Here I am watching Veggie Tales for the THIRD time today. It's bad, it's bad letting Parker watch so much tv. My excuse is that we're getting over sickness. Besides, it's allowing me to write, since Parker only napped about an hour this morning. Parker really enjoys the music, but I realized earlier this week that part of the appeal of the music for him includes the figures on the screen.
Some things I noticed from the movie on SECOND viewing this morning.
#1: I don't quite understand why Jonah says that the message he brings is one of encouragement and peace, when really he is reminding God's people of the law. A scribe in the audience comments, within the framework of the song, that "This is quite a lot of rules." On the other hand, Jonah does point out that "If you follow God's commands there will be peace throughout our land." This seems to me a very Old Testament approach, which is entirely appropriate considering the source of the story. Unless I've missed it, I don't believe the impossibility of keeping the law is even mentioned until the New Testament. Please set me straight if you recall a reference.
#2: How much time do you imagine was spent in discussion when the artists chose to illustrate this line "Wear four tassels on your cloak." They show a vegetable (I forget which kind) wearing a robe, but showing only three tassels. These are asymmetrically placed (i.e. you see one hanging from one corner of the robe, but not from the other).
5 comments:
I don't recall any explicit mention in the Hebrew testament about the impossibility of keeping the Law but the numerous Rabbinical rules created to supplement the Law seem to imply this fact. The Rabbinical rules themselves indicate the Law is very difficult to keep, and the sheer number of them indicates again the tremendously difficulty of this task.
In the effort to keep up with all this, the religious practitioner, as evidenced by the Pharisees who challenged Christ, looses perspective and misses the purpose of the Law entirely. Paradigms have a way of skewing perspective, as Jonah shows us in his desire to see God destroy Nineveh, even after they obeyed God's message. It's amazing what we forget or ignore in an effort to justify our own opinions.
Regarding the planning process for the episodes and movies, these writers and artists seem to be rather brilliant. The ideas themselves are very good, but to work them into the flow of silly songs while compromising as little as possible is quite impressive. Not only has the quality of animation improved in these Veggie Tales, their rhythm is excellent too. I imagine they had a lot of lines about the many rules God gave them and simply chose which ones worked in the flow of the song. That one line about the tassels may have passed quickly (it was only a couple seconds long in the movie), but it probably took weeks if not months to plan out the whole scene.
I also do not know of an explicit reference, but the ideas of only mercy allowing access to God are through out Psalms. Note: Is. 59:9-13, Ps. 51:1-9, Hosea 1-6( word picture here that is not likely to appear in a Veggie tale) :-)
I agree that Veggie Tales are done well. It's great to see people using their God-given creativity in a useful, God-honoring way.
BTW, Kelly, it was nice seeing you last night. Sometimes I don't reply to long, complex posts because the time I have to read blogs may either be very short (like right now), or my brain may have switched off already (late at night) and I don't feel up to digesting the ideas properly, let alone honoring them with an appropriate response. But I do enjoy peeking into your mind, sister!
Hi Kelly!
Dont worry my kids watch way too much tv. Im trying to be better at this. But, sometimes it is so easy just to let them watch a video while you get stuff done. Plus, when you or they are sick I think it is fine.
I have a blog now. arsenaultblog.blogspot.com
Talk to you soon! Anna
Thanks for the scripture references, padre. It looks as though the insufficiency of the law is implied, although New Testament explanations still appear as new information. Does that wording make any sense?
Your comment does bring up this question: How were the psalms viewed/used in pre-Christian worship? Christ refers to many of David's psalms as though the were accepted as prophecy by the pharisees. Is this something the pharisees already knew, or was it something Christ revealed?
My understanding of pre-Christian Jewish tradition is more lacking than I realized.
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