How do an author’s intended audience shape the way that s/he
constructs the mythology of the Temptation and “The Fall” of man?
Although both Rushkoff’s “Testament” and the Manga Bible
depict the Temptation and “The Fall” of man, these two mediums construct the mythology
in vastly different manners. Rushkoff’s “Testament” is written to appeal to a
sexual and secular American audience; an audience in which “the forces of
nature [sex] compel them/All time is this time” (Rushkoff, 14). Because he is
writing for a mature audience, he incorporates more graphic imagery,
continually showing female breasts and sex, and directly parallels Adam eating
the apple in Eden with a modern man striving to create his own version of life via
computer code. Additionally, Rushkoff’s decision to have God re-write the
creation of man because woman’s “beauty and power are too great-pulling man
back towards the mystery of nature and creation” when they are created as
equals conforms to the modern female-empowered audience (Rushkoff, 11).
In contrast to Rishkoff’s profane retelling, The Manga Bible
is written to teach kids the Bible in a fun and engaging manner. Because of the
younger, Christian audience, The Manga Bible constructs the Temptation and “The
Fall” in a far less sexually explicit and highly Biblical following narrative.
It does not recreate the myth to make a social/political statement about religion,
it simply renews the myth to appeal to modern youth and their parents, and
teaches them that “a simple act of disobedience would have consequences that
redefined creation’s destiny” (Manga Bible, 13).
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