The representation creates a heroic narrative to the Genesis story, especially since it is being relayed through Moses as he deals with the impending Egyptian threat. We see a side of the characters that we find to be more admirable, both physically and attitude-wise.  This a certain type of iconization that Scott Mccloud discussed. The image of Moses is serving as a representative for the concept, so they create an icon that is favorable.
This image of the characters from a famous anime, One Piece, shows this type of stylization which is present in most animes.

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