(August 5th)
Up on the social media app called threads, so much has been transpiring. A lot of noise has been buzzing over many TV shows and films. Being an author and a person God has entrusted with the mountains of influence of arts and media, I am always up to speed with what is going on in those worlds.
The arts are a vast part of our lives today. They always were even in the old days, but in the past decade, technology (media) has multiplied and has become more accessible. We no longer need to wait for the 9pm news or for that specific show at that specific time!
It’s like the internet just blew up, and let Pandora’s box content loose!
I have always been offended by the word fiction; especially when my books are categorized as so. This could be because the first person who ever introduced the word to me described it as ‘things that are lies or are unreal.’
My novels are Bible-based — fragments of deeper meditation or study, or points of view. I have angels and demons involved, and these creatures are as real as the air we breathe, though invisible as the germs only visible under a microscope. Being invisible doesn’t mean they are unreal, and perhaps that’s the trick the arch enemy wants the world to believe. That his and his minions are fiction. In the long run, men come to believe that God and His angels are unreal too, which will lead to acute frustration within many when the end comes.
I can’t call my domain ‘fantasy’ as well, as the word means ‘the faculty of imagining improbable things.’ ‘Improbable’ means not likely to be true. And yet my writing is based off truth.
That is all beside the point anyway. This is not a defence of my works. It is a case rather to prove that, even if something was previously fiction or fantasy, it is able to gain the power of possessing our realities — the power of influencing our faculties.
First of all, the very creation story in Genesis began by God imagining or using the eye of His mind to create all the things we see. There are two accounts of creation: the imaginative, and the formative account. He imagined first what man would be, and then made him by hand.
The Bible says the worlds were framed by the word of God. And the things that are seen were made by things unseen. The things unseen are our imagination primarily, and even if it’s a mere thing as a book being written, it is a thing seen!
George R. R. Martin’s House of the Dragon has taken the interest of many by storm, causing endless discussions on threads, as many make memes of characters, and others converse deeply about what could happen in the next episodes. In the long run, I have realized, what seemed far in a distant world, in a distant book, has been brought to life through technology and manifested by media (TV or screens).
Even if dragons are extinct, or fictional … I wouldn’t be shocked if a random human tried to create one. This is the storyline of the famous Jurassic World (Jurassic Park) universe. Though it is a movie, we see humans trying the most — undeading things. Robots used to be unreal as well, but hasn’t the far East proved they could live!?
These characters and creatures have become part of our lives, able to even spark wars!
At the most recent Comic Con (a convention dedicated to creating the general public’s awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms), David Jonsson (on the left in the picture) was introduced as the next Black Panther for the third part of the sequel. Black Panther is a superhero character with enhanced abilities that qualify him as, and enable him to be efficient as the king of the most technologically advanced African fictional country called Wakanda.
Now others preferred Damson Idris for the role. After several observations in the comments from multiple rants, many were rooting for him all because he seems more charming at first sight!
David was really good in The Long Walk, and personally I don’t mind either; only problem is it’s not in my right (or the ones fulminating) to pick who gets the role, so my opinion doesn’t matter — but for about 4-5 days, the app was ablaze with strangers throwing about who deserves the role of a FICTIONAL character from an African FICTIONAL country that doesn’t exist!
But Wakanda — even if it is fictional — is now a term that is part of our world now, ever since the Black Panther was introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Hobbits and elves are things a certain category of the world’s population get excited to see or dream about; even wands and places like Hogwarts (though I am not advocating for the main theme especially in the latter). Some terms from the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter universes have been adopted into the dictionary — words that were forged in an unreal world. These are all products of fantasy authors, but we can no longer live in the world today without them co-existing with us!
What am I saying?
So many books are being written. So many films are being made. It’s beyond entertainment or arts. Some of these stories sell false hope, provoke ill thoughts, arouse vile emotions and stir wars unintended by the innocent writers.
Recently, Children of Blood and Bone released its trailer. It was a book written by Tomi Adeyele, a Nigerian based in the U.S. The reception of the trailer however portrayed Africans who weren’t happy that Black American actors were cast instead of Nigerians who’d relate more with the Yoruba setting the author intended.
I watched as my fellows tore themselves apart, unbothered whether it even mattered that African scripts were making it to the big screens — and I almost got dragged in. Some mocked that it was looking more like Wakanda than an independent universe.
The Bible says we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age and against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
Another force is at play here. Whether all these are products of innocent imaginations or not; as the world gets distracted with these fights, time ticks on, and soon Jesus will return. Children are placing their faith in heroes that are unreal, and when the real hero comes, they will think Him unreal.
The actual battle is about making the seven nations of influence disciples of Jesus. These are; arts, media, education, family, government, economy, and religion. You can already see the damage being done by arts in collaboration with media. If they can only make men of same color but different cultures fight, then they can surely make sin look therapeutic, immodesty look amoral, lies — truth, and truth — lies.
So let’s be sober & vigilant. Christians face the predicament of the world imposing its beliefs on us through arts and media. Not all shows are bad, but we must be careful that the standards of this world don’t conform us to them. They instead transform us to be of the world by ‘de-newing’ our minds to allow gossip, tolerate infidelity, or settle for less.
Let’s be sober & vigilant!
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I Peter 5:8-10 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
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