How has fantasy as a genre been defined? Find at least five formative definitions in Attebery (1980)?
“Perhaps the most satisfying way would be to line up a shelf of books and say ‘There. That is what I mean by Fantasy.’”.
“An overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility.”
“A narrative is a fantasy if it presents the persuasive establisment and a development of an impossibiltiy…”
“A recognigtion of fact but not a slavery to it.” (J. R. R Tolkien)
“Any narrative which includes as a significant part of its make up is some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law – that is fantasy.”
These five defintions extracted from Attebery (1980) all in some way or another define the very word ‘Fantasy’. I believe that all these definitons are relativly similar and all evoke a similar meaning. A meaning which states that Fantasy is simply a place where we (the readers) can escape to, a place which isn’t far from the truth but a place where things happen that can’t occur in ‘real life’ due to them being created by an author. And yet the laws of physics also state that at the same time these things being based in the fantasy world are not impossible.
If we dig deeper into the above definitons we can explore the reasons for fantasy and why it is such an important genre (well I think it is anyway). Its interesting to note that as we come into this world as young infants, the videos and bed time sotries which we read and watched, were all mostly defined as fantasy. Mostly, all of the ones I experienced when I was younger were classified as ‘Low Fantasy’, being Fantasy which had “parallel worlds bordering on one”, for example escaping into C.S Lewis Narnia and David Bowie’s ‘Labyrinth’. By introducing young ones to a place where we could escape to through the means of litreture etc, is such a genius idea as it allows for the exploration of imagination. And as Elbert Einenstein once said, “Creativity and imagination are more important than knowledge.”
The very importance of having this ‘place’ we can escape to whenever we want, is just genius. For example whilst reading ‘A wizzard of Earthsea’ my interpretaion of the characters would have varied from that of my neighbours. That’s the beauty of fantasy, we are allowed to create our own understanding of the events which take place and we can create our own environment to where the events take place. It is this whole idea which fuels our imagination and allows us to become lost in amognst a whole new world that is so amazing. “Fantasy is an exercise of what may be our most divine and certainly is our most human capacity, the imagination.”
Another great thing about fantasy is that anyone can enjoy it and like I said before, enjoy it in their own way by making their own meaning and ideas of the ‘Fantasy’ in which they have escaped into. And like Attebery (1980) states “there is enough wonder in the old tales for all members of the family.”
Can you identify any common fantasy meta-narratives from your own reading/viewing?
When I was younger my favourite place to escape to was good old Enid Blyton’s ‘enchanted forest’. I could once again meet up with my familiar friends such as moon face and the giant slippery slip. I would spend hours just pouring over Blyton’s pages. The most rewarding thing about this was that in generations before me, such as my mum, she also had the chance to experience the wonderful world that I had. And even better, I passed my copies down to my sister as well to enjoy.
Even now that I have matured and grown up (let’s hope so anyway) I can still remember the characters and the things that happened in the enchanted forest as Blyton left such an enchanted impression etched into my imagination.
Now though, I prefer to escape into Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, allowing myself to be taken back to the 1800’s where they danced in balls and wore amazing costumes.
And even though the places where I escape to now have changed from when I was younger, I still enjoy escaping into a fantasy world where I can let my imagination create its own artwork to the blank canvas which Jane Austen has prepared for me, in order to create my own fantasy world!
“Man may, if he pleases, invent a little world of his own, with its own laws; for there is that in him which delights in calling up new forms - which is the nearest, perhaps, he can come to creation.” Attebery (1980).
Reference List
Attebery, B. (1980). Locating fantasy. In The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guinn. Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1980.
Le Guinn, U. (1993; 1968). A Wizard of Earthsea. In The Earthsea Quartet. London: Penguin.
