{"id":18275,"date":"2018-06-20T22:36:08","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T05:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=18275"},"modified":"2018-06-20T22:36:08","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T05:36:08","slug":"freedom-fighters-or-terrorists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/freedom-fighters-or-terrorists\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom fighters or terrorists?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent LA Times\u00a0<\/em>article, Charles C Camosy, a professor of Theological and Social Ethics at Fordham University asks the question, was \u201cthe Star Wars Rebel Alliance freedom fighters or terrorists?\u201d<\/a>[1]After all, the \u201crebels\u201d were a group of people who \u201cwere willing to kill innocent people to advance a political agenda.\u201d<\/a>[2]<\/p>\n

As an ethicist, Camosy takes this as a serious question. \u00a0It seems that cheering for the \u201crebels\u201d as the good guys of the galaxy only works, as long as their use of force and violence is deemed necessary or legitimate.\u00a0 A similar question runs through the pages of Gene Luen Yang\u2019s incredible dual graphic novel set Boxers & Saints<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Much has been made of the inventiveness and art of Yang\u2019s work.\u00a0 It is described as \u201cmarvelously crafted\u201d and exhibiting, \u201cbold, lucid artwork\u201d.<\/a>[3]\u00a0 One reviewer calls out, \u201cits bold and eye catching box design\u201d and the \u201cbright, rich colors, strong lines and vibrant shading.\u201d<\/a>[4]\u00a0 Clearly this graphic novel is a work of art, as well as a creative approach to telling a largely unknown story (unknown at least in the United States).<\/p>\n

The first novel is centered on Little Bao, who grows up in a time of foreign interference and domination in China.\u00a0 He becomes the leader of a group called the Big Sword Society (later, the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fist)<\/a>[5], which develops supernatural fighting abilities.\u00a0As they seek to right the wrongs of the foreign oppressors, this band of fighters also ends up committing atrocities while trying to defend their neighbors and communities.\u00a0In one instance, Little Bao locks a congregation of women and children inside a church and burns them to death inside.<\/a>[6]<\/p>\n

Yang attempts to show evenhandedness in exposing the reasons behind the historical Boxer Rebellion, including the economic, political and religious subjugation of China in that time period.\u00a0 However, Yang\u2019s own biographical background may also be seen in how he treats some of his story. Yang grew up as the son of immigrant parents from Taiwan and as part of a local Chinese Catholic church.\u00a0 In a 2013 interview, he reflects that, \u201cthe central tension in Boxers & Saints\u00a0<\/em>is very personal.\u00a0 When I was little, because I grew up in that Chinese American Catholic church, Christianity and Chinese culture seemed to go hand-in-hand\u2026 As I got older, I began to realize this wasn\u2019t always the case.\u00a0 In China just over a hundred years ago, being a Chinese Christian was seen as a contradiction.\u201d<\/a>[7]<\/p>\n

So, even as he works out these two parts of his own identity, Chinese and Christian, the story that he presents reflects those same questions.\u00a0 In the end, were those involved in the Boxer Rebellion, freedom fighters who were throwing off the oppression of a foreign religion?\u00a0 Or, did they also commit atrocities, and use terrorizing tactics in their struggle.\u00a0 Yang presents them in sympathetic ways at times, but at others, lays bare the violence that occurred. He is comfortable with contradiction and challenges the reader to become that way as well.<\/p>\n

The second book in this box set, Saints<\/em>, is the flip side of the coin.\u00a0 In the story, a young Chinese girl known as \u201cFour Girl\u201d becomes a Christian and takes the name Vibiana.\u00a0 She is visited by visions of Joan of Arc, and represents the faith and devotion of a minority group of Chinese believers in that era.<\/p>\n

In this sense, Four Girl seeks to explore what it means to be among the \u201ctrue believers\u201d, even in a setting where it leads toward conflict and even death.\u00a0 The end of Saints <\/em>had strong echoes of Endo\u2019s novel\u00a0Silence<\/em>.\u00a0 As in the missionary history in Japan, so too for Vibiana in China, she could recant her faith in order to save her life, but she refuses.\u00a0 This recalls again the basic questions that these books seem to ask.\u00a0What is it worth to follow what you believe?\u00a0 How far would you go to defend your own way and to defeat your enemies?\u00a0 And in particular, what is the relationship between being Chinese and being Christian?\u00a0 Can the two ever be reconciled, or are they doomed to be in conflict.<\/p>\n

I found my daughter in her room reading my copy of\u00a0Saints\u00a0<\/em>at bedtime one night this week.\u00a0I\u2019m not sure if it is age appropriate for her, or not, but maybe the story of a young girl who is trying to find her way, and to follow her sense of faith even if it costs something, is a good message for her to read about.\u00a0 In our own ways, we all struggle with a version of this same theme: with various identities available to us and that we take on in our lives, which one is the deepest, and how does it cause us to think, speak and act in the world.<\/p>\n

These are questions that an ethicist can ask, that these novels seek to explore, and that Christians also must confront in their lives.\u00a0 The artistic packaging and cartoon characters are just the medium that present a complex and important message.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[1]Charles Camosy, \u201c’Star Wars’ Rebel Alliance: Freedom Fighters or Terrorists?\u201d\u00a0Los Angeles Times<\/em>, November 5, 2015,\u00a0http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/la-oe-camosy-star-wars-terrorism-20151105-story.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[2]Charles Camosy, \u201c’Star Wars’ Rebel Alliance: Freedom Fighters or Terrorists?\u201d\u00a0Los Angeles Times<\/em>, November 5, 2015,\u00a0http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/la-oe-camosy-star-wars-terrorism-20151105-story.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[3]Douglas Wolk, \u201cBoxers,\u201d\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>, October 8, 2013,\u00a0https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/entertainment\/books\/boxers-and-saints-gene-luen-yang\/2013\/10\/08\/6764060c-2b80-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html?utm_term=.c99a3ebb373c<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[4]Ay-leen Peacemaker, \u201ca Divided Nation in Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers,\u201d www.tor.com, August 26, 2013,\u00a0https:\/\/www.tor.com\/2013\/08\/26\/graphic-novel-book-review-gene-luen-yang-boxers-saints\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[5]Gene Luen Yang,\u00a0Boxers<\/em>\u00a0(New York: First Second, 2013), 170.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[6]Gene Luen Yang,\u00a0Boxers<\/em>\u00a0(New York: First Second, 2013), 249.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[7]J. Caleb Mozzocco, \u201cInterview: Gene Luen Yang On Boxers,\u201d School Library Journal, September 19, 2013,\u00a0http:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/goodcomicsforkids\/2013\/09\/19\/interview-gene-luen-yang-on-boxers-saints\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent LA Times\u00a0article, Charles C Camosy, a professor of Theological and Social Ethics at Fordham University asks the question, was \u201cthe Star Wars Rebel Alliance freedom fighters or terrorists?\u201d[1]After all, the \u201crebels\u201d were a group of people who \u201cwere willing to kill innocent people to advance a political agenda.\u201d[2] As an ethicist, Camosy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1304,1311],"class_list":["post-18275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-boxers-and-saints","tag-gene-luen-yang","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18276,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18275\/revisions\/18276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}