Religion is an area that
is always open for interpretation because often there are so many versions and
different ways of thinking about the same thing. The existence of many different kinds of
Christianity for example is a great way to prove how different interpretations
can be on this matter. In Crumb’s The Book of Genesis, Crumb uses comic
strip style images to illustrate his words and these images show how he is
interpreting the words from the original book of Genesis which he is using as
his source. Some of his images are
satirical or contradictory, and I think he is doing this to share his view on
religion.
In particular, the images of God at parts when he
making decisions about the future of humans are ones that I find very
interesting because they might point to Crumb’s feeling about God and
religion. Crumb seems to look down on God’s
supposed ability to judge humanity, or at least questions his logic for his
actions. When God makes a huge decision
Crumb depicts him as having one mind set with no room for debate but the conviction
could be manipulated by the right hands.
There are several situations in which this idea can be analyzed. Firstly, the picture of God in chapter seven,
when he realizes that he regrets creating man, shows him angry and vengeful,
with his face darkened and cast downward.
He is viewing his creation with disappointment akin to an artist towards
a sculpture, and acts with according power because he is in control. Crumb seems to want to put God in the place
of being all-powerful and having the right to destroy humanity just because he
wishes it, and even though this is certainly how the original book of Genesis
meant for God to look I believe Crumb is ridiculing it. Crumb makes God look
over the top with his power because he interprets that as unrealistic and
disagrees with it. He doesn’t really
believe that this how God should be and is putting this view in more of a
satirical light. In the second frame of
chapter seven in particular, Crumb shows God from a lower angle looking up into
his terrible face with Noah as almost a small child in the corner, being
overpowered by God. This is important
because it actively shows God as apart from man and his motives are above
questioning. Within two frames, Noah is
seen nearly complete carrying out the orders, which Crumb makes obvious because
he is trying to point out that Noah is not questioning God but quickly
following commands. If man thought for
himself just slightly then the conversation might take a different turn, and
Crumb uses this line of thinking in later chapters. In this section, Crumb is focused on showing
God as powerful but also narrow-minded.
Later in chapter eleven, God is unhappy that humans
all speak the same language because he thinks they will become too powerful or
progressive. So God makes it so that
everyone speaks a different language and no one can understand anyone
else. It is meant that if humans can all
understand each other they might once again become corrupt and pull each other
down into degradation. Crumb seems to
interpret it as God merely being jealous of the humans’ capabilities for
building a city and uses his power to keep them under his thumb. Again Crumb chooses to represent God as
vengeful and ominous and uncompromising.
Two pictures specifically show how Crumb wants to represent this
idea. The three frames beginning with
God coming down and viewing the tower and commenting, “now nothing they scheme
to do will elude them,” through the scene where all the people are screaming in
different languages. In the two frames with
God as the focus piece he is shown again as large and imposing, and clearly
special or other-worldly with the long flowing hair and clothes. Crumb is using this image to put God apart
from humanity, and in the first picture of the set he is even shown standing on
ground above the city and above humanity itself as its master. The next image repeats the image of God’s
terrible and foreboding face that speaks to his wrath and power. As before, Crumb wants God to appear as
all-powerful and there can be no resisting his will. In the third frame, the humans are shown as
confused, babbling simpletons with slack jaws and wide open eyes to also
represent the distance between them and God and to show his ultimate power over
them. Crumb chooses to repeatedly show
God in this light because he does not see God this way himself and putting God
in this perspective is to point to the fallacies that exist in the book of
Genesis and in faith. He does not think
that God has such power and even if he does Crumb sees the action of changing
human language as petty and ridiculous.
So he makes God’s image into an exaggerated form of what Genesis
presents, depicting him not so much as powerful as power-hungry and wanting to
protect his status as alpha.
Crumb spends this time portraying God as a
self-centered ruler because he is setting up a timeline of a sort to show the
change in God’s power. In chapter seven
Noah does not question God but obediently follows his commands. In the scene with the tower and scrambling of
speech, humans are beginning to put themselves in a position of power to
challenge God, but are still too simple to recognize it and so God’s narrow
focus of control brings them down again.
But in chapter eighteen, there is finally a change in the relationship
between man and God. The sequence of
pictures where Abraham is arguing to whittle down Sodom’s innocent count shows
that Crumb wants to point out that God doesn’t really have all this power and
influence, or in another way he doesn’t have control of the power as he thinks
he does. Abraham knows that God has the power, but can
it be swayed in one direction or the other?
In this sequence of the debate about Sodom’s fate, God takes the form of
three men to meet with Abraham, but Crumb takes care in how he draws these men,
and the one that speaks the most with Abraham in particular. The man is very normal looking, with a typical
length cloak and hood and a beard even shorter than Abraham’s. This is important as Crumb up until this
point showed God with long flowing hair, beard, and clothing. God’s sandaled feet are also obvious and
Crumb before rarely showed God’s feet as a way to make God appear above the
earth. All of this is to show how God’s
relationship with humanity is equalizing in a way, and God is not so high up as
he was before. But Crumb’s point about
God’s power and influence comes out most pointedly in how he draws Abraham in
these frames.
