The use of allegory and metaphor in comic book writing: Throwing seeds onto the concrete?

al·le·go·ry  (l-gôr, -gr)
n. pl. al·le·go·ries
1.
a. The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.
b. A story, picture, or play employing such representation. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Herman Melville's Moby Dick are allegories.
2. A symbolic representation: The blindfolded figure with scales is an allegory of justice.

I was having a brief chat with the owner of my local comic book shop today about how the latest Trees book by Warren Ellis read to me like an allegory/metaphor for the current day banking industry. I was trying to explain to him how the image of an alien tree in the middle of a city with it’s roots under everything and periodically dripping poison on the population was not actually about an alien tree, but a commentary on the way that the banking industry has buried itself within the roots of our civilisation and has ended up owning and poisoning everything, including our everyday interactions like the one we were just having. I told him that the banks owned him, and he thought this idea was ludicrous because he didn’t have much money in his account. That was my entire point. That the lack of money in his account defines what power he has in contemporary society. No money equates to having no power, so when you have private banks that make money out of nothing it gives them supreme power. Supreme power over politicians, and the people they tax to control. These people are you and me, and the bloke that owns the comic book shop. My point is that the banking sector now has so much power and control over all of our lives that they might as well be represented by a giant alien tree that is spitting out poison in the middle of our cities. But to the owner of the comic book shop this is a ludicrous suggestion. The book is just about a tree that spits poison, that’s all, and it will be a good book if the narrative flows well, it has interesting characters and it has some exciting twists and turns in the plot as it goes along. These factors are what makes an exciting comic book, to him, and any allegory or metaphor contained within it sails way above his head, and not being too mean about it, that’s the way that he likes it. Comic books are fun, and he doesn’t want to think about the real world around him, even though he’s living in it, and what happens all around him is going to have a huge impact on his (and his families) life, whether he likes it or not.

This attitude of not caring or even wanting to understand the wider world is a common trait amongst comic book fans in 2014. This is a huge generalising statement to make, but since I got back into reading comics and have had some interactions with comic book fans (in their twenties and thirties, sometimes late teens) it appears that this generalisation is largely true. So why are comic book fans living in a strange state of denial where they think that the real world around them has nothing to do with their own lives? Why do they know nothing, and care to know nothing about the most important issues of our times? Seriously, talk to a comic book fan about fractional reserve banking, Edward Snowden or bank complicity in money laundering for Mexican drug cartels. They couldn’t care less about any of these issues, and most of the time they won’t even have an opinion on any of them either. However, if you want to discuss the latest take on Batman’s back story they’ll be hugely informed and will know every detail about the new take, and every other old take since the early 1990’s. Remember that these comic book fans are educated adults who see themselves as intelligent people. They are not stupid people, yet they purposefully make the decision to remain ignorant about all of the important issues of our times, and when a comic book creator tries to bring up these issues by way of allegory or metaphor they couldn’t care less about it, and are surprised when some annoying guy like myself points it out to them.

I remember the old bible story (Matthew 13:1-23) about randomly throwing seeds, with some of them falling on stony ground, and a few finding fertile soil where they would prosper and grow. This is what Jesus was doing when he talked to his followers. He was talking in allegory and metaphor, and most of it sailed over the heads of his followers. He knew this would happen, but he did it anyway. Why? Because some of the seeds land on fertile ground, and the message is understand by those willing to look a bit deeper than hearing a story that on the surface seems a bit ridiculous. What the conversation in the comic book shop taught me today is that humanity hasn’t really changed much in the couple of thousand years since Jesus (maybe) walked the Earth and confused people with his allegorical way of talking. Heck, if you want to go even deeper, the Christ figure himself is an allegory, for Sun worship obviously, that was then taken literally by the Romans and pushed ever since as a control system to enslave the masses. All of the wisdom he talked through allegory and metaphor was thrown onto stony ground and humanity has been in slavery ever since, thanks in large part to the religions that insist on literal interpretations rather than the bloody obvious ones that Jesus was talking about in the first place.

IF YOU CANNOT SEE THE ALLEGORY AND METAPHOR IN THE STORY YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE STORY.

Is this the state of consciousness where humanity is forever doomed to dwell? With people purposefully not wanting to understand what is right in front of them? Reading the story, but not understanding the meaning behind the story, or even wanting to understand when it’s explained (or suggested, in my example of ‘Trees’ by Warren Ellis) to them?

We are surrounded by truth, but how many people really want to see it? How many people have picked a comfortable little corner where they will stay, and live their entire life in ignorance (meaning to purposefully ignore the truth) whilst the world around them burns? How disconnected from reality can humanity get? It seems to me that the vast majority of the people living in the UK today pick a hobby, but never, ever pick the truth.  Truth is all around them, but they are not interested, and when the truth evades their little hobby bubble of non-reality in the form of a metaphor or allegory they still refuse to see it, even when it’s dancing, singing and screaming in their face.