While discussing the latter half of J.T. Waldman's "Megillat Esther" in class this week, someone mentioned that they read that there is a theory that Esther and Mordecai are Ishtar and Marduk in a retelling of the ancient Babylonian myth (they weren't saying they believed it, just that they had read about it). I was interested to hear that because I'm always fascinated by such ideas. The reason why I am fascinated is because people will come up with all sorts of excuses not to believe something. The people coming up with these theories would rather create these ideas instead of examining the truth of the Bible on its own merits. As a born again Christian, I believe the Bible to be God's Word. I find such theories as the Esther/Isthtar one to be offensive to people who believe in the truth of the Hebrew Bible as well as people that believe in the truth of the New Testament. The reason I find these ideas offensive is because they are attempts to deny the truth of the Bible by grasping at straws.

My comments are not meant to offend anyone in anyway. I've just noticed that there are many ways in which some people avoid examining the truth of the Bible, whether talking about the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament or both.

Rachel and Leah: Fulfilling God's Purposes in Spite of Themselves

Overall I have not been overly impressed with J.T. Waldman's "Megillat Esther." My main issue is that I do not like his artistic style very much. It's too cluttered for my taste. That being said, Waldman's work has some interesting and unique components. Putting a book of the Bible into graphic novel form is not an original idea but Waldman executes it with some unique elements. He has interludes and little side plots in the book. My favorite is the Rachel/Leah dispute going on, in which their competitive nature shines. Waldman did this, presumably, because Esther and Mordecai are descended from Rachel and Jacob, while Haman, the bad guy, is descended from Jacob's brother Esau. Waldman has them arguing (seemingly just to argue). For instance, on page 106-107 Rachel and Leah are hidden amongst the plants on the bottom of the two pages arguing. Esther is important because she saves the Judaic people from genocide by risking her life to ask the king to spare them. To me, this little side story of Rachel and Leah in the story is great because it reminds the reader of their descendants. Esther, who was vital to her people's survival, was descended from Rachel, while from Leah came the Davidic line, of which Jesus Christ was a part. So, both sisters helped fulfill God's plan for the world in spite of their bitterness towards one another and selfishness. To me personally this is also a great example of how God uses people to fulfill His purposes despite people's failures and shortcomings.

The Israeli Role in the Sabra and Shatila Massacre

Following the assassination of Bashir Gemayel, the Lebanese Christian Phalangist party leader, the party retaliated by murdering Palestinian refuges in Beirut at the Sabra and Shatila refuge camps. Based on the discussion in class, the film "Waltz with Bashir" itself and my own research, there is the question of what exactly Israel's invovlement was. Undeniably, they were at least enablers to an extent by allowing the Phalangists into the camps and setting off flares in the dark so the Phalangists could carry out their "work". Although the intent of the Phalangists was supposedly just to find the PLO terrorists allegedly responsible for Bashir's death, they murdered for sure several hundred people and possibly up to three thousand. Why they decided to kill children, for instance, is beyond comprehension. Perhaps it could be argued that they were just following orders, but my question is, who gave these orders, or did they somehow misunderstand their orders?

And the Israeli involvement is hugely disturbing as well. The fact that Ariel Sharon is considered at least indirectly responsible for the massacre and then managed to make such a successful political career comeback is bizarre and unsettling. I guess I just don't understand how all of this was allowed to happen; I'm not blaming any one person in particular because I don't pretend to have all the facts. Apparently no one does. It reminds me of the Holocaust - how that happened boggles my mind as well. As was brought up in class discussion, there is the claim that people involved were just following orders. I think that's a ridiculous excuse for murdering innocent human beings. The entire situation with the massacre is disgusting and upsetting. It could easily happen again to anyone, anywhere.

Animation vs Actual Footage - The Contrast in "Waltz with Bashir"

This week in our class, we watched the film "Waltz with Bashir." This was a very interesting film to watch for many reasons. The form of animation is unique and fresh. The story was very interesting and the animation allowed it to be told in a certain way. The film presented very disturbing situations that occured during the Israeli-Lebanon War of 1982. The massacre of Palestinian refuges by the Christian Phalangists was very disturbing, although this is the intended reaction I'm sure. One important aspect of the final minutes of the film is that there is a switch from animation to actual footage of the aftermath of the murders, when Palestinian women are walking around the area of Beirut that held the refuge camps and they are crying and wailing. I think this was a brilliant choice on the part of the filmmakers because it forces the viewer to recognize that these were actual events, not just a cartoon. With animation it is all too easy to convince oneself that one is simply watching a movie, but to see footage of the actual event, or in this case, the direct aftermath, prevents the viewer from walking away without having an emotional reaction of some sort.

For me personally, the reaction was one of shock and dismay. One of the characters in the film talks about walking through the camps right after the massacre stopped and seeing a little curly haired girl in the rubble; only her head and a hand visible. This reminds him of his own little girl. The dead child is shown animated and then when you see live action the little girl is shown. I was saddened when they had this scene in animation but seeing the real little girl, knowing this actually happened to a child, is absolutely horrifying. The viewer cannot escape from it because it is real. While there is always a level of distaste when showing corpses on film, I feel it is an important way to reach people emotionally and force them to acknowledge the horrors of violence. For this reason I feel the filmmakers made the right choice when they decided to end the film with footage of what had happened.