Resources on passing

Article on the history of passing from the New York Times

Piece on passing and the American dream

The problem with passing

Definition of and links on one-drop rule

PBS's "Who Is Black?"

wiki on one-drop

Kailynn's Post

Kailynn was having some trouble posting to blogger today. Here is her post.

Identity and Incognegro

One of the main themes in Incognegro is identity. Zane is constantly under a false identity whether he is in the field—undercover—or he is at work—using the pseudonym of Incognegro. His fair skin allows him to pass as “white”. He describes his transformation on page 18. What do you think Zane’s reaction to this is and is he able to be himself at all? How do you think this makes him feel? Do you feel as if he is losing his identity as a black male because of pretending he is white? How do you think he keeps composure when he is around white people that degrade his own race? Due to Zane’s false identity, do you often see yourself getting confused as to which race he is portraying each time?

I found it difficult at times to follow the storyline especially when the story jumps from one scene to the next without a warning signal. For example, when Zane crosses the path of the woman that shoots him, then changes to his encounter with his brother at the train station, then back to the woman—just within a couple of pages. I had to look back a few times to see where Johnson and Pleece were going with this.

Lastly, the major aspect that stood out to me in this graphic novel is the art involved. It’s very different from the other graphic novels we have read. It reminds of a Sin City-esque feel. I really enjoy it. I feel as if the graphics are very detailed especially with facial expressions—whereas with the other graphic novels we have read, it is hard to see emotions on the characters’ faces.

Podcast on Incognegro

A podcast I made about some of the issues introduced by Incognegro.  Let me know what you think!

Matters of Identity

It seems that when people don't know you, you can be who ever you want to be. It may be fine at first but as time goes on people may find out who you really are. The story of Incognegro seems to illustrate this point, at least to me. Johnson takes this matter and ramps it up a bit by putting serious consequences on it. The story seems to be a sort of warning against using your identity to deceive people. I say this because out of all those who assumed different personalities only Zane came out alive, this includes Francis. Do you agree that Johnson's Incognegro is a warning against taking on different identities in or order to deceive? And if you do agree consider this, even though Zane's assumed identity was doing a service to the community by pointing out those who attended lynching, do you think that it was justified according to the message highlighted in the book?

Film v. Comics

For those of you interested in the relationship between film studies and comics studies, check out this article in the Journal of Cinema Studies.

If you're interested in questions of medium, take a look here.

This introduction to graphic narrative also looks at film and comics a bit.

Persepolis as a Universal Narrative

Most movie adaptions do not usually have the author directly involved. The rights are given away to a movie studio and the plot along with its characters is alerted however the producers see fit even at the expense of real events if the adapted story is a biography. As Persepolis an independent film, however, Satrapi was able to direct her graphic novel's adaption and I believe that puts a whole new aspect in how the movie was handled. I did a little research on the movie and Satrapi mentioned that she left the parts of the movie dealing with the past in black and white so that the movie could be more universal and show that the events of the revolution could happen in any country. Do you think the movie accomplishes this or does it still stand as a movie that focuses primarily on Iran?

As Oliver mentioned the movie did not seem to focus much on Satrapi’s personal struggles. A lot of the scenes and characters were either downsized or left out entirely making the whole experience feels sped up for the sake of time. Since Satrapi was aiming to make the story more universal as the movie would likely reach a completely different audience than the graphic novel I argue that she left in just enough of her personal life to keep the story hers while also allowing the audience a chance to see life through Marji’s eyes without the intrusion of too much narration. Do you think that the movie allows the viewer a better chance to see the events through Marji’s eyes or is the effect of the story completely lost without more of Marji’s narration?

The Film Versus the Book

Having now seen the movie, and reading Persepolis, there is a question that comes to my mind. Which is more effective at delivering Marjane's story? Does one do more justice than the other?

Personally, I found the movie highlighting different areas than that of the book. Similar to my earlier post, in terms of the beginning parts of the film, the specific events during school, and the troubles she faced within were barely touched upon. Did others find parts the felt integral to the story and its message being left out or just barely touched upon?

Lastly, having watched the film on YouTube, there was an additional aspect, the comments section. I am not sure if anyone took the time to read through them (I would encourage you too), but I find that the comments are an interesting source of other inputs. A small insight as to what others take from videos, similar to our discussions here in class. How do you find these outlooks to intersect with ours? Is that format an aid or does it detract from more productive forms of discussion?