Ursula K. Le Guin. (1993). Plausibility Revisited What Hoppen and What Didn't. Retrieved from http://www.ursulakleguin.com/ August 6th.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Week 2
Week 2 – The sky is falling
What does Baetons (2001) mean by ‘monstration’, ‘graphiation’ and ‘graphiateur’
The term Monstration was first used by Andre Gaudrealt when he was looking at storytelling in films and the intertwining of different kinds of storytelling such as an interpretation of the film director, a novel that may have inspired the film or the original filmscript (Baetons 2001). Baetons definition of monstration is that “the events are preformed by the characters themselves in a situation in which the story seems to narrate itself, without any narrator’s intervention” (2001, pg.24). This is to say that when ‘monstration’ occurs in the story, the audience does not require any help from a narrator to understand what is going on. The readers can unfold the situation without text and narrative would be pointless as the characters narrate themselves. I believe that monstration is very important so there is not too much text to read as comics are enjoyed for their graphic sense. Leaving the narration up to the characters keeps the readers attention and are a lot more suitable for the children to read.
Although, Marion states that apart from ‘monstration’ in comics, there is another aspect that requires consideration called Graphication (as cited in Baetons, 2001, p. 149)
Baeton states that ‘graphication’ is ‘the graphic and narrative enunciation of the comics’ and that ‘graphiatuer is ‘the agent responsible for it’ (2001, pg 26). Graphication is present in all comics starting from the initial sketch, to analyzing the layout, and finally the special features. The ‘Graphiaetur’ is the person who creates these elements in the comics.
What does Khordoc think the Asterix series does better than Hergé’s Tintin?
Khordoc (2001) states that the main reason the Asterix series does better than Herge is the noise techniques used. Khordic displays sound to a wider and more frequent extent than Herge’s Tintin.
I agree with this and find that the noise element is more present in the Asterix series but in saying that, Herge’s Tintin definitely doesn’t lack example of ‘noise’ either.
A main area of ‘noise’ I noticed in the Asterix series that was not used as effectively by Herge’s ‘The Blue Lotus’ were the coloured speech balloons. They emphasised the effect of showing negative words spoken by a character leaving less need for narrative text. Herge’s speech balloons “often occupy approximately half the panel, showing that despite the detailed drawings, the steries is none-the-less quite reliant on the text.” (Khordoc, 2001, p. 158)
Khordoc (2001) also states that the Asterix series also portrays some representation of sound through pictures, such as lightening bolts which represents verbal aggression. Asterix also successfully use tones such as sarcasm from the characters as a way to represent censored words that would be improper to use especially for children reading the series.
References
Baetons, J(2001). Revealing Traces: a new theory of graphic enunciation. In R., Varnum & C., Gibbons (Eds.), The Language of Comics: word and image (pp. 145-155). Jackson: U Press of Mississippi.
Khordoc, C. (2001). The comics book's soundtrack: visual sound - effect in Asterix. In varnum, R. & Gibbons, C. (Ed.). The language of comics: word and image. (pp. 156 - 173). Jackson: U P of Mississippi.
What does Baetons (2001) mean by ‘monstration’, ‘graphiation’ and ‘graphiateur’
The term Monstration was first used by Andre Gaudrealt when he was looking at storytelling in films and the intertwining of different kinds of storytelling such as an interpretation of the film director, a novel that may have inspired the film or the original filmscript (Baetons 2001). Baetons definition of monstration is that “the events are preformed by the characters themselves in a situation in which the story seems to narrate itself, without any narrator’s intervention” (2001, pg.24). This is to say that when ‘monstration’ occurs in the story, the audience does not require any help from a narrator to understand what is going on. The readers can unfold the situation without text and narrative would be pointless as the characters narrate themselves. I believe that monstration is very important so there is not too much text to read as comics are enjoyed for their graphic sense. Leaving the narration up to the characters keeps the readers attention and are a lot more suitable for the children to read.
