Comics as Contemporary Literature

For this assignment I read Asterios Polyp. The most obvious way that we can take this graphic novel, treated like any other comic visually, with a series of panels, an give it the title of contemporary literature is how deep, insightful and complex the work is in it's content. It plays with several levels of tone and varying structure, by using flashbacks and alternate characters' points of view, and theme. There are several kinds of conflict from a storytelling point of view: man vs. man, man vs. environment and most often man vs. self, as Asterios Polyp's struggle is mainly a journey within him self, even thought there is a physical journey that pushes the narrative forward. In addition to conflict there are several plays on the idea of natural and man made dualities and variations. I enjoyed the visual quality of the novel because in plays and reinforces these ideas. There is a juxtaposition of high contrast graphic shapes and the messy line drawings. The varying styles help to support the themes of perception of the world through varying points of view.

Osamu Tezuka's Buddha

This was my first experience with Tezuka and one of my first encounters with manga (thankfully it was the American version so I did not have to figure out which way to read it!). I decided to read Buddha, which, no pun intended, was very enlightening. It taught me not only about manga in general but, like my earlier reading of King by Ho Che Anderson, showed a different interaction with an historical figure that is often made out to be quite "pure." I was very excited to read Buddha because of my interest on the subject. Unfortunately I was only able to read Vol. 1, but I would definitely be up for reading further. The retelling of the life of Buddha proved an interesting read. I enjoyed some of the more humorous aspects of the tale, however I found it odd that for something with such a rich visual heritage, Tezuka chooses to use black, white and cross hatch shades of gray to create this world. That being said, there is a good use of contrast and dynamic movement to create visual interest. Overall, this was not my favorite representation of a deeper subject matter I have encountered this semester.

Sita Sings the Blues/ The Triplets of Belleville

In class today we watched about 30 minutes of the animated film Sita Sings the Blues. This was an animation that has roots in the animators personal experiences with her relationship. It was at first confusing because there were several different story lines that each had a different visual style. However the styles were intriguing - from cutout to rough line drawings. I also enjoyed the narrators' conversational style. It was enjoyable that they were not perfect in their knowledge of what they were talking about or even their pronunciations of names and places.

We also watched about the same amount of time of The Triplets of Belleville. This was super exciting because I have always wanted to watch this and it has been suggested to me many times. I really enjoyed the visual quality of the animation. The caricature-like drawings were amusing as well as the gags set up. I was intrigued by my ability to follow the story even though there was a significant lack of dialogue.

These were my first interactions with both films and I would absolutely love to see more of them.

A Wide World of Comics

This was an interesting week because we were asked to look at comics that were not written in English for American/ English speaking audiences. For this assignment I chose to look at the comic album Blacksad (Quelque part entre les ombres) by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido. Though written/illustrated by Spaniards, Blacksad is intended for a French audience. This was amusing for me since I don't speak French so what I picked up from reading it came from guessing based off my knowledge of Spanish. However, the flow and character illustration allowed me to understand what was going on. The illustrative style is very different from what we have encountered before. The drawings are much more detailed and don't rely on line quality as much. The amazing visual quality to Blacksad often proved distracting because I often found myself becoming caught up in the images for many of the panels. I laughed at how the authors, like so many comic authors, used animals in place of humans to emphasize human characteristics.

What I loved the most about these were that they hearkened to classic film noir or detective serials, which I really adore. The setting, characters (especially the hard anti-hero John Blacksad) and story lines make it seem like it could be a storyboard for a movie.

Stereotype and Representation: Response to American Born Chinese and King

This entry is about stereotypical representation in comics. I likened American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang to Blankets in some ways, mostly the adolescent character figuring out who they are except that this deals with being born into an specific ethnic minority. The breaking up of the stories into three different parts helps to solidify this idea of more than one side of a person; the classic influence of culture and family ties and the more contemporary melting pot scenario. For example, the juxtaposition of the classic chinese folk-tale of the Monkey King and the more modern day story line of Jin and his troubles of fitting in at school. Though Gene Luen Yang definitely toys with ethnic stereotypes (see below), I adore the graphic visual quality of the American Born Chinese.

