Friday, October 24, 2014

King, by Ho Che Anderson



 As you may have noticed, King differs greatly from a number of other texts we've read this semester--both in its visuals, its composition, and its storytelling choices.

Early in the semester, you had a great conversation about the differences (such as they are) between "high" and "low" art, and how comics is often left to straddle divide between the two.  This conversation questioned the very notion of constructing boundaries between mass and elite cultural production, even as many of you admitted that the ideas of high and low continue to filter into how we appreciated and categorize art.  (Think of visiting "Half-Price Books," for instance--how does the store's shelf categorization suggest something about the place of genre fiction (such as crime fiction, romances, etc.) as compared to what we deem "literary fiction"?).  How does King borrow from the conventions of both "high" and "low" art, as well as the vocabulary of film, to tell MLK's story?  Is King more like the sort of visual art you'd see hanging in a museum or gallery than what you'd usually associated with the visual universe of comics?  For those of you who have the big, "special edition" of the text, how does the "making of" section in the back of the book affect your sense of Anderson's project in constructing King?

Moreover, as I will outline further in my podcast, King differs from the other works we've read because it tells the story not of a random individual (as Maus and Persepolis do) or of a group seeking rights (as Stuck Rubber Baby does), but of an iconic figure that many of us have already encountered in written or visual form (t.v., film, photography).  How does the fact that King is about an iconic figure affect your reading of the text?  How does it affect Anderson's use of visuals and storytelling technique?  What do you make of his opening of the text with young MLK, his use of the "chorus" of commentators on MLK, the stark black and white palette (mixed with the occasional use of color) employed throughout the book, and his introduction of photographs, however blurry, into the text?  Perhaps, most strikingly, what do you think about Anderson's choice to show the darker side of King in terms of his extramarital affairs? Please use the space below to comment on some of these questions about King

I know this text is a challenging one, and I will use my podcast and some further blog posts to help us make sense of it.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

What's in a Label?

What's in a Name Label?
First of all, I want to apologize for the late post! This post is referring specifically to pages 1-103 in Stuck Rubber Baby.

Labeling race and sexual orientation through name calling, is a theme in Stuck Rubber Baby that immediately stood out to me. On the third page of the novel, a conversation with Tolend Polk’s parents set up the distinction that certain names should not be used:



Throughout the book’s dialogue the characters seem to consider “negro” as a more acceptable label. However, that term is now considered politically incorrect and currently people are taught to use African-American. Outside of the character’s dialogue, Polk as a narrator uses “black” to describe the community. These terms are in stark contrast on page 14:



Polk’s father and mother set up the need for distinction between offensive and acceptable labels for different members in the community. The language from the “Kennedy Time” and when Stuck Rubber Baby was published show a large change in how we talk about and identify race in America. The way the novel labels sexual orientation in the context of offensive or politically correct is also introduced in the novel on page 6:



I have several questions I wanted to address while reading Stuck Rubber Baby and noticing the labels, but primarily were so we draw the distinction between offensive and correct or joking? Is it an individual decision based on personal experience with such loaded words? Is it the historical context and its etymology a sole or significant factor in a label’s appropriateness?

I recently saw an interview that made me wonder if our language, and our culture, is evolving to a point where labeling differences are not needed. If this is the case, how do we decide what labels to use when describing historical events?



Howard Cruse does a great job of using different labels to evoke different feelings within the reader, or even develop certain characters based on their labeling of other people. I mentioned a few moments, but where are some other frames in Stuck Rubber Baby when he does this? What is his goal in using the specific language in those frames?

Friday, October 17, 2014

Civil Rights and LGBT Rights/ Questions about Stuck Rubber Baby



Throughout Stuck Rubber Baby, Cruse draws analogies between civil right and the rights of LGBT people.  Do you think this analogy is appropriate? How does the connection he draws help to illuminate the connections between race, gender, and sexuality? How does the theme of secrecy about sexual orientation in Stuck Rubber Baby relate/ not relate to the way Johnson and Pleece portray racial passing in Incognegro?

In order to help answer these questions and understand the timeline of what Cruse narrates in his graphic novel, please take a look at these links with the timelines for civil rights and gay rights in the U.S.

There's also an interesting NPR piece about the analogies between civil rights and the gay marriage. 




You're reading an (almost) banned book and other facts about Stuck Rubber Baby



In 2005, along with other books with gay themes, Stuck Rubber Baby was almost banned by a Texas library.

Cruse talks about being a pioneering gay artist, among other topics, in this interview with the Comics Reporter, as well as this one with Publisher's weeklyupon the reissue of Stuck Rubber Baby

Here's Howard Cruse's site.

More on Cruse and LGBT identity in comics

Article on LGBT representation in American comics, Part 1 and Part 2

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Stuck Rubber Baby: Sketching Out Thoughts

Stuck Rubber Baby has a very different style than any of the novels we have read so far. I want you to discuss the differences of the storytelling/narration, illustration and layout, and amount of information. Just talk me through what you were thinking while getting acclimated to the new style of the novel. How has this thought process affected how you read the first part of the novel?

The narration of this novel seems to be more literature-based. It is also more inviting, perhaps, than the other novels we have read. What is the effect of the interjections by the man who we are to assume is Toland's current partner? What about the extra details the audience gets from each drawing (sound effects, the stars when Bernard was beaten up, song lyrics…)? What do you enjoy or dislike about all of these new types of information we receive from this book?