Although, Marion states that apart from ‘monstration’ in comics, there is another aspect that requires consideration called Graphication (as cited in Baetons, 2001, p. 149)
Baeton states that ‘graphication’ is ‘the graphic and narrative enunciation of the comics’ and that ‘graphiatuer is ‘the agent responsible for it’ (2001, pg 26). Graphication is present in all comics starting from the initial sketch, to analyzing the layout, and finally the special features. The ‘Graphiaetur’ is the person who creates these elements in the comics.
What does Khordoc think the Asterix series does better than Hergé’s Tintin?
Khordoc (2001) states that the main reason the Asterix series does better than Herge is the noise techniques used. Khordic displays sound to a wider and more frequent extent than Herge’s Tintin.
I agree with this and find that the noise element is more present in the Asterix series but in saying that, Herge’s Tintin definitely doesn’t lack example of ‘noise’ either.
A main area of ‘noise’ I noticed in the Asterix series that was not used as effectively by Herge’s ‘The Blue Lotus’ were the coloured speech balloons. They emphasised the effect of showing negative words spoken by a character leaving less need for narrative text. Herge’s speech balloons “often occupy approximately half the panel, showing that despite the detailed drawings, the steries is none-the-less quite reliant on the text.” (Khordoc, 2001, p. 158)
Khordoc (2001) also states that the Asterix series also portrays some representation of sound through pictures, such as lightening bolts which represents verbal aggression. Asterix also successfully use tones such as sarcasm from the characters as a way to represent censored words that would be improper to use especially for children reading the series.
References
Baetons, J(2001). Revealing Traces: a new theory of graphic enunciation. In R., Varnum & C., Gibbons (Eds.), The Language of Comics: word and image (pp. 145-155). Jackson: U Press of Mississippi.
Khordoc, C. (2001). The comics book's soundtrack: visual sound - effect in Asterix. In varnum, R. & Gibbons, C. (Ed.). The language of comics: word and image. (pp. 156 - 173). Jackson: U P of Mississippi.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Week Two
Hey guys!, here is my entries for this week.
First question up for this is .... What does Khordoc think Astreix series does better than Herge's Tintin...... a rather debate question!.
First of all Khordoc says that" Herge has not displayed the full range of sounds which can be represented graphically, in other words this series is not as audiable or as noisy as others" so basically Khordoc thinks the Asterix series uses/portrays sound to a bigger extent then Herge.
An example of the noises that Asterix has and Herge doesn't that Khordoc stated is the Sound through pictures and the coloured speech balloons. Khordoc said about Asterix was " Asterix demonstrates a fairly complex yet quite typical use of speech balloons", where she said about Herge was it " relied almost entirely on speech balloons and was deprived of narrative commentary.
Second question i have chosen to answer is.... According to horricks (2004), how has perceptions of comic as a media changed?
Well first of all the perceptions of comics has changed over the years as Horricks does state that in the 1950's there was a concern for New Zealand about the influences of comics on the younger readers. Bill Pearson stated to the landfall that " the comics erode the most fundamental habits of humane, civilized living and they erode them in the most vulnerable element of our society, our children. If we ban the comics we are reducing the chances of war and preventing the further perversion of the world's children",
so back then comics were seen as a way to corrupt children as comics were really made for children too read, but the perception of comics as a media has changed over time as in todays society comics are viewed very diferentely as comics are being reviewed in the NY Review of books, so this shows that adults too read comics, that comics aren't just for children, so this alone is changing the media of comics.
So in conclusion I suppose comics are like any other media, such as internet - facebook, television all these medias have too changed, not just comics.
REFERENCES:
Horricks, P. (2004). The perfect Planet: comics, games and world - building. In Williams, M. (Ed.), Writing at the edge of the universe. Christchurch: U of Canterbury.
Khordoc, C. (2001). The comics book's soundtrack: visual sound - effect in Asterix. In varnum, R. & Gibbons, C. (Ed.). The language of comics: word and image. (pp. 156 - 173). Jackson: U P of Mississippi.
