James Poniewozik: Black Jesus laughs with, more than at, its Son of God
http://time.com/3086811/review-black-jesus-adult-swim/
Reviewer James Poniewozik makes it clear that Adult Swim's Black Jesus is a "mockery with Jesus" and not a "mockery of Jesus". Poniewozik makes his point clear with the help of clear diction, details that give us an insight into the show and by making connections with other pop culture references to Jesus' rebirth.
The article's diction helps the reader gain an understanding about the show itself. Readers will pick up on his choice of words like "New Testament-ish" and "Sunday-School-pageant getup" show that this show is a weird mash-up of old ideas with a new interpretation. When Poniewozik uses "New Testament-ish" he is referring to Black Jesus "hanging out with sinner, partiers and prostitutes". Jesus was often affiliated with those types of people when he was alive, showing the new interpretation of old ideas. The use of "Sunday-School-pageant getup" draws parallels with modern day Sunday Schools. A lot of churches will act out certain scenes from the Bible, much like what Black Jesus does. Just like these Sunday Schools, Black Jesus is trying to spread a message about God and Christianity.
Poniewozik uses a myriad of examples to give readers an insight into the show. For instance, he uses quotes from the show like Black Jesus saying "I ain't in charge of miracles. That's Pops!". Thanks to this quote, readers get an insight into the Son of God's life in South Compton and his affiliation with his father, God. Black Jesus creates miracles like healing people and reading minds, but insists that all of these miracles are God's work. Quotes like this help readers gain a better understanding into Black Jesus as a character. Poniewozik also uses other examples, such as talking about the conflicts Black Jesus faces. Without this, readers may be led to believe that Jesus engages in religious conflicts. Instead, he deals with "crooks and self-dealers who care less about the community than their community of one". Poniewozik also shows that the show is not about mocking Jesus or Christianity by stating "Black Jesus may be crude and irreverent, but it's most interested in mocking a world in which Jesus' message perpetually won't fly". These details are crucial for readers to know before they watch the show. Without these details, readers may believe that the show is something that it is not. Poniewozik even quotes John 20:29 when referring to people who believe the show to be blasphemous and yet have not seen it. With this comparison to Doubting Thomas (the biblical character who doubts Jesus' existence), he tells readers to give Black Jesus a chance before they make their decision on whether to call it blasphemous or not.
Lastly, Poniewozik uses references to pop culture to draw parallels with other versions of Black Jesus. He relates the show to Monty Python's The Life of Brian, Saturday Night Live's: Djesus Uncrossed, and ever Family Guy's depiction of a Black Jesus. With comparisons like this, the readers can determine the tongue-in-cheek mentality of Black Jesus from a comparison to other forms of the character Black Jesus or even a biblical interpretation of Jesus. He also mentions that this is not a new concept of Jesus' return, giving examples of creators using the rebirth of Christ as a concept. Jesus' returning has been seen in South Park and in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brother's Karamazov. Poniewozik uses these to show that Black Jesus is not only a reinterpretation of old ideas in the biblical sense, but also a reinterpretation of Jesus' return in the pop culture sense.
Poniewozik uses an effective diction, details that give reader an idea as to what the show is actually about and makes connections through pop culture all to show that Black Jesus is actually a "stoner hangout comedy at heart" rather than a "mockery of Jesus". He shows that the show is not all what it is chalked up to be, but rather about Black Jesus trying to spread his message to a non receptive society.
Reviewer James Poniewozik makes it clear that Adult Swim's Black Jesus is a "mockery with Jesus" and not a "mockery of Jesus". Poniewozik makes his point clear with the help of clear diction, details that give us an insight into the show and by making connections with other pop culture references to Jesus' rebirth.
The article's diction helps the reader gain an understanding about the show itself. Readers will pick up on his choice of words like "New Testament-ish" and "Sunday-School-pageant getup" show that this show is a weird mash-up of old ideas with a new interpretation. When Poniewozik uses "New Testament-ish" he is referring to Black Jesus "hanging out with sinner, partiers and prostitutes". Jesus was often affiliated with those types of people when he was alive, showing the new interpretation of old ideas. The use of "Sunday-School-pageant getup" draws parallels with modern day Sunday Schools. A lot of churches will act out certain scenes from the Bible, much like what Black Jesus does. Just like these Sunday Schools, Black Jesus is trying to spread a message about God and Christianity.
