Category Archives: cultural

cultural, interviews, online

Deena Mohamed: “It’s kind of a myth that people won’t support ‘diverse’ work.”

Self-portrait by Deena MohamedEarlier this year, Egyptian comics creator Deena Mohamed, perhaps best known internationally for her work originating the superheroine Qahera, spoke with Egyptian Streets about her latest creation, the graphic novel trilogy Shubeik Lubeik which won Best Graphic Novel and the Grand Prize at Cairo Comix Festival in 2017.

Comic Artist Deena Mohamed on Representation, Authenticity, and Egyptian Art

In addition to minding a balance between authentic, native Egyptian themes and interest by Western audiences, Mohamed also looks to dispel myths not only about women but also about “diverse” work:

“It’s kind of a myth that people won’t support ‘diverse’ work. What actually happens is the opposite – people want you to write about ‘the issues’ (for Westerners, Islam and feminism, for Egyptians, feminism) but they want you to write about it in a very specific way,” she told Egyptian Streets.

“They want really superficial, easily-quoted takes,” she elaborates. “They love women empowerment, if women empowerment means sharing [online] a hijabi superhero comic without ever reading the messages behind it. […] At some point you start to feel very patronised.”

See more of her work at DeenaDraws.art and on Twitter @itsdeenasaur.

cultural, from the Internet

Religion in the MCU Diegesis

In a fun but intriguing bit of a mental exercise, Fandom’s Lon Harris asks, if the events of Marvel Cinetmatic Universe films happened in real life, how might they affect faith and religion? It’s a question we at Sacred and Sequential have asked many times of the comics’ diegeses and storyworlds, so it’s a worthwhile scenario to consider for the film characters.

Harris speaks with Marvel Editor Tom Breevort “specifically, in a 2005 interview with the “:

Breevort explained that, in his mind, characters in the Marvel universe have a separate mental category for superheroes, independent from regular mortals or gods.

“For the average person in the Marvel universe,” Breevort explained, “they look at Thor and they say he is a superhero. He is no different than a Mr. Fantastic or Spider-Man or Cyclops; his get-up, his shtick, his whatever, is based on the mythological god of thunder. But I do not believe that most people in the Marvel universe actually believe he is the bona fide article.”

So denial — or, at least, lack of awareness — keep influence of religious institutions at bay. Eventually, though, “[e]very expert I spoke with — Christian or otherwise — felt that American evangelical Christianity would face the toughest challenges from the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

articles and essays, contributors, cultural

Sacred and Sequential’s Top Overall 2019 Stories

Following our year-end listing of the top new stories in 2019, the question arose as to what were the top overall postings in 2019. That is, what were the most-read articles, regardless of what year they were published.

So, to satisfy curiosity, here are Sacred and Sequential‘s most-read pages over the course of 2019:

5.

Review – Toscano and Hartmann-Dow’s The Amazing Adventures of the Afterbirth of Jesus

4.

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know on Black Panther and Religion

3.

Kleefeld Questions Chuck Dixon on Racism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, etc. of White Nationalist ALT-HERO

2.

The Cthulhu Cosmology in Hellboy

1.

The Tangled Relationship Between Religion and Comics

cultural

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know on Black Panther and Religion

1 Comment

Black Panther rules the box office worldwide and is a cultural phenomenon. As such, it’s being viewed from every possible angle and through every available lens. And, to paraphrase Ian Malcolm, the thinkpiecers were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

So, without comment, here is a short sampling of the various ways Black Panther, with its roots in comics, is being applied to the subject of religion, of religious intolerance, censorship, and interfaith relations. Your mileage may vary.

We’ve loosely grouped them below as “Black Panther and…”

…Religion in General

What The Movie ‘Black Panther’ Teaches Us About Religion

‘Where Is Your God Now?’ 3 Religious Objects of Worship in ‘Black Panther’

http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/23/black-panther-is-a-quasi-religious-atonement-for-white-guilt/

…Judaism

Black Panther Is a Jewish Creation

Why ‘Black Panther’ might also be a milestone in black-Jewish relations

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/256186/black-panther-is-a-great-zionist-movie

The Defeat of Killmonger in ‘Black Panther’ Holds Lessons for Israel

…Spirituality

Black Panther’s Spirituality Pulls from Reality

Spiritual Reflections on the Black Panther Movie

https://aleteia.org/2018/02/17/is-the-hero-in-black-panther-secretly-spiritual/

African cosmologies: spiritual reflections on the ‘Black Panther’ movie

…Hinduism

http://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/black-panther-cbfc-muted-hanuman-reference-due-to-not-hurt-any-kind-of-religious-sentiments/1225555

CBFC Offended by ‘Hanuman’ in Black Panther Is Divine Stupidity

http://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-in-india/black-panther-fans-in-india-angry-over-beeping-out-hanuman-reference-twitter-reactions-5073987/

…Islam

Is the Black Panther Islamophobic?

Is Black Panther Islamophobic?

Is Black Panther Islamophobic? A Somali Canadian Perspective

Black Panther Shows Muslims Too Can Escape Tokenism

Black Panther Makes A Nod To The Boko Haram Kidnapping in Nigeria

…Christianity

What “Black Panther” Means for Christians

Four Lessons the Church Can Learns from Black Panther

Clergy’s View on Black Panther

http://www.jesusdaily.com/inspire/black-panther-movie-review-christian-perspective/

‘Black Panther’ and the Longing for Home

At Home in Wakanda

Do it For the Diaspora?: The Moral Question Behind Black Panther

https://crtvchurch.com/why-christians-need-to-see-marvels-black-panther/

https://aleteia.org/2018/02/23/black-panther-star-boldly-proclaims-i-fell-in-love-with-jesus/

Christian actress Sope Aluko says ‘Black Panther’ set felt ‘almost like church’

In several of these cases, the charge could be levied that groups ostensibly unrelated to Black Panther are ‘making it all about them,’ but, in others, there are some legitimate linkages to be made. It says something, though, when so many religious communities want to comment on or be reflected by a cinema blockbuster — almost as if it means more than superhero popcorn entertainment…