Week Two - The sky is falling

According to Horricks (2004), how have perceptions of comics as a media changed?

Over the years, as new forms of media/literacy have been introduced to society, our perceptions and opinions towards comics have changed. Like Horricks (2004, p.3) suggests, our concerns over comics being associated with things such as violence and war have not disappeared but have merely “moved onto other media”. Initially in the early 1950’s, teachers, parents etc. were speaking out against comics and saying they were “shocked by the violence and jingoistic-communism found in many American comics” Horricks (2004, p.3), as they apparently “erode the most fundamental habits of humane, civilised living.” To read this now in 2010 whilst trying to keep a straight face was quite hard for me to do. Do they really believe that poor old Tintin and his little pet Snowy were really out there trying to influence readers to become the next Hitler? It sounds a tad ludicrous to me.


Yet in saying this, I can actually see why everyday people of society did believe this idea. Today when you read our papers and listen to the radio, people have written in and rung up to complain that the video games our youth are playing today are demoralising their values. Back in the 1950’s in place of video games, they had comics. Comics and video gaming, according to Horricks, fall under the same category and both pretty much fulfil a similar purpose, to let people escape from reality into a “secondary world”.


The only thing that has really changed over time is society’s shift in values
towards new forms of media. We need something new to moan about and so our perceptions on viewing comics as let’s say ‘evil’ and ‘bad’ for our youth, have just shifted down the line to video games, the internet and T.V.


So even now, that our perceptions on comics are a little less harsh and we might not view them as ‘bad’ for our youth anymore, our initial “moral panics” which we had over comics have just moved on to video games and the likes. And the ironic part is, it’s probably because we just need something new to complain about. Like Horricks states our complaints haven’t changed one bit. They are “often - word for word - identical” to our last complaints associated with comics.


What does Baetons (2001) mean by ‘monstration’, ‘graphiation’ and the ‘graphiateur’’?


Baetons (2001, p. 149) defines ‘monstration’ as “when the events are performed by the characters themselves in a situation in which the story seems to narrate itself.”
In this case there is no need for the author to interrupt with narrative. The story can unfold by the reader taking in the actions of the characters involved in the story. This can be beneficial to the reader as it gives us a break from reading and gives our visual senses a chance to be stimulated. On page four of ‘The Blue Lotus’ there is a sequence of frames where this happens. Herge lets Snowy do the talking with his actions when he tumbles down the steps. Through the next couple of frames by just looking at the pictorial elements of the characters we can see what goes on.


Marition proposes to call ‘graphiation’ “the graphic and narrative enunciation of the comics and ‘graphiateur’ the agent responsible for it.” Beatons (2001).


“Every drawing bears the traces of ‘graphiation’.” What counts of the graphiation is how the reader responds to the pictorial elements and how they interpret it. Authors of comics, such as Herge himself, uses graphiation in his work to tell us a story through the use of graphics rather than narrative.


Comics are known for this. They have a small amount of dialogue and large amounts of pictorial elements. It’s this idea of graphiation that is one of the elements which define comics from other forms of media like novels and movies. It makes literature different and far easier to read if you’re not a person who enjoys large amounts of text.


Reference List


Baetons, J. (2001). Revealing Traces: a new theory of graphic enunciation. In Varnum, R. & Gibbons, C. (Eds.), The Language of Comics: word and image (pp.145-155). Jackson: U Press of Mississippi.


Horricks, D. (2004). The Perfect Planet: Comics, games and world-building. In Williams, M. (Ed.), Writing at the Edge of the Universe. Christchurch: U of Canterbury Press.


Spiegelman, A. (2004). The Sky is Falling. In In the Shadow of No Towers (pp. ii-iii). New York: Pantheon.

Week One - Tintin - The Blue Lotus.

Do you think comics are a children's or adult genre/media.


I personally think the comics are in fact for both adult and children, as children see a comic as something with cool illustrations and they don't really get the full understanding or awareness of it's political agenda, where with adults they get what the comic is actually portraying. Comics really depend on the reader's interpretation of how it is going to go.