Poniewozik uses a myriad of examples to give readers an insight into the show. For instance, he uses quotes from the show like Black Jesus saying "I ain't in charge of miracles. That's Pops!". Thanks to this quote, readers get an insight into the Son of God's life in South Compton and his affiliation with his father, God. Black Jesus creates miracles like healing people and reading minds, but insists that all of these miracles are God's work. Quotes like this help readers gain a better understanding into Black Jesus as a character. Poniewozik also uses other examples, such as talking about the conflicts Black Jesus faces. Without this, readers may be led to believe that Jesus engages in religious conflicts. Instead, he deals with "crooks and self-dealers who care less about the community than their community of one". Poniewozik also shows that the show is not about mocking Jesus or Christianity by stating "Black Jesus may be crude and irreverent, but it's most interested in mocking a world in which Jesus' message perpetually won't fly". These details are crucial for readers to know before they watch the show. Without these details, readers may believe that the show is something that it is not. Poniewozik even quotes John 20:29 when referring to people who believe the show to be blasphemous and yet have not seen it. With this comparison to Doubting Thomas (the biblical character who doubts Jesus' existence), he tells readers to give Black Jesus a chance before they make their decision on whether to call it blasphemous or not.
Lastly, Poniewozik uses references to pop culture to draw parallels with other versions of Black Jesus. He relates the show to Monty Python's The Life of Brian, Saturday Night Live's: Djesus Uncrossed, and ever Family Guy's depiction of a Black Jesus. With comparisons like this, the readers can determine the tongue-in-cheek mentality of Black Jesus from a comparison to other forms of the character Black Jesus or even a biblical interpretation of Jesus. He also mentions that this is not a new concept of Jesus' return, giving examples of creators using the rebirth of Christ as a concept. Jesus' returning has been seen in South Park and in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brother's Karamazov. Poniewozik uses these to show that Black Jesus is not only a reinterpretation of old ideas in the biblical sense, but also a reinterpretation of Jesus' return in the pop culture sense.
Poniewozik uses an effective diction, details that give reader an idea as to what the show is actually about and makes connections through pop culture all to show that Black Jesus is actually a "stoner hangout comedy at heart" rather than a "mockery of Jesus". He shows that the show is not all what it is chalked up to be, but rather about Black Jesus trying to spread his message to a non receptive society.
Hey Nick!
ReplyDeleteI liked how you touched on the author’s purpose of helping the audience understand the character of Black Jesus, but, I disagree with the statement that you made in the third paragraph, “These details [mentioned in the article] are crucial for readers to know before they watch the show.” The details that are pointed out by Poniewozik are not entirely needed to interpret the show correctly, because there is probably a wide range of people, people who already watch Adult Swim or other forms of social satire, who appreciated and recognize the concepts. Poniewozik's article is more directed to people who refuse to watch the show, or criticize the show based on the assumptions they made concerning the common degradation of religion in pop-culture. Perhaps that specific group of people should be aware of those details before watching the show, however, when the producers and writers created the show, they were probably expecting and hoping to offend a lot of people for the purpose of press rather than gospel, and in that case, it is important that the audience doesn’t understand the show’s thematic elements. Given the offensive dynamics of the shows on that particular channel and the common effect of commercialized repulse to media, such as with Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball music video, do you think that the article that Poneiewozik wrote is helpful or detrimental to the show’s success?
I don't think think that it helps or hurts it. I know a lot of people will think of the show with their preconceived notions. It's watching the show that may or may not change their minds.
DeleteHey Nick! This is a really interesting topic and article. I have never seen the show, however I think this is very interesting. I think most people, Christian or not, tend to get caught up in the language and dress bible times and don't stop to think about what Jesus would look like in today's times. While I'm not sure Black Jesus is not entirely accurate, It does a good job putting that thought into people's minds. Overall I think you did a good job discussing the diction of the article, but I think you should have talked about something else like syntax or the language used.
ReplyDeleteQuick biblical clarification: Doubting Thomas, being one of Jesus' disciples, did not doubt his existence, but his resurrection.
Thanks for the help! Going back and reading it, there was not that much that I could feel as though I could touch on syntax-wise. I kind of covered the language in the diction section.
DeleteHi Nick,
ReplyDeleteI liked how right off the bat you addressed how the article is humor with Jesus not at Jesus and the Christian community as a whole. The whole show seems like a new twist. I think it relates to what we have read in 'How to Read Literature like a Professor' in that the ideas of putting biblical allusions in a show circulates because the Bible is a classic. I thought the points you made on diction were well supported and you gave a really good summary/ generalization on what the article was about, its implications, and how the author used DIDLS to illustrate his point. Do you think that the show will be a sucsess? Or do you think that too many people will get offended? Nice work!
After the first season, the show has been a success! It made a lot of money and has a second season coming.
Delete