Author Archives: aromano4

First reader/ Respondent Fun Home (week15) -Alexa

Responding to Nathalie’s question if Fun Home could function as a straight up novel? I think it could. I thought the text she wrote, as well as the dictionary definitions, letters, and maps could have been displayed in a novel and it wouldn’t have changed their effect. I found most of the images being secondary to the text- which hasn’t been the case with other texts we’ve come across this semester in Eng493. The inclusion of so many literary, textual references could have worked in a novel as well.  Most of the images throughout Fun Home could have been easily depicted with vivid imagery. If it was a novel, I probably would have imagined her dad as being way more handsome than Robert Redford, even thought he looked pretty attractive in the picture we saw in the clip online and he looked dorky and creepy in the graphic novel. Whatever.

As to why it’s #1 in Time…maybe it’s seen as being original because she’s telling such a unique and crazy story. How many families do you know work with a funeral home (although it’s such a small part of the plot…at least to me) and have a mostly closeted gay dad and a lesbian daughter? I guess that makes it unique. I don’t know if it was the first…only….last graphic novel written by a lesbian about her own life, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t a lot of graphic novels like these. I guess it tests the norms of graphic novels. Maybe that’s the reason Fun Home was so widely recognized. It also tests the norms of graphic novels by having so many literary references. At times, I felt like Alison Bechdel was trying to brag about how well read she is. I was overwhelmed by literary references…except when they were about mythology and The Great Gatsby.  Overall, I’m not trying to be so hard on Fun Home. I really enjoyed reading it. Once again, it was a very different type of graphic novel. It was more intellectually stimulating to me than some of the others- probably because I’m not much of the graphic novel type…but I have enjoyed sampling a little bit of everything in this class this semester.

Response to Jessica’s first reader post- Alexa Romano

I believe that Santiago’s mixture of art styles was very intentional. The realistic backdrops and images of pop culture (like the beer, bags of food, posters, shirts, and TV images) made the content more relatable. I was also able to gague a time period of the graphic novel. “The Watchmen” clearly provides dates but reading “In My Darkest Hour” we’re forced to use the pop culture references in order to figure out the time period and setting.  The more graphic, real pictures of naked women were very striking and caught me off guard. Those were obviously intentional. They spark a different emotional response than drawings of a naked female body. (… I wonder how those women pictured feel about being naked in a graphic novel…). The drawn pictures didn’t catch me off guard, I expected drawn nudity but seeing the actual pictures really startled me. I think that’s what he wanted. To startle the readers. To cause a weird mix of emotions. I felt more like Omar because I was confused, startled, among other things. The simply drawn characters allows me to go in and out of relating to Omar. However, the very intricate, distorted images, along with their text, forced me out of the graphic novel. I’d become too overwhelmed and confused trying to decipher them. I’d become detached. It was a very different emotional expericnce than I’ve felt in the other graphic novels. Maus was very emotional for me, but in a sad, sympathetic way. I was confused by Jimmy Corrigan. I was constantly changing my emotions with “In My Darkest Hour.”

Searcher – NPR interview with Satrapi – Alexa

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4774402899804593285&ei=B-7xSsTUEZzcqgLU_OWlCw&q=persepolis+interview&hl=en&view=2#

 

I found a video of a NPR interview with Marjane Satrapi. The first question asked relates a specific frame in the graphic novel – when the girls are playing with their veils and having childlike banter about them. Satrapi describes her interaction with the veil as a child saying that she and her friends did play with it. However, she wouldn’t be allowed in school without it and women weren’t allowed out of the house without it. Satrapi points out how women are able to show more hair today and the veil isn’t as long as it used to be. The video mixes pictures from the graphic novel with clips and still frames from the movie. I haven’t seen the movie, but just from this video, I’ve noticed that the artwork is different. The older women are longer in size and their lines are more curved (more complex). I believe this is because they aren’t limited to frames.

The interview also discusses who were the “guardians of the revolution” which Satrapi says were the army, police, and people who dressed as rangers who made order. Hearing Satrapi discuss this makes the story of Persepolis more real to me. While I know it’s a graphic novel based on her life and actual, historical events, the medium of it being portrayed through a graphic novel makes it seem less real to me. Hearing Marjane Satrapidiscuss the graphic novel and having it be  accompanied by images makes it easier for me to remember that this is HER story and the events are true.

First Readers Word Choice in Jimmy Corrigan- Alexa

I was very overwhelmed while reading the first three fourths(ish) of Jimmy Corrigan. I felt the anxiety and confusion that Jimmy felt by the way the graphic novel was set up. I thought the use of words and dialogue is very interesting in this graphic novel. The diction is very precise and the images are very bold. One example is in the first half of the book, on the bottom right corner in a blue and white panel. It says “A NOOSE      into which Mr. Corigan refuses to stick his tongue” and it shows two hands and a ring being given after a series of pictures of Jimmy’s childhood. Because the graphic novel isn’t filled with text, we are able to see an emphasis on this one frame. While a noose isn’t pictured, the reader can easily sense the alternative meaning behind the image and the word choice.

