The readings for today all seem to fit together and seem to
fit with the class. Which is nice because I have been struggling with fitting
the readings within the class. After going through the readings I couldn’t help
thinking of a graphic novel, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. I specifically thought of the relationship between text
and picture. In Fun Home Alison as
well as her Dad struggles with their sexuality throughout the novel. The
interesting thing that happens in this novel is that the text and the comic
strips (pictures) do not align. What the author says gives us an image contrary
to what the picture tells us. I wonder why this is. Mishra states in the
article, that throughout early schooling we have been thought to analyze text
and treat photos as afterthoughts. The reader shouldn’t except the drawing and
move on. The reader needs to inspect the difference and ask why? It could be as
simple as a difference in views but it is most likely an author’s critique on
the natural world, as Mishra states on page 4. I think another example to think
about is on page 7 of Mishra when he explains the word horse. Horse is just as relevant
and typical as any other 5 letter word because we have an image associated with
a word we can form imagination. In Fun
Home Alison purposely displays differences between pictures and text to
simulate the different ways she sees the world because of her different
sexuality. The text that is read is how the reader/society is taught to view
the world. Alison views the world as the pictures in the novel illustrate. I
guess it is a little off topic, but it all boils down to the rhetoric of
pictures. I think it is crucial to think about the rhetoric of pictures in our
A/V shorts. What do you want each picture to say? Or what does the picture say
to the reader? Do you need text to explain meaning to the reader? Or can you
use the text to make a point contrary to your picture?
A graphic novel afterthought
Very interesting insight. I am not well acquainted with graphic novels outside of the classroom and it is interesting to see that there are some that do not follow closely with the words. It seems that I would cause the reader to really use their imagination in order to appreciate the readings / illustrations.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting that the text and pictures do not align in Fun Home. In considering this it brings to mind lots of real life examples of disconnect between text and pictures, perhaps the subject matter drove that style. If I think of several (lots) of my family gatherings the picture of what we were doing rarely lined up with the script rolling through many people’s heads. The bubble over my head when my niece showed up with a boyfriend on parole armed with a fifth of Jack and a knife on his belt was much different than the spoken script of "Hi- so nice to meet you. Here sit next to Granny- she'd love some conversation". Maybe the subject, the wrestling with our inner and outer self, was the reason for the disconnect. If not I may have just given you a great idea for a book, the inner and outer presentations.
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