Uitgeverij W.v.d Oever
Lange Brugstraat 9 4871 Cl Etten-Leur 076-5015160 wvdoever@gmail.comEnkele jaren geleden [LIA52 en 53] heb ik aandacht besteed aan de opvallende televisieserie ‘Joan of Arcadia’. Tot mijn verbazing en vreugde is de serie nu opnieuw te zien op RTL8. Omdat de serie vrij laat kwam, ik vaak vergat de video aan te zetten en we nu bijna uitsluitend nog met dvd werken, is het prettig om de serie op te nemen en vervolgens te bezien, waar in het curriculum fragmenten in te zetten zijn. Joan Girardi is een 16-jarig meisje die van alles meemaakt in en buiten de school, met en zonder haar vrienden, maar in elke aflevering komt ze God in de een of andere excentrieke vorm tegen.
Bezig met het ontwikkelen van enkele lessen rondom God en godsbeelden heb ik het idee dat deze serie enkele interessante vraagstukken rondom God op een serieuze manier aan de orde stelt.
Teresa Blythe, redactrice van het tijdschrift ‘Presbyterians Today’ heeft ze alle 40 afleveringen gezien en serieus bekeken. Ze heeft bij iedere aflevering een minigids gemaakt om de aflevering te bespreken. Als dat in Amerika kan, kan het in Nederland ook. Wat is er op tegen om leerlingen de kans te geven op een onderhoudende manier met een aantal niet misselijke levensvragen en -situaties om te laten gaan? Een voorbeeld van een gids van Blythe.
Inleiding
Where is God in the midst of tragedy? It is a question every person who believes in God faces at one time or another. Joan gets to ask God point-blank, but she finds out that the answer is a mystery,
Creepy Guy (God): I leave hints all over the place. I’m all about hints.
In this episode Joan experiences what Paul describes as “now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face (1 Cor. 13:12). When Joan asked God if she could see “the big picture’ (face to face), she passed out. It was too much for her.
So the deeper question in this episode is, can we live with the mystery of not knowing exactly what God has in store for us in life, in death or life beyond death? And, what kind of ripples will our lives create?
Episode-in-a-nutshell
Rocky, the terminally ill boy Joan used to baby-sit, dies and Joan must face her feelings about mortality. Joan goes to the funeral and eulogizes Rocky as “pretty much a weirdo” who was obsessed with death and “made death funny. Until today.”
Joan’s thoughts soon turn from Rocky to Adam, who has become increasingly morose. She learns that Adam’s mother committed suicide three years ago, using pills, and Adam has not been the same since. She also discovers that Adam is too afraid to read the suicide note his mother left behind.
God tells Joan that people’s lives create “ripples.” Rocky’s ripples were good, but the ripples from Adam’s mother’s suicide were not. After Adam gains the courage to hear the suicide note, Helen (Joan’s mother) reads it to him, and he is relieved that he was a blessing in his mother’s life and not a stressor that led to her death. Adam and Joan kiss and make up after several weeks of hard feelings over Joan tearing up one of his sculptures (in “The Devil Made Me”).
The city of Arcadia loses its entire government as the FBI investigates a corruption scandal. This leaves Will without a job since the sheriff took over the law enforcement of the town. Will agrees to become a beat cop—quite a demotion—in order not to uproot his family again and to avoid a boring desk job.
Luke and Grace create a science fair project together, building a strange moving projectile that accidentally destroys the project Friedman and Glynis proudly created.
Questions for discussion
• Creepy Guy (God) tells Joan that he is all about hints. Have you ever received a hint from God? How did you know it was a hint? How did you know it was from God? Where do you generally look for hints from God?
• Are hints from God enough for you? Has there ever been a time when you needed more clarity than you might get from a hint? Have you ever gotten more than a hint from God?
• Read 1 Corinthians 13:8-13. What are your feelings about only knowing “in part” in this world? How comfortable are you with the mystery of God? With the mysteries of life and death?
• Read Matthew 18:15-22 about resolving disputes. Compare Joan’s apology with those instructions. How does Joan demonstrate her forgiveness and love for Adam? Is there an “Adam” in your life—someone you have hurt and want to reconcile with? How does asking for forgiveness create “good ripples” even if the apology is not accepted?
• Why was it important for Adam to read his mother’s suicide note? If you were Adam, would you have wanted to read the note? Why or why not?
• Regarding his mother’s note, Adam tells Joan (he calls her Jane), “I tried all night, Jane. I couldn’t do it. I can’t go out into the cold .... I need some kind of warning.” Who do you turn to when you need strength to do something hard? Why do you think Adam turned to Helen, Joan’s mother, instead of Joan for the reading of the note?
• How did the actor who plays Adam use body language to portray the changes in Adam’s life as a result of hearing the comforting words in the suicide note? Describe what you saw and how you interpreted his body language. How good are you at reading your friends’ or family members’ body language? In what ways can body language be even more accurate than a person’s words? (Describe a situation.)
• Why do you suppose that, in this episode, Joan is not given any tasks by God to complete? Do you believe God is as “task-oriented” as this show usually depicts God? Is God more interested in what we “do” than in who we “are”?
• This episode introduces the notion of God’s interest in the “ripples” we produce in the world—a notion that resurfaces from time to time in the series. What kind of ripples do you think your life creates? If you were to ask someone who knows you well, what might they say about your “ripples”? What are some ways we might allow God to transform our negative ripples?