From Manga Bible to Messiah: A Pop-culture Exploration of the Indonesian Christian Comics
Keywords:
comics, visual art, Indonesian Christianity
Abstract
Comics culture has a long precedence in Indonesian art tradition. Earlier visual art appeared in the Hindu-Buddhist temples and in the colonial period. Once, Indonesian comics enjoyed the golden age in the 1970s and 1980s in which the comics sought inspiration from local legends and wayang themes. However, the flood of Western and Japanese comics eroded the supremacy of Indonesian comics. For the latter, it is part of the Japanophile, which later followed by Koreaphile as two global cultural forces overwhelmed Indonesia presently. Manga comics, for example, has become a dominant visual art in the comics market in Indonesia and influencing the style of Indonesian visual art production. Religion is another socio-cultural terrain affected by this cultural development. The present article is an exploration of the comics as a visual art in the religious landscape of Indonesia, especially among the Christians. Comics as the locus of the technology of enchantment renders the trace of religious shift among the average religionists. Employing visual rhetoric criticism, the article will look at the ideological and rhetorical elements of the visual production, and the cultural shifting in the Indonesian Christianity. It further touches upon the notion of cuteness (chibi) and gender as examples of religious rhetoric maintaining a certain ideological position.
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References
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[2] A. R. Mills, American Theology, Superhero Comics, and Cinema: The Marvel of Stan Lee and the Revolution of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2014.
[3] A. Rao, “Immortal Picture Stories: Comic Art in Early Indian Arts,†in Asian Popular Culture, Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 1995, pp. 159–174.
[4] H. Salim, “Komik Islam: Retorika dan Identitas,†Mata Baca, vol. 2, no. 11, pp. 26–33, 2004.
[5] W. Eisner, Comics and sequential art. Paramus, NJ: Poorhouse Press, 1985.
[6] J. Hayward, “Painted Windows,†The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 98–101, Dec. 1971.
[7] W. S. Stoddard, Art and Architecture in Medieval France: Medieval Architecture, Sculpture, Stained Glass, Manuscripts, the Art of the Church Treasuries. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1972.
[8] S. McCloud, Understanding comics: the invisible art. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994.
[9] F. Y. Siauw, Khilafah: Remake. Jakarta: Alfatih Press, 2015.
[10] L. C. Epafras, “An Inverted Quest: Cosmopolitanism and Religion in Baladeva Comics,†in Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 30, R. W. Hood and S. Cheruvallil-Contractor, Eds. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2019, pp. 130–151.
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[14] M. Bonneff, Komik Indonesia. Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, 1998.
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[16] J. A. Lent, Asian Comics. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2015.
[17] Kho Wan Gie, Put On: Edisi Pantjawarna. Jakarta: Suara Harapan Bangsa & Pustaka Klasik, 2015.
[18] E. Sedyawati, R. S. Hidayat, D. Koendoro, and Wagiono, Pekan Komik & Animasi Nasional 98 (6-12 Februari 1998). Jakarta: Direktorat Jenderal Kebudayaan, 1998.
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[20] S. Amin, R. Akbari, Q. Tajudin, and Y. Rizal, “Suatu Saat dalam Komik Indonesia,†TEMPO, vol. 14, pp. 6–7, 2005.
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[22] T. Bajraghosa, “Kotagede dalam komik: Memaknai Situs, Menjaga Semangat,†in Kotagede dalam komik, Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta, Ed. Yogyakarta : Studio Diskom: Jalasutra, 2010, pp. 7–11.
[23] A. Heryanto, Identity and pleasure: the politics of Indonesian screen culture. Singapore: NUS Press in association with Kyoto University Press Japan, 2014.
[24] E. Hong, The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture, Amazon Kindle. New York: Picador, 2014.
[25] J. S. Nye, Soft power: the means to success in world politics, 1st ed. New York: Public Affairs, 2004.
[26] A. Toffler, The third wave. New York: Morrow, 1980.
[27] R. D. White and J. Wyn, Youth and society: exploring the social dynamics of youth experience. South Melbourne, etc.: Oxford University Press, 2008.
[28] M. Michie, Working cross-culturally: identity learning, border crossing and culture brokering. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2014.
[29] N. Cholis, “Tentang Komik: Yang menggemaskan, yang cerdas,†Kalam, vol. 7, pp. 41–51, 1996.
[30] H. A. Oppusunggu, “Misi Kristiani and Misi Injili: Nilai Kualitas-Alternatif,†in Melayankan Injil melalui media, Tim Redaksi YKBK, Ed. Jakarta: Yayasan Komunikasi Bina Kasih, 2007, pp. 32–40.
[31] I. Amalee, “Interview,†Jun. 19, 2016.
[32] T. van den End, “Kenangan akan sesama pejuang,†in Melayankan Injil melalui media, Tim Redaksi YKBK, Ed. Jakarta: Yayasan Komunikasi Bina Kasih, 2007, pp. 87–88.
[33] I. Lubis, “Interview,†Jun. 19, 2016.
[34] H. Salim, “Interview,†Jul. 24, 2016.
[35] B. S. Nugroho, “Interview, May 12,†May 12, 2016.
[36] L. C. Epafras, “The Trepidation of the Name: ‘Allah’ as the polemical space among Indonesian Christians,†in Science, Spirituality and Local Wisdom: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Current Global Issues, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Nov. 2014, pp. 871–898, doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4283315.
[37] T. Chuang, “The Power of Cuteness: Female Infantilization in Urban Taiwan,†Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 21–28, 2005.
[38] R. A. Horsley, Jesus and the spiral of violence: popular Jewish resistance in Roman Palestine. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987.
[39] G. Gutiérrez, A theology of liberation: history, politics, and salvation. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1973.
[40] M.-A. Decatur, “Consuming Cuteness in Japan: Hello Kitty, Individualism and Identity,†Popular Anthropology Magazine, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 15–18, 2012.
[41] R. Bauman and C. A. Briggs, “Poetics and Performance as Critical Perspectives on Language and Social Life,†Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 19, pp. 59–88, 1990.
[42] P. Bourdieu, Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984.
Published
2021-12-26
How to Cite
Kaunang, H., & Epafras, L. (2021). From Manga Bible to Messiah: A Pop-culture Exploration of the Indonesian Christian Comics. International Journal of Interreligious and Intercultural Studies, 4(2), 48-63. https://doi.org/10.32795/ijiis.vol4.iss2.2021.1480
Section
Articles
