My experience with reading Maus by Art Spiegelman was honestly really uncomfortable as it should be. It's a hard one to sit through and I found myself taking breaks when it got too intense. It's a biography about the author's parent's, Valdek and Anja, holocaust experience and the aftermath. The time jumps between past and present and and is sometimes non chronological. The present takes place after Art's mother had committed suicide and Valdek remarriage with Mala, another holocaust survivor, he is constantly discussing Valdek's life and recording them to use in the comic. He showed the strained relationship between Art and his father and depicts him as he was. He's cheap, confrontational, short-temperted, stubborn, and ironically racist despite all that happened to him. Art had even described him as being a "stereotypical jew" to Mala. He doesn't paint his family as being perfect. It's exactly how it was in real life.
The background of "Maus" and the political environment that it was created in had always fascinated me so much. It was the first comic to win a pulitzer prize and gained wide recognition, and while it wasn't the first comic to have a heavy subject, it did allow other comics to be recognized in a higher regard. During the time of it's release there was a rise of Holocaust Denial.
It's absolutely insane that there would be people who would deny such a tragedy that took the lives of over 6 million people and irreparably damaged so many more ever existed, however that was exactly was was happening during the 80's. I believe Maus and books and other medias like it shows the viewer what the nazis did and combated anti-semitism and ignorance. It opened discussions and reminded the masses that, yes the Holocaust really happened, and people suffered and die, and the scars still remains. The massive success of Maus brought up the topic of the Holocaust and it's still popular today. I remembered going through the book fair's order catalogue back in middle school and Maus would always be at the best seller's list toping books like Twilight and Ergon. It's still attracting new readers and keeping the discussion fresh. But now I feel like it is more important than ever. With the rise of Nazi-ideals, antisemitism, and the new wave of holocaust deniers it's more vital than ever to raise awareness and remind the world of the danger that nazi ideology can lead to.
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Blankets
Blankets by Craig Thomson is one of those titles where it could illicit a variety of emotions from the viewer, or at least it got one from me, and depicts the harsh reality the protagonist live in and who was only spared a few comforts in his life.
There were certain parts of the story where the themes hit me to such a degree that it was uncomfortable to move forward in the reading, but a good majority of it left me with little to relate to. How Thomson depicted the themes and conflicts of bullying, neglect, loneliness, molestation, religion, artistic pursuit, and identity is so raw and unapologetic showing the crass ugliness of it all. And I feel like the art perfectly encapsulate that, with the heavy brushstrokes, the wild imagery, and the brilliant visual metaphors, and the excellent compositions in a lot of the panels. While the facial features are mostly dot eyes the body language conveyed the expression the characters are feeling.
It's very interesting how Craig grew up during the course of the book and how his views of people and his beliefs evolved. In the beginning he was a devout christian who's goal was to be good and go to heaven and live in eternal paradise, but as he grew older he was becoming disillusioned with the foundation of christianity and began to despise aspects of it such as the group hive mind and close mindedness, and by the end of it he basically divorced himself from the religion entirely but still retained the core ideas. He also develops an interest in the arts and science in ways that a much younger Craig would scoff at. Such as in an earlier panel Craig was telling his mother how outrageous it was that the school was teaching the theory of evolution with his mother agreeing, but later on he was discussing carbon dating with his brother's wife and was asking her questions about geology. It's interesting seeing how Craig progresses, and how the changes are small but frequent, unlike some other fictions where the character change happens in big revelations and plot twists. While it is dramatic, it's not really realistic or relatable.
However unfortunately I found myself bored through a good portion of it. Another major theme of the book is first love, a subject I'm mostly uninterested in. It was hard to keep my attention on the book when I wanted to know more about Raina's family and their issues more than her relationship with Craig. But I fully admit that it is a personal thing and not everyone is going to agree. There are people who very much enjoys the romantic portion of it and can relate heavily on the slow burn of a relationship fizzling out, but I'm not one of those people and that seriously effected my enjoyment of the book.