With the comic Tintin according to Micheal Farr they went "by devising a character who would appeal to children as much as grown ups, though for quite different reasons" (Farr, 1991), so this is why Tintin is enjoyed by both adults and children as it suits both, but in saying this though not from my personal opinion but that i read that in Asia this was seen as not a story for children, but seen as a problem for Asia which i thought this was interesting!. Tintin is a classic comic that is about a boy that has a dog and they are really on a classic adventure where the adults find "the political satire and parody, puns and prescience" ( Farr, 1991).

It can be said the comics are for both adult and children as Tintin is a prime example of this as both can really enjoy it!.

The next question i have chosen to answer is ...

How did Herge research China for "The Blue Lotus?".

Herge meet Chang Chong Chen, and they took to each other straight away, because of Chang Ching Chen Herge learnt alot about China from him, Herge said " I owe it to him to better understanding of the sense of things: friendship, poetry and nature, It was the time of The Blue Lotus that i discovered a new world" ( Herge, 2005; 1935).

Because of Chang Chong Chen teaching Herge about the history this gave him the chance to go into very fine detail as he went along in The Blue Lotus.

Herge made Chang Chong Chen a character as a special friend for Tintin, i see this away of thanking him, and the characters friendship is based on their real life one.



REFERENCE PAGE....

Farr, Micheal. (1991). Tintin: the complete companion. London: John Murray.

Herge. (2005; 1935). The adventures of Tintin: The Blue Lotus. London: Methuen.

Week one - "TinTin and the blue lotus"

Do you think Comics are a children's or adult genre/media?

I believe that comics are both children and an adult genre of media but in todays society they are mainly for adults. Most content displayed in comics are made for adults to understand. The illustrations are more for children.

TinTin is loved by both adults and children from all over the world. (Farr, 1991) states; All young people aged from 7 to 67 will enjoy tintin. In fact the the appeal has proved much wider; from children first learning to read to aged tintinologists (a group of people who love everything about tintin). Each person no matter their age finds their own understanding and appreciation of the comic.

The child loves the excitement of the comic while the adults get the political satire, the puns and prescience, so most comics can be seen for both children and adults. In todays society alot of comics are being made into film adaptations and video games so are being widely broadcast to both, but children are getting a better understanding of them, and at the end of the day, they are the ones that will keep being them, so are targeted to them, but in saying this, parents are the ones that influence what their children read, and in most cases this is what has been happening with tintin. The children grow up, become adults and then the parents themselves allow tintin to be carried on through other children.

How and Why are comics becoming more accepted as an art form? Can/Should they be regarded as a literary genre?

Comics are a rare sort of art form. They are delicately drawn and most displayed with so much detail it is like you are looking at a zoomed in photograph.

They are constructed by some of the most skilled artists and are just as beautiful as paintings being cited and praised as the most beautiful art forms.

Comics tell a story in the pictures, they are carefully displayed and constructed so the reader gets a full story without so many words. This is a skill that should be praised more often as they are telling a story in another way, not in the usual accepted form of storytelling.

The Images displayed convey a sequential narrative. which is sometimes more effective than a written or spoken narrative.

Can/should they be regarded as a literary genre?

I think Comics can be regarded as a literary genre as most present stories told in a combination of sequential artwork, dialogue and text, but in regard as to if they SHOULD be a literary genre, im not sure as they do not display as much text or dialogue as prose or poetry.

References - Farr, Michael. (1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp. 8-9). London: John Murray.

Tintin - 'The Blue Lotus' (Week One)

Funnily enough the one comic which my family actually owns is Herge’s ‘The Blue Lotus’.

Do you think comics are a children’s or adult genre/media?

It depends on where the audiences understanding of the comics are at before you can decide what age comics are aimed at. Herge himself even said that Tintin was aimed at “all young people aged seven to seventy-seven.” “Each find their own level of understanding and appreciation.” (Farr,1991).

