Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Why a Muslim comic book writer just introduced a yeshiva student......
Why a Muslim comic book writer just introduced a yeshiva student and kosher food into the Marvel Universe
To see the article:
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/252545/why-a-muslim-comic-book-writer-just-introduced-a-yeshiva-student-and-kosher-food-into-the-marvel-universe
Warning, for those who prefer sarcasm, and extreme negativity, and an almost comic book view of religion, this is not for you because it attempts to use this format to encourage dialogue and understanding. Some prefer a more cartoonish view of religion where all of the characters must be bad people.
But for devotees of nuance, this might interest you.
13 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
morality evolves, our sense of ethics evolves, and so we end up questioning a lot of what we took for granted in the past in terms of the rules about how people treat each other."
How did this kippah-clad yeshiva student and his Orthodox Union (OU) certified sandwich end up in the Marvel Universe? And why did a Muslim author choose to introduce Jewish religion and practice into her comic book world? I asked Wilson, the award-winning writer behind the series, how it all came about. Her answers offered a poignant reflection on the role that religion can play in art—and what we lose when it is absent....
... making Naftali a kosher-keeping Jew created a key point of intersection between him and Kamala, the halal-observant Muslim. “There was really obvious overlap between Jewish tradition and Muslim tradition here,” Wilson noted, “because the rules surrounding the ritual butchering of animals—what you can and can’t eat—are very similar.” And so, after some brainstorming with Wilson’s friend Menachem Luchins, the Orthodox Jewish owner of Long Island’s Escape Pod Comics, Kamala’s “kosher lunch buddy” was born:
...In fact, religious rules regarding permitted and forbidden foods have served as touchstones of the Ms. Marvel series since its inception. The very first frames of the inaugural issue featured the Muslim Khan savoring the smell of bacon, which she dubs “delicious infidel meat”:
... making Naftali a kosher-keeping Jew created a key point of intersection between him and Kamala, the halal-observant Muslim. “There was really obvious overlap between Jewish tradition and Muslim tradition here,” Wilson noted, “because the rules surrounding the ritual butchering of animals—what you can and can’t eat—are very similar.” And so, after some brainstorming with Wilson’s friend Menachem Luchins, the Orthodox Jewish owner of Long Island’s Escape Pod Comics, Kamala’s “kosher lunch buddy” was born:
...In fact, religious rules regarding permitted and forbidden foods have served as touchstones of the Ms. Marvel series since its inception. The very first frames of the inaugural issue featured the Muslim Khan savoring the smell of bacon, which she dubs “delicious infidel meat”:
“That’s why I think Naftali works so well,” she added. “There’s a scene coming up a couple issues from now in which he and Kamala appear”—here Wilson chuckles and holds herself back from revealing any spoilers—”in which having that connection to the collective imagination of the past, which I think is a role that religion fills, becomes vitally important. I just wanted that to be there. I just wanted to make that argument, because I think there’s a lot that we’re in danger of losing. Some of that is necessary because we’ve evolved as a society and as a human race. Our morality evolves, our sense of ethics evolves, and so we end up questioning a lot of what we took for granted in the past in terms of the rules about how people treat each other. I think a lot of that is good, but in the process I think we’re also losing something, and that’s what I wanted to prevent in the context of the series—prevent the loss of some of that collective wisdom.”
Enjoyed this article! Thank you.