There were certain parts of the story where the themes hit me to such a degree that it was uncomfortable to move forward in the reading, but a good majority of it left me with little to relate to. How Thomson depicted the themes and conflicts of bullying, neglect, loneliness, molestation, religion, artistic pursuit, and identity is so raw and unapologetic showing the crass ugliness of it all. And I feel like the art perfectly encapsulate that, with the heavy brushstrokes, the wild imagery, and the brilliant visual metaphors, and the excellent compositions in a lot of the panels. While the facial features are mostly dot eyes the body language conveyed the expression the characters are feeling.
It's very interesting how Craig grew up during the course of the book and how his views of people and his beliefs evolved. In the beginning he was a devout christian who's goal was to be good and go to heaven and live in eternal paradise, but as he grew older he was becoming disillusioned with the foundation of christianity and began to despise aspects of it such as the group hive mind and close mindedness, and by the end of it he basically divorced himself from the religion entirely but still retained the core ideas. He also develops an interest in the arts and science in ways that a much younger Craig would scoff at. Such as in an earlier panel Craig was telling his mother how outrageous it was that the school was teaching the theory of evolution with his mother agreeing, but later on he was discussing carbon dating with his brother's wife and was asking her questions about geology. It's interesting seeing how Craig progresses, and how the changes are small but frequent, unlike some other fictions where the character change happens in big revelations and plot twists. While it is dramatic, it's not really realistic or relatable.
However unfortunately I found myself bored through a good portion of it. Another major theme of the book is first love, a subject I'm mostly uninterested in. It was hard to keep my attention on the book when I wanted to know more about Raina's family and their issues more than her relationship with Craig. But I fully admit that it is a personal thing and not everyone is going to agree. There are people who very much enjoys the romantic portion of it and can relate heavily on the slow burn of a relationship fizzling out, but I'm not one of those people and that seriously effected my enjoyment of the book.
Calvin and Hobbes
I read Bill Watterson's comic strip series Calvin and Hobbes and it brought back a lot of memories. I remembered reading Calvin and Hobbes sporadically when I was in elementary school and while I don't remember anything from the strip I somehow still feel nostalgic when rereading years later.
When reading the strip it's easy to get really into and the next thing you know you end up reading the entire pdf file during your one of your classes. It's strangely addictive and calming in a way. It relives old childhood memories of when most of us would humanize our toys and go on adventures on our backyard, and explore our imagination without inhibition in the way. But despite all this I do feel like this is a comic more aimed at adult rather than kids. While both demographics can certainly enjoy it on a surface level, I feel like adults would get the most out of it since much of the humor would go over little children's heads, and it taps in on nostalgia, something that would deeply resonate with grown up who looks back on their childhood with rose-tinted glasses. Throughout the series Calvin is constantly told how easy his life and how as a 6 year old he doesn't have problem like his parents does, and honestly he doesn't. He lives a very care free life with little things in his way.
The humor of strip is mostly dialogue driven humor but does occasionally have a shift in tone from the usual antics such as when Calvin asks Hobbes about the existence of god. Reading it now as an adult I feel like it resonate with me more than when I was Calvin's age.
When reading the strip it's easy to get really into and the next thing you know you end up reading the entire pdf file during your one of your classes. It's strangely addictive and calming in a way. It relives old childhood memories of when most of us would humanize our toys and go on adventures on our backyard, and explore our imagination without inhibition in the way. But despite all this I do feel like this is a comic more aimed at adult rather than kids. While both demographics can certainly enjoy it on a surface level, I feel like adults would get the most out of it since much of the humor would go over little children's heads, and it taps in on nostalgia, something that would deeply resonate with grown up who looks back on their childhood with rose-tinted glasses. Throughout the series Calvin is constantly told how easy his life and how as a 6 year old he doesn't have problem like his parents does, and honestly he doesn't. He lives a very care free life with little things in his way.
The humor of strip is mostly dialogue driven humor but does occasionally have a shift in tone from the usual antics such as when Calvin asks Hobbes about the existence of god. Reading it now as an adult I feel like it resonate with me more than when I was Calvin's age.
The Arrival
The Arrival is a very peculiar comic in that it doesn't use dialogue or any recognizable words throughout the entire book. Every bit of information that has been relayed had done so visually. We know how a character is feeling by observing their facial expression and body gestures. We see close ups of their actions to indicate what they are doing. There's flashbacks to show the story of other immigrant's story and how they got to the same destination as the protagonist. Whenever there is a mood shift the temperature of the black and white pages changes.