King by Ho Che Anderson has been one of the most striking reads for me all semester. A biographical depiction of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. it is interesting that Anderson's portrayal of King is a tad edgier than the King that is presented to the world and that we get to hear different views on him as well. Working with the different side of King is the visual style, which I think is brilliant. I love graphic style and experimentation and my favorite panels are the ones with simple extreme contrast black and white. Perhaps I am too conceptual a thinker but I love how in those panels because of the contrast there is little difference in skin tone is an amazing device to make the point that there is no difference. Skin is skin. Brilliant!

Response to Barefoot Gen

The in class showing was the first time that I had ever even heard of Barefoot Gen. I was intrigued by the story but didn't fully understand what I was watching until about half-way through. I enjoyed the pairing of this film with Maus by Art Spiegelman. It was really fascinating to compare to pieces of graphic narrative that were not only about the same time period but were also biographical/autobiographical. Though not exactly about the same event, they were about atrocities against humans by other humans.

The film starts us off by meeting Gen and his family. They are in an uncertain situation; food is an extreme issue because of rationing and because his mother is pregnant with a fourth child. Though there is some issues for the family, for the most part they are happy and all seems right with the world. Until one night when a plane flies over and they must get into a bomb shelter. At that point I would begin to understand the situation and what would happen.

HOWEVER, I was not prepared when the bomb was dropped. The visual style was fairly light hearted until that happened. When it was dropped, not only did the tone of the story change but the depictions of what happens to a person in a nuclear blast were extremely factual and detailed. I was caught way off guard especially in the morning class! This amount of realism brought me back to the truth of what happened to these people. It was really interesting to see the transitions between the life of Gen and then the horrors of the fallout/war.

This was a great follow up to Maus to show how comics/cartoons/anime can talk about legitimate issues in a genuine and meaningful way. I look forward to eventually watching Grave of the Fireflies to also compare with these two pieces.

Reponse to Maus

Maus Vol 1 & 2 by Art Spiegelman was an interesting read for me because The Holocaust seems to keep popping up into my life. I have done numerous studies on it and taken three classes. The most compelling part of my Holocaust studies was when I had to do an art project on it my freshman year of high school. We took a trip up to the Holocaust museum in St. Petersburg and were then asked to use our artistic abilities to create a tone and tell a story about the Holocaust.

I really made a connection to Maus because this is what that project was all about: an artistic expression of how the experiences of the Holocaust affected lives. It just happens that this is also a biographical story being told as well. The most intriguing thing for me was that though the subject matter was extremely heavy, I often did not feel like it was weighing me down. I would certainly attribute that to two things. The fact that the piece is a comic takes you out of the reality of the situation. I think it maybe that preconceived notion that comics aren't serious, which of course can be challenged. However the fact that Spiegelman used different animals to differentiate between ethnicities, nationalities and even vocations lent itself to the fantastic quality of Maus. Every kid knows that the personification of animals is endearing. I would like to think this was deliberate to showcase that the story is being imagined throught the eyes of a child. Visually I think the line quality is very fluid. There is a lot of motion just in his use of line and shading. What I think is brilliant is how Spiegelman has used panels to crop and showcase specific moments of great significance.

Example of using cropping to frame.

Though there were obvious creative liberties with the visual quality of Maus, what throws you right back into the seriousness is the story itself. From the behavior of the father, a cold and difficult character because of what he went through, to the events that happened to him, the story is still about how a human being survived a mass extermination of an ethnic group by another group of human beings.

After reading Maus I have decided that it was a very enjoyable read and another engaging Holocaust study. I think it was an alternative view of the Holocaust that just adds to the poignancy of what happening to so many people, including the father of Art Spiegelman. It was brave and very touching for him to take on a project like this.