First question up for this is .... What does Khordoc think Astreix series does better than Herge's Tintin...... a rather debate question!.
First of all Khordoc says that" Herge has not displayed the full range of sounds which can be represented graphically, in other words this series is not as audiable or as noisy as others" so basically Khordoc thinks the Asterix series uses/portrays sound to a bigger extent then Herge.
An example of the noises that Asterix has and Herge doesn't that Khordoc stated is the Sound through pictures and the coloured speech balloons. Khordoc said about Asterix was " Asterix demonstrates a fairly complex yet quite typical use of speech balloons", where she said about Herge was it " relied almost entirely on speech balloons and was deprived of narrative commentary.
Second question i have chosen to answer is.... According to horricks (2004), how has perceptions of comic as a media changed?
Well first of all the perceptions of comics has changed over the years as Horricks does state that in the 1950's there was a concern for New Zealand about the influences of comics on the younger readers. Bill Pearson stated to the landfall that " the comics erode the most fundamental habits of humane, civilized living and they erode them in the most vulnerable element of our society, our children. If we ban the comics we are reducing the chances of war and preventing the further perversion of the world's children",
so back then comics were seen as a way to corrupt children as comics were really made for children too read, but the perception of comics as a media has changed over time as in todays society comics are viewed very diferentely as comics are being reviewed in the NY Review of books, so this shows that adults too read comics, that comics aren't just for children, so this alone is changing the media of comics.
So in conclusion I suppose comics are like any other media, such as internet - facebook, television all these medias have too changed, not just comics.
REFERENCES:
Horricks, P. (2004). The perfect Planet: comics, games and world - building. In Williams, M. (Ed.), Writing at the edge of the universe. Christchurch: U of Canterbury.
Khordoc, C. (2001). The comics book's soundtrack: visual sound - effect in Asterix. In varnum, R. & Gibbons, C. (Ed.). The language of comics: word and image. (pp. 156 - 173). Jackson: U P of Mississippi.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Week One - Tintin "The Blue Lotus"
How did Herge research China for “The blue Lotus”
Herge was firstly encouraged to research China by a priest named Father Gosset. The priest then introduced Herge to a man named Chang Chong – Chen in 1934 and they hit it off instantly. Chang had a life full of knowledge about the ‘real’ China and would have long discussions with Herge telling him about China’s history, language and religion. Herge acquired a great fascination of China as he had previously only believed what the newspaper said calling them “slit eyed people who were very cruel”. (Farr, M. 1991, p.51)
Herge’s new perspective of China was so important to him that he created Chang as a character and a special friend of Tin Tin’s. Thanks to Chang, Herge had fallen out of the stereotypes and prejudices and now portrayed China in his stories as accurately and real as he could.
Herge’s statement “It was from that time that I undertook research and really interested myself in the people and countries to which I sent Tintin, out of a sense of honesty to my readers” (Farr, M. 1991, p.51) makes me believe that Chang influenced Herge to not only research China but all countries that he wrote about so that his readers were getting the truth about these countries and the people living in them instead of believing how the newspaper stereotyped them.
How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin's appeal to adults?
Herge always stated that his Tintin adventures were aged for “all young people ages seven to seventy seven” and Farr justifies this by explaining how adults find their own appreciation and understanding of the comics whereas children are drawn to it because of the pictures and excitement Tintin brings. Farr (1991) states that the adults pick up on the puns, parody and political satire that is portrayed in these stories making them enjoyable. They can re-read the stories and still discover something new.
Herge’s ability to include world events in his stories also appeals to the adults and there are several historical events that are loosely portrayed in “The Blue Lotus”. The adults can relate to the stories in Tintin as they are real life events and most of the content is aimed at adults to read and understand.
References
Farr, Michael. (1991). Tintin: the complete companion. London: John Murray.