An example of it happening was when the protagonist was working a factory and meet an old man who recounted his time in the army, in the beginning it was a warm sepia tone as the crowd of towns folk cheers for the troops but it soon transform into a much more cooler gray as the solider marches on and the and then it became a more murky blue-gray color when the end of the war drew near.
Considering that The Arrival is about the immigrant experience it's fitting that the comic would not have dialogue, it forces the viewer to adopt the same point of view as the characters, almost all of them were immigrants coming into a new world and experiencing culture shock, language barriers, and loneliness. Since many of them do not know what anybody is saying or read anything they rely on what they're seeing.
An example of it happening was when the protagonist was working a factory and meet an old man who recounted his time in the army, in the beginning it was a warm sepia tone as the crowd of towns folk cheers for the troops but it soon transform into a much more cooler gray as the solider marches on and the and then it became a more murky blue-gray color when the end of the war drew near.
Considering that The Arrival is about the immigrant experience it's fitting that the comic would not have dialogue, it forces the viewer to adopt the same point of view as the characters, almost all of them were immigrants coming into a new world and experiencing culture shock, language barriers, and loneliness. Since many of them do not know what anybody is saying or read anything they rely on what they're seeing.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Girl Fight
I've read "Girl Fight Comics"as my readings. I chose to read that title because it sounded like an exploitation film and it was exactly what I expected. The story that mostly stuck out was the first one starring "Fox" a woman with amnesia trying to come home to Africa.
It's interesting that there were themes of lesbianism, feminism, sexual abuse, and neo imperialism within the writings. It's still framed in a hyper-sexual and very violent way, but it's there and prominent. It's also worth mentioning that there is racist stereotypes in the comics despite it having a black protagonist and the comic talking about the exploitation of Africans. There was even a part where Fox was running around in a leopard skin bikini and would later decide to abandon civilization and live in the jungle. Later in a different story the group of feminist ganged up on a abusive black man and shouted racial slurs at him. The africans the tribe was described as primitive by the americans.
A lot of it even comes across as misandric in a way. I think the only positive male character was Fox's father and the scientist in a later story. Most men are written as violent blow hards who abuse and rape women who get their come uppens, usually in the form of a knife in the back.
Reading this it was interesting seeing how the ideas are tackled. It's not tame and it's not apologetic about what it is. The comic knows what it wants to be and it has a specific audience. The average person wouldn't be the type to pick this comic up. The comic was written by a woman named Trina Robbins and I do wonder as to what her intent and her thought process when writing Girl Fight Comics.
It's interesting that there were themes of lesbianism, feminism, sexual abuse, and neo imperialism within the writings. It's still framed in a hyper-sexual and very violent way, but it's there and prominent. It's also worth mentioning that there is racist stereotypes in the comics despite it having a black protagonist and the comic talking about the exploitation of Africans. There was even a part where Fox was running around in a leopard skin bikini and would later decide to abandon civilization and live in the jungle. Later in a different story the group of feminist ganged up on a abusive black man and shouted racial slurs at him. The africans the tribe was described as primitive by the americans.
A lot of it even comes across as misandric in a way. I think the only positive male character was Fox's father and the scientist in a later story. Most men are written as violent blow hards who abuse and rape women who get their come uppens, usually in the form of a knife in the back.
Reading this it was interesting seeing how the ideas are tackled. It's not tame and it's not apologetic about what it is. The comic knows what it wants to be and it has a specific audience. The average person wouldn't be the type to pick this comic up. The comic was written by a woman named Trina Robbins and I do wonder as to what her intent and her thought process when writing Girl Fight Comics.
Saturday, September 9, 2017
Understanding Comics
The section I found most intriguing was when McCloud discussed comic transitions and how they are used in chapter three entitled "Blood in the Gutters". He first talked about the "gutters" themselves and its power to imply events not shown to the audience by providing the them with closure. This naturally segue into panel transitions and forms.
