The use of a comic book or graphic novel to record history may seem like a faux pas. Comic books and graphic novels are generally stereotyped to be adolescent targeted fantasy stories about superheros. However, if when done right a comic book or graphic novel can do a fantastic job at recording history. Sometimes even better than a general textbook!
In order for a graphic novel to do a good job at conveying an event in history the best bet is for the author to use an omniscient narrator. An omniscient narrator is going to be more fact driven, and honest. The reader will trust what the narrator is telling them to be more factual, rather than just someones memories. The omniscient narrator is all knowing, it can see all events that happen as they happen.
If an author uses first-person to narrate the event, the event becomes tainted. The event happens based on the narrators experience and they way that they perceive what happened.
For example:
In The Shadow Of No Towers is written by Art Spiegleman in first-person. We don't learn facts about what happened when our country was attacked by Al Queda. We only learn how Spiegleman felt during and after the attacks.
In The 9/11 Report the narrative is omniscient. The events are not skewed by someones personal feelings. They are factual, and tell you what occurred on the day that our country was attacked.
I haven't read any American History textbooks that included the attacks from 9/11. It happened my last year of high school. But, I have read many a history text books and though I see the words they often don't even register. However, with The 9/11 Report I soaked in every word. When reading In The Shadow Of No Towers, I was much more frustrated with the narrator because I wanted to know what really happened. Not just what he perceived.
Omniscient: This is what happened, here are the facts
First-person: Um, this is what I saw, and how I feel about it.
Question #1
Using p 126 of McCloud as a reference/guide, define the line style of one of the graphic novels you have read since the midterm. How does the line style impact the story telling of that specific GN?
In Blankets, Craig Thompson primarily used crisp lines. The lines he uses bare a strong resemblance to those used in the example McCloud shows us on page 126 of Joost Swarte's graphics. Craig also uses a full range of lines when trying to show something of intricate detail. Such as the quilt that Raina gives to him. We can see a good use of many different line styles on the blanket on page 182.
The way that Thompson uses lines in his storytelling shows you that life is crude. The majority of Thomspon's memories of his life growing up were not happy memories. They tended to be depressing, revolting, or just normal day to day "boredom". But when he is happy or elated he tends to use softer lines. Showing that though life may be crude it also has its magical moments. The softer lines make things feel lighter. It portrays the feeling of weightlessness one gets when things are going their way and they are genuinely happy.
Question # 5
Visit the following link, http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=124318, and read the article. Write a five-paragraph (minimum 10 sentences per paragraph) response to the article that answers the question "Are comics/graphic novels literature?"
No, graphic novels are not literature. The term graphic novel is a glorified name for comic book. They are crudely drawn superheroes designed to capture the attention of adolescent boys or grown men living in their parents basement. The men in graphic novels are big, macho, and burly. The women are big busted, long leg-ed, dim-witted, and don't have an ounce of self dependency. It takes no form of intelligence to read a graphic novel. They are designed for people who don't like to read and need illustrations to form any sort of imagination that they may have. People who read comic books find friends in them because they are social inept and can't make friends in the real world. All comic book readers like to dress up like the characters, go to conferences and make funny noises.
This is what I thought about graphic novels/comic books and their readers before taking Lit 220. Now my opinion has completely changed. I am no longer closed minded and ignorant towards graphic novels/comic books. Or their readers/fan base for that matter. When I first told my husband I was enrolled in this course he told me not to dare start talking to him about comic books when he comes home from Iraq. Apparently he shares the same opinion I did just a few , short weeks ago. Since taking this course I have grown to appreciate what graphic novels bring to the table. I still haven't read any super hero comics, but that's ok. I know that they are worth while for those who enjoy that type of literature.
I read two graphic novels about 9/11. One of which I did not enjoy by any means (we will skip discussing this one...) and one that did a fantastic job at telling the reader of the events occurring that fateful day. The 9/11 Report was the first GN I read. It completely changed my point of view towards GNs. It explains the events through text and picture. It was amazing that the graphics were exactly what I was picturing in my mind. Where I couldn't picture the event or people it was talking about, there they were... right there in plain view in front of me! It was fantastic!
In Zack Smith's article he is telling us about the "Comics Are Not Literature" panel. I think the title for the debate was absurd. It fed you what they wanted you to think. If you had no opinion prior to hearing the title you could make your own choice. A better name would have been "Are Comics Literature?", then it gives a person the right to ponder a response and make their own conclusion, unbiased.
I enjoyed the part where Wolf offered the following differences between a prose and a comic, "creating picture the picture in your head, and the artist crating a specific image on the page." This statement goes right a long with what I was saying about The 9/11 Report. Eventually, this discussion also led to the discussion about how someone reads vs. watches a comic, Wolf asked Nadel, "Do you read a movie?". Of course Nadel replied no.
What I want to know is what makes literature? Is it big words? Lots of words on a page? What?!?! Maybe it is as simple as a book being bound. Whatever it is, the panel did not come to a conclusion of whether or not comics are literature. I guess it is all just a matter of one's opinion. But for me, comics ARE LITERATURE.
Question #4
Examine/explore the six steps of creation (p170-184) of one of the graphic novels you have read since the midterm.
To answer this question I will be using Art Spiegleman's Maus I and II. In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud clearly outlines the six steps into making a graphic novel. I never realized there was so much work in creating a graphic novel! Shows how ignorant I had been until this course!
Step one is the idea/purpose. The idea/purpose for Maus I and II is that Spiegleman wants to tell his father's story. His mother and father were both survivors of the holocaust. And though there are many different accounts of the holocaust published it is interesting to hear another survivors story.
Step two is form. I am sure everyone is saying the same thing here on this one... obviously the form is a graphic novel. Well actually in this case it is TWO graphic novels.
Step three is idiom. The idiom includes the genre, the audience, and the style of art. For Maus I and II the genre is memoir and the audience is well, pretty much anyone interested in a survivors tale.The art is on the far right hand side of the triangle, aka the meaning side. (That wasn't too hard to figure out seeing as how its #74 on the scale!) Spiegleman didn't draw the characters as humans. He drew them as animals with human characteristics.
Step four is structure. The putting together of the novel. What to leave in? What to take out? Though there is a lot to do with nothing to do with the holocaust in Maus I and II I think Art Spiegleman did a fantastic job on deciding what would be in the two GNs. While he is interviewing his father about his experience his dad often gets side tracked and rambles. Though it doesn't really relate to the holocaust it does enable you to get to know the characters a little better.
Step five is craft. AKA "Getting the job done". Spiegleman got the job done with his fantastic ability to recreate scenes from someone else's memory. His fathers knowledge/ memories were able get him far. However, he did have to use his own imagination, especially on Maus II because his father had already passed away.
Step six is surface. When I think of the surface for a graphic novel I automatically think of the cover. The cover of Maus I features Vladek and Anja huddled together with big worried eyes, while behind them is a large swastika with a stern faced cat in the center. Maus II features the same swastika and cat, the mice on the cover are wearing their Auschwitz uniforms and are wearing the same big worried eyes.
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