Themes
The serious, mature themes discussed in Theophilus were contrasted by simple, childlike artwork. All characters (except Brother Fairasee) were depicted as large, bodiless heads with stick-figure legs. Rarely were any characters drawn with arms. Backgrounds, likewise, were rarely depicted. Otherworldly characters were not shown – when God speaks, an outlined word balloon comes down from above. When the devil speaks, a grey-shaded word balloon simply comes up from below.
Through Theophilus, West addressed the topics of faith healing, witchcraft, music, sex, legalism, adultery, divorce, Biblical accuracy and the role of women in the church. While frequently conservative in its tone, Theophilus often left these topics with no clear answers, instead urging the characters (and the reader) to seek answers from God through prayer. On some topics, Theophilus (or Sketch) would even admit in later strips that they were wrong about what they had earlier said or believed.
Read more about this topic: Theophilus (comic Strip)
Famous quotes containing the word themes:
“I suppose you think that persons who are as old as your father and myself are always thinking about very grave things, but I know that we are meditating the same old themes that we did when we were ten years old, only we go more gravely about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In economics, we borrowed from the Bourbons; in foreign policy, we drew on themes fashioned by the nomad warriors of the Eurasian steppes. In spiritual matters, we emulated the braying intolerance of our archenemies, the Shi’ite fundamentalists.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)