Another place where language was used in an interesting manor is where it says “ANAYWAY following a taxicab ride during which our hero listens silently to his father…” I thought the choice of hero was interesting since we’re reading a graphic novel that isn’t about a hero, or a superhero. What type of hero is Jimmy? Is he a hero overcoming his childhood?  I also liked how transitional words like thus, later, and and were used as transitions between panels. I tend to have issues reading the dialogue of our graphic novels too quickly which makes me unable to focus on the action. I think it allows the reader to digest the story in our own and not rely so much on what the characters are telling us about it. Since some of the story is in Jimmy’s head, isn’t the lack of dialogue helping us figure out what he’s thinking? Or does it make us more confused? What’s the deal with all of the peaches? I didn’t figure that out. I’m still getting used to this graphic novel thing.

Respondent: Vladek and Art- Alexa

This is responce to Sherell’s post. 

I  think Art’s decision to “save his Mom from the ovens if he had to choose between his parents” had to do with both his disdain for his father and his regret of not having a stronger relationship with his mother before her suicide. His choice stems from both relationships. Art’s relationship with his father progressed as he grew up causing him to feel annoyed with Vladek over time. We have to remember that Art’s Mom committed suicide when he was only 20. Vladek died when Art was an adult- he was able to have a full functioning (or dysfunctional) relationship with his father. In my opinion, Art is more inclined to save his mom because he didn’t get to have the fully dysfunctional relationship with her while he was an adult. He sees the bad sides to Vladek because he was with Vladek until the end.

Of course Art feels guilty about the way he treats his father.  In a way, Art and Mala are very similar. They care about Vladek and want to help, but while they’re there with him, they’re constantly annoyed and angered by his outrageous behavior. Unlike Mala, Art can’t run away. Vladek has his sweet moments with Art which is somewhat redeeming; however, sometimes I get the feeling Vladek is trying to guilt Art into staying with him longer by saying how much he enjoys the visits and their time together. Art feels guilty because he is constantly bothered by his father which causes his temper to be short but ,I believe, at the end of the day, Art (and most children) would want to care for their parents if they were ill. Pages 125-128 (in book 2) demonstrate this. Regardless of Vladek’s ridiculous actions of repacking everything and complaining about the packed sunglasses, Art still puts up with his father’s behavior and choreographs his arrival back to New York.

Searchers: “Rorschach Doesn’t Shrug”

http://www.reason.com/news/show/132100.html

Rorschach Doesn’t Shrug
The Watchmen’s hero as Objectivist saint

I found an article that demonstraits a connection between Watchmen to Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand; the article opens by discussing how initially the characters of Watchmen were going to be Charlton Comic characters. Rorschach’s character would have been The Question, who was created by Steve Ditko. Ditko was hevially influenced by the writing of Ayn Rand. Rorschach is Moore’s vision of an objectivist superhero influenced by Rand. Rorschach is an objectivist because he sees sittuations in black and white. The article views Rorschach as an “objectivist saint” because he is willing to kill “in the name of a higher good” and he sacrifices himself to save millions. I found this article very interesting because I noticed how other literary refrences were used throughout Watchmen and I thought this related well; it also provides some insightful character analysis of Rorschach.

-Alexa Romano

First Readers, The Dark Knight Returns- Alexa Romano

The Dark Knight Returns is the first Batman graphic novel I’ve read. Not surprisingly, I am familiar with the plot (past and present) and the characters because of Batman’s presence in pop culture. Initially, I was overwhelmed. The narration of the plot changes constantly. The only graphic novel I was familiar with before was Persepolis which is told from one point of view. Miller constantly switches between Batman’s thoughts and his conversations with the Mutants/other villains, we read Robin (Carrie Kelly)’s thoughts, and the Police Commissioners. That’s not all! Miller’s use of the media and interviews add an outside point of view to the plot. These few frames add an additional third person narrative. We hear the debate surrounding the action of the plot.  

Many of the pages consist of frames with television broadcasters with the text looming over the picture of the news anchor. These aren’t your “typical comic frame” because there is no gutter between each frame. However, the picture of the anchor makes it seem like we (the reader) are watching the news. This relates to McCloud’s discussion of the comic book experience and abstraction. While he discussed it by saying that pictures in comics are more abstract so the reader sees themselves in the story, I see it (in terms of The Dark Knight Returns) that the television frames are being used to make the reader feel as though they’re watching the news. They’re experiencing these views of Batman in the comfort of their own home allowing the reader to form their own point of view of Batman.

Another good example of abstraction occurs on page 67. I was really into the story by the time I got to these series of completely black frames. I was on edge and I was so nervous and excited to find out what happens next. The dialogue boxes were my only clues until Miller revealed to me the location of Batman and one of the mutants. What I was imagining was completely different. Each frame their location changed but the suspense kept me reading. I’m amazed with my imagination after doing this reading.