In Herge’s work alone there are many prime examples which portray the audience of ‘The Blue Lotus’ to be of ‘adults’ per se. One example which I found on page three of ‘The Blue Lotus’ is of a typical stereotype generally associated with the Asian race. “I see another man … with yellow skin … his hair is black … he wears glasses.” Generally young children would not understand such a description of a person and it is not until our knowledge matures as an adult that we can begin to understand that Herge is trying to describe the ‘stereotypical’ features of an Asian man. In these instances, I can confidently say that these particular comics are aimed towards adults.

However on the other hand, there are frames from ‘The Blue Locus’ which would be more suited to a younger audience. On page four of this particular comic Tintin is trying to stuff his suitcase with his belongings. His dog, Snowy, can’t be found anywhere and in a later frame we see the suitcase fly down the stairs with Snowy flying out from underneath all of Tintin’s belongings within the suitcase. A younger audience would find this quite entertaining and be more easily amused by such events over say an adult audience.

Herge’s comics are definitely aimed at both the younger and older generations and both for very different reasons. Michael Farr states that “The child will be gripped by the excitement of Tintin, the comedy even ... the adult will additionally find political satire and parody, puns and prescience.” (Farr, 1991).

So even though we cannot say that Herge’s comics are specifically aimed towards adults or specifically aimed towards children, it is fair to say they are aimed at both. The content within the comics will also determine who the audience is.
In saying this, I believe that comics are most definitely aimed at both adults and children and that both can enjoy them, yet both in different ways.

Racism in Herge’s work

Another point I found to be quite fascinating within the Tintin series was the ‘It’s adults only for Tintin and Snowy’ article. There was a problem with the comic ‘Tintin in the Congo’ as it apparently had racist connotations aimed towards black people. Border’s decision to remove this title from the children’s section was done because African’s were being portrayed as ‘sub-human’. It is fair to say that back in 1931 when this comic was written Herge would have had no intention of making racial claims in his comics. In fact Herge wanted to do the complete opposite and move far away from prejudices as possible. “To date, the foreign lands to which Tintin had travelled and their peoples conform to the pictures of clichés held in the 1920’s-30’s.” (Farr,1991). The language and pictures which Herge’s chose to use in his comics would have been acceptable within society in the 1920’s and 30’s.
In ‘The Blue Lotus’, Herge “strove to counter myths by presenting as accurate picture of China as possible,” as the “sweeping away of prejudices was so important to Herge.” (Farr, 1991). This emphasises Whitcoulls point on how Border’s made a “storm in a teacup” (New Zealand Herald, 2007) by removing ‘Tintin in Congo’ from the children’s section of the store as there was no intentional racism meant.
As explained in Farr’s extract of the history of the ‘The Blue Lotus’, Herge tried his best to “sweep away from prejudices” that he even “undertook research and really interested [him]self in the people and countries to which [he] sent Tintin out of a sense of honesty to [his] readers.” (Farr, 1991).

How did Herge research China for ‘The Blue Lotus’?

This leads me onto my last point of how and why Herge put so much effort into researching for ‘The Blue Lotus’. As mentioned earlier Herge wanted to sway away from all the clichés and stereotypes which surrounded the Chinese race. And to do this he invested in a lot of quality time spent with his close friend Chang Chong-chen who taught him the ways of the ‘real’ Chinese history and life. Each detail in ‘The Blue Lotus’ reflected Herge’s new found knowledge of the Chinese race “giving the setting a compelling authenticity”. (Farr, 1991). By allowing Chang to supervise the representations of all the little detailing of Chinese culture such as ‘restaurant signs’, vases’ ‘screens’ and even ‘ wall hangings’, through to the accuracy of China’s political state, Herge’s research for ‘The Blue Lotus’ was definitely not done in vain.

Reference List
Farr, Michael. (1991). Tintin: the complete companion. London: John Murray.
Herge. (2005; 1935). The Adventures of Tintin: the Blue Lotus. London: Methuen.
New Zealand Herald. (2007). It’s adults only for Tintin and Snowy. Auckland

GROUP 2 POP GENRES

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