The first transition mentioned was "Moment-to-Moment", it's when the panel focuses on the moment and it creates little closure. Next was "Action-to-Action", when the panels focuses on a particular action shown. Then there was "Subject-to-Subject", where the focus is within a scene or idea and requires higher degree of reader involvement and closure and without these factors the panels would not be as meaningful to the viewer. After that is "Scene-to-Scene", it is a transition that shows time and distance. In those panel deductive reasoning is needed to understand it.
He compared western comics to each other and noticed similarities with the about of the types of transitions used and the fondness of the action-to-action transitions. Even something as wildly different as Tin Tin and Fantastic Four that differs in both aesthetics and writing share similarities with transition trends. It gets even more interesting when McCloud compare comics with manga. The trend remains mostly similar except with the addition with aspect-to aspect transition. It shows the very eastern style of mangas and it ties with feudal era Japanese artworks such as Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Maple Viewing at Takao by Kanō Hideyori, and 13th Station: Hara by Utagawa Hiroshige. That style of showing pieces of the surrounding gives it an atmospheric and cinematic feel and slows down the pace.
I find it interesting that despite media such as mangas that is meant to be consumed quickly it still takes it's time with these aspect-to-aspect and moment-to-moment panels. It takes advantage of the fact that tankōbons have hundreds of pages in each volume in comparison to western comics having around 10-30 pages for each issue.
The first transition mentioned was "Moment-to-Moment", it's when the panel focuses on the moment and it creates little closure. Next was "Action-to-Action", when the panels focuses on a particular action shown. Then there was "Subject-to-Subject", where the focus is within a scene or idea and requires higher degree of reader involvement and closure and without these factors the panels would not be as meaningful to the viewer. After that is "Scene-to-Scene", it is a transition that shows time and distance. In those panel deductive reasoning is needed to understand it.
He compared western comics to each other and noticed similarities with the about of the types of transitions used and the fondness of the action-to-action transitions. Even something as wildly different as Tin Tin and Fantastic Four that differs in both aesthetics and writing share similarities with transition trends. It gets even more interesting when McCloud compare comics with manga. The trend remains mostly similar except with the addition with aspect-to aspect transition. It shows the very eastern style of mangas and it ties with feudal era Japanese artworks such as Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Maple Viewing at Takao by Kanō Hideyori, and 13th Station: Hara by Utagawa Hiroshige. That style of showing pieces of the surrounding gives it an atmospheric and cinematic feel and slows down the pace.
I find it interesting that despite media such as mangas that is meant to be consumed quickly it still takes it's time with these aspect-to-aspect and moment-to-moment panels. It takes advantage of the fact that tankōbons have hundreds of pages in each volume in comparison to western comics having around 10-30 pages for each issue.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Une Semaine de Bonte by Max Ernst
1) A woman showing her sick moves to a rooster balanced on a ball. Obviously the rooster is shook by the sheer skills. There is a plate full of tiny eggs and what seems to dead body near the stair well.
2) A half-bird man is creeping on a woman pulling an exorcist. His rooster buddy is next to him like the good bro he is.
3) Pretty-naked lady is over seeing a funeral and various animal creatures are also around the coffin. They didn't have the heart to inform her of the wardrobe malfunction.
4) It seems like pretty-naked lady is on the ground writhing in pain already regretting her fashion choice in the dead of winter while the animal creatures look over a scroll.
5) A woman is murdered and the killer left rosters on her bed as some sick prank. The rooster man is not pleased.
6) It goes full circle as the woman is now showing her sick moves this time on a woman, while the rooster man is creeping on her.
2) A half-bird man is creeping on a woman pulling an exorcist. His rooster buddy is next to him like the good bro he is.
3) Pretty-naked lady is over seeing a funeral and various animal creatures are also around the coffin. They didn't have the heart to inform her of the wardrobe malfunction.
4) It seems like pretty-naked lady is on the ground writhing in pain already regretting her fashion choice in the dead of winter while the animal creatures look over a scroll.
5) A woman is murdered and the killer left rosters on her bed as some sick prank. The rooster man is not pleased.
6) It goes full circle as the woman is now showing her sick moves this time on a woman, while the rooster man is creeping on her.
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