Herge was firstly encouraged to research China by a priest named Father Gosset. The priest then introduced Herge to a man named Chang Chong – Chen in 1934 and they hit it off instantly. Chang had a life full of knowledge about the ‘real’ China and would have long discussions with Herge telling him about China’s history, language and religion. Herge acquired a great fascination of China as he had previously only believed what the newspaper said calling them “slit eyed people who were very cruel”. (Farr, M. 1991, p.51)
Herge’s new perspective of China was so important to him that he created Chang as a character and a special friend of Tin Tin’s. Thanks to Chang, Herge had fallen out of the stereotypes and prejudices and now portrayed China in his stories as accurately and real as he could.
Herge’s statement “It was from that time that I undertook research and really interested myself in the people and countries to which I sent Tintin, out of a sense of honesty to my readers” (Farr, M. 1991, p.51) makes me believe that Chang influenced Herge to not only research China but all countries that he wrote about so that his readers were getting the truth about these countries and the people living in them instead of believing how the newspaper stereotyped them.
How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin's appeal to adults?
Herge always stated that his Tintin adventures were aged for “all young people ages seven to seventy seven” and Farr justifies this by explaining how adults find their own appreciation and understanding of the comics whereas children are drawn to it because of the pictures and excitement Tintin brings. Farr (1991) states that the adults pick up on the puns, parody and political satire that is portrayed in these stories making them enjoyable. They can re-read the stories and still discover something new.
Herge’s ability to include world events in his stories also appeals to the adults and there are several historical events that are loosely portrayed in “The Blue Lotus”. The adults can relate to the stories in Tintin as they are real life events and most of the content is aimed at adults to read and understand.
References
Farr, Michael. (1991). Tintin: the complete companion. London: John Murray.
Week Two -
Just wanna say GREAT job with the questions everyone, its really interesting to read everyone else's point of view!! Can't wait to read more! =)
As Horricks (2004) states; in the early 1950s there was widespread concern in New Zealand about the influence of comics on young readers. "The comics erode the most fundamental habits of humane, civilized living and they erode them in the most vulnerable element of our society, our children..... if we ban the comics we are reducing the chances of war and preventing the further pervasion of the world's children." He then goes on to say that over time the perception of comics has moved from being too violent to being widely praised for their works, even being reviewed in the the 'New York review of books.' He then goes on to say that video games are the ones getting the slack for being too violent for children these days, which i think is true. I myself are often surprised by the level of violence in the Xbox games my step brother plays. all of them are filled with shooting and people getting blown up with is a bit extreme for a 12 year old.
What does Khordoc think the Asterix series does better than Herge's TinTin?
Khordoc states; Herge has not displayed, in my opinion the full range of sounds which can be represented graphically in other words, this series is not "audible" or as noisy, as others. This may be related to the fact that tintin, like some of the other Belgian adventure series, is grounded in a fairly intricate plot, thus, it is more highly narrated, through indeed the characters are the main narrators. He also goes on to state that Herge's speech balloons often occupy approximately half the panel, showing that despite the detailed drawings, the series is nonetheless quite reliant on the text. In the case of Asterix, the story, despite certain variations, is fairly similar in the most of the episodes. The representation of sound is therefore one of the numerous strategies in this comic which contributes to creating humor, which is the series main purpose.
References - 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.
Khordok, C. (2001). The Comics Book’s Soundtrack: Visual Sound-effects in Asterix. In Varnum, R. & Gibbons, C. (Eds.), The Language of Comics: word and image, (pp.156-173). Jackson: U Press of Mississippi.
Baetons, J. (2001). Revealing Traces: a new theory of graphic enunciation. In Varnum, R. & Gibbons, C. (Eds.), The Language of Comics: word andimage (pp.145-155). Jackson: U Press of Mississippi.
Spiegelman, A. (2004). The Sky is Falling. In In the Shadow of No Towers (pp. ii-iii). New York: Pantheon.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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.
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.
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