Inspiration?
Jul. 23rd, 2004 12:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swestrupI just saw an advert for a piece of Manga, and it got me thinking of what could be an interesting story for a Manga / Online comic etc. Of course, I can't draw, so its all moot, but I thought I would at least share the idea with the world. That way it might inspire someone else.
So the ad said something like "What would you do ... if you had angels watching over you -- Angel Tales". Now my FIRST thought was EWW, who wants THAT? Its bad enough when your mother finds out about your sexual activities, especially if you have kinks she doesn't share. (Actually, neither I nor my Mother know what kinks we might share. We seem to have a mutual sense of "I don't wanna know!")
Anyway, the idea of Prudish Christian Busybodies watching and interfering with every aspect of my life is NOT something that I would appreciate. Well, that would be an interesting and different conflict to put into a Manga, wouldn't it? Especially if the heroine was bisexual, polyamorous and/or into BDSM or other things that arguably quite moral but frowned on by the Christian Right.
Now, that might make a somewhat interesting story, but I have at least two friends who would point out how non-christian the current popular depiction of angels are. They have almost no basis in theology, as they are commonly presented. In fact, a REAL angel might get rather upset at what gets passed off for one in popular media (actually, it should feel its above all that, but I digress).
So, then I came back to the thing I alluded to in a previous post somewhere (which I cannot find now -- I guess I need to go back and reindex my Journal, AGAIN). How do you tell if a Burning Bush is a manifestation of God or Satan? Well, to me anyway, the answer has to be in what it asks you to do. This is why I've always thought the story of Abraham being willing to sacrifice his eldest son has the wrong moral.
So, what if some angelic-looking beings showed up and claimed they were there to save the heroine's soul from the dark path it was on. They would preach right-wing christian values, interfere with the main character's life and start it falling apart. Things would come apart even faster if the main character was raised as a non-practicing christian and had all sorts of guilt that she THOUGHT she had worked through regarding her current lifestyle. The twist would be that these beings are not true Angels but actually some sort of minions of Satan who, as lord of lies, has managed to cause the entire popular image of modern Angels (because he doesn't have the power to disguise a devil as a true angel) and has twisted mainstream Christianity away from sanity.
At some point, the heroine should seek help and get to talk to an actual angel, and find out what's going on. This will then pit her into the middle of a strange ideological conflict between what God and Christ desire on one side, and what Satan and his twisted version Modern Christian's desire on the other. And of course, since most folks wouldn't even know the conflict was going on, it would be very difficult to do anything or trust anyone, especially with guardian 'Angels' watching over one... I suspect that such a Manga would generate no end of controversy, but could be fun to write.
So the ad said something like "What would you do ... if you had angels watching over you -- Angel Tales". Now my FIRST thought was EWW, who wants THAT? Its bad enough when your mother finds out about your sexual activities, especially if you have kinks she doesn't share. (Actually, neither I nor my Mother know what kinks we might share. We seem to have a mutual sense of "I don't wanna know!")
Anyway, the idea of Prudish Christian Busybodies watching and interfering with every aspect of my life is NOT something that I would appreciate. Well, that would be an interesting and different conflict to put into a Manga, wouldn't it? Especially if the heroine was bisexual, polyamorous and/or into BDSM or other things that arguably quite moral but frowned on by the Christian Right.
Now, that might make a somewhat interesting story, but I have at least two friends who would point out how non-christian the current popular depiction of angels are. They have almost no basis in theology, as they are commonly presented. In fact, a REAL angel might get rather upset at what gets passed off for one in popular media (actually, it should feel its above all that, but I digress).
So, then I came back to the thing I alluded to in a previous post somewhere (which I cannot find now -- I guess I need to go back and reindex my Journal, AGAIN). How do you tell if a Burning Bush is a manifestation of God or Satan? Well, to me anyway, the answer has to be in what it asks you to do. This is why I've always thought the story of Abraham being willing to sacrifice his eldest son has the wrong moral.
So, what if some angelic-looking beings showed up and claimed they were there to save the heroine's soul from the dark path it was on. They would preach right-wing christian values, interfere with the main character's life and start it falling apart. Things would come apart even faster if the main character was raised as a non-practicing christian and had all sorts of guilt that she THOUGHT she had worked through regarding her current lifestyle. The twist would be that these beings are not true Angels but actually some sort of minions of Satan who, as lord of lies, has managed to cause the entire popular image of modern Angels (because he doesn't have the power to disguise a devil as a true angel) and has twisted mainstream Christianity away from sanity.
At some point, the heroine should seek help and get to talk to an actual angel, and find out what's going on. This will then pit her into the middle of a strange ideological conflict between what God and Christ desire on one side, and what Satan and his twisted version Modern Christian's desire on the other. And of course, since most folks wouldn't even know the conflict was going on, it would be very difficult to do anything or trust anyone, especially with guardian 'Angels' watching over one... I suspect that such a Manga would generate no end of controversy, but could be fun to write.