Abraham
is asking God to show more mercy, which God wants to do, but Crumb’s
illustrations make Abraham look like he is scheming and trying to work towards
a different purpose besides helping Sodom.
Crumb wants it to look less like Abraham simply easing Sodom’s plight
and more like Abraham challenging God’s power and trying to see which way the
influence can go. Crumb still uses the
same representation for God’s face and keeps his eyes darkened and foreboding,
but it is clear that God’s power and influence is more of an illusion than
reality because Abraham is able to manipulate him. In several of the frames God looks as if he
is thinking hard and each time he lowers the total and in several shots he is
shown with his face taking up the whole frame or putting his hand on Abraham’s
shoulder as if he is making a grand gesture by lowering the total. But in reality each time Abraham is just
showing that he can subtly twist God’s arm and get away with it. In a commentary book written by Victor P.
Hamilton, the position that Abraham is in is examined in terms of his
motives. Hamilton presents an
interesting viewpoint because even though he shows how Abraham is manipulating
God’s purpose, Hamilton proposes that it is with more innocent motives than
Crumb does. Hamilton explains, “Nowhere
does Abraham challenge God’s evaluation of Sodom’s moral turpitude. That judgment is not up for debate…Rather, he
turns to God to ask for divine mercy, and in doing so he becomes the pattern
for other intercessors. (Hamilton, 25)” What
Hamilton is saying is that Abraham does not go against God’s wishes because God
is all-powerful, but does question in an appropriate way as to change God’s
focus and thus sets up a pattern for future men. While Hamilton uses the phrase “asking for
divine mercy”, this view correlates to Crumb because it still shows how Abraham
managed to manipulate God into following what Abraham really wanted by making
the number of innocent required to save Sodom smaller and smaller. Through this manipulation and the way Crumb
illustrates Abraham, we now see what Crumb has been building to: that man can
have influence on God and so God is not as powerful as supposed. Hamilton also provides more support on this
by pointing out that God says, “Surely Yahweh God does nothing, without
revealing his secrets to his servants the prophets,” and that this exchange
about Sodom is not the first time that God has confided in Abraham (Hamilton,
17). With Abraham we see the leveling of
power between God and man now that he knows about and can in theory counsel God
on his actions, which he does. Crumb
uses this same point to help show Abraham’s ploy to influence God. The details of the illustrations themselves
prove how Crumb is putting this new influence to work through Abraham. He is mostly shown as an imploring servant,
looking upwards into the face of God with spread hands and wide eyes shouting
things like, “will not the judge of all the Earth deal justly?” This fits the perspective of Hamilton as
Abraham is not questioning whether God should act, but simply for mercy on the
innocent because if God does not give this then Abraham as another innocent
might suffer in the future for something he is innocent of (Hamilton 17). But as God acquiesces, Abraham continues to push
and Crumb illustrates him to represent this.
Looking at the frame where Abraham asks for twenty to be spared, Crumb completes
the change from the imploring confidant to the manipulator. Abraham’s eyes are now narrow and darkened,
his head cocked to the side and scratching his beard as if pondering how far he
can take this issue. His look is
calculating and it no longer seems like he is doing it for the sake of Sodom
but more to see how much influence he now has.
Finally, in the frame where God accepts ten innocents, Crumb still gives
God the look of height and power as he looks down upon Abraham and grants his
request. But now it is apparent that
Crumb is saying that God has only been led to believe he is making this
decision because he has the power to, and in reality Abraham has directed God’s
power to suit his desires. This ties back
in to Crumb’s belief that God does not control the power as he thinks and that
man has more influence on him than he realizes, meaning God is not the
all-powerful being Genesis makes him out to be.
Crumb chooses to portray God like this because
although the words make God appear as the overarching being he really lacks the
influence he thinks he has and Crumb wants to show that through the
illustrations of his book. He does not
think God has that power and so mocks the idea of it by making God seem
hypocritical or naïve while humans grow intellectually and learn to influence
God. With these illustrations Crumb
satirizes Genesis by making God seem blind to man’s manipulation of him and
gives it a critique that could question its validity.
Source: Hamilton, Victor P. 1995. The Book of Genesis:
Chapters 18-50. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Print. Retrieved from web November
11,2014. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zlQ4chBCC5oC&oi=fnd&pg=PR13&dq=book+of+Genesis&ots=auayYpw5c8&sig=gsWcdvCRqR7PjJlyGLQ9Oi1AxfQ#v=onepage&q=book%20of%20Genesis&f=false
No comments:
Post a Comment