I also wanted to see if anyone has any ideas for why Sammy Noone's last name resembles the term no one. Just something to ponder.

Does anyone know why the book has its particular title from reading the story so far?


Just tell everyone what you were thinking while reading; make guesses and discuss them!

Friday, October 10, 2014

Incognegro: Heroism and Justice



          If there is anything that I enjoy in any story at all it is heroism. In most, if not all, stories, movies, TV shows, video games that I have seen and read, there is always the hero rising up against fear and doubt to overcome evil a bring a better tomorrow for everyone. This is what I enjoy to see and is what my inspiration and focus is as a writer. In fact, this is pretty much what everyone wants to see then it comes to storytelling. Incognegro was able to display this aspect when describing the events lynchings being busted by light-colored reporters including Zane. Zane was willing to risk his life so that the truth can be brought about the lynchings. And Carl wanted to accompany Zane for his last mission so that he could take his place. Based on Carl’s personality throughout the story, do you think that Carl wanted to take Zane’s place when he retired just for the fame, or was there actually a smidge of humility within him that wanted to see justice? What evidence is there that supports your thoughts? Also, what did you think of Carl’s death near the end of the book?
              
           In addition to the process of storytelling, another helpful mechanism to heroism would be the downfall of the villain. For every hero there is always a villain, and everyone wants to see the villain parish either by the hands of the hero, or by poetic justice. As we continue to read, we see the villain, Mr. Huey, for what he truly is and wish for him to get what’s coming to him. So when the book ends, do you believe that the ending was appropriate in poetic justice? What do you make out of the fact that the townsfolk actually believed what Zane wrote about Mr. Huey’s identity? Can people really be that naïve?

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Midterm Paper Directions and Topics



Midterm Paper –Due Date Nov 1             Engl 3084

General Directions: Write a 6-7 page paper addressing one of the following.  Below, please find a number of questions focusing on the works we’ve read during the first half of the term.  It’s important that your readings from Scott McCloud factor into your essay.  Use the terminology McCloud introduces in Understanding Comics to unpack the particularities of the text you choose to explore.  You may also want to use scanned or photocopied images to support your argument.  These images will be in addition to the 6 page minimum, rather than a part of the 6 pages. We can discuss how to “quote” from images. If you would like to use other theoretical sources on comics, I can help you find them.

Some general guidelines:
Handing in your paper late will lower your grade. As a rule, it is good to avoid using the first person in a formal paper.  Be certain to use spelling and grammar check on your computer; I am expecting that I will not have to focus unduly on this aspect of your writing when grading your work.  Back up your arguments with quotes from the reading and properly cite these quotes in MLA format.  If you have questions about citation practice, there are a number of online resources that can help you and I am happy to give you input, as well.  If you wish to work on a topic not listed below, just make sure to discuss it with me before beginning the work so we ensure it is narrow enough to fit within such a short paper.  I would be pleased to meet with you over the course of the next weeks to discuss your midterm paper if it would be helpful. Do not plagiarize! I am expecting that you won’t, but, if you do, it results in an automatic “F.”

Maus:

  1. History, both global and personal, plays a large role in Maus. What is the relationship between personal history and global history in this text? How does Spiegelman balance narration of personal history and larger world historical events? How is the loss of his mother’s diary used as a thread to connect these two forms of history? How do the different genres evident in Spiegelman’s text – testimony, oral narrative, maps – work to do the same? Using specific examples, talk about how Spiegelman’s narrative choice to interweave losses both personal and large-scale works in Maus.

  1. We mentioned in our discussion online that artists who wish to represent the Holocaust and the havoc it wreaked on its victims and survivors have a daunting task.  How does Spiegelman’s choice to represent the Holocaust in the form of a graphic novel allow him to address/ not address these questions of representation? Does the pictorial form of the graphic novel provide Spiegelman with a way of meditating on questions of representation? If so, how? Give specific examples and explain how they link to the larger issues surrounding representation of trauma.

  1. Framing devices are very important to how we read and understand Art Spiegelman’s Maus. Most significant of the framing devices in the text is Art’s relationship with Vladek, which structures how we, as readers, interpret the novel, comprised as it is of testimony he collects from his aging Holocaust survivor father.  Keeping the importance of framing devices in Spiegelman’s work in mind, what do you make of the epigraphs that begin each volume of Maus? How do they work to introduce and structure our reading of the text? How do they create or disrupt continuity between the volumes? Use Spiegelman’s epigraphs to explore Maus and the role of framing in the text.

  1. Art Spiegelman’s choice to portray the conflict between Nazi and Jew in World War II era Europe as a battle between cat and mouse drew much attention when Maus was published.  How does Spiegelman’s use of animals to represent national or ethnic types work in Maus?  Use close readings of a few scenes in the text to explain how Spiegelman’s animal characters allow him to comment on the historical circumstances of the war and the place of racial-thinking in it.

Persepolis:

1.      Both Maus and Persepolis are memoirs written in graphic narrative form.  However, Spiegelman and Satrapi’s narratives differ in key ways.  How does Satrapi’s choice to frame the story of the Islamic Revolution in Iran through the eyes of a child affect your reading of her story?  How does this choice contrast with Spiegelman’s more cynical, by-proxy narrative of the Holocaust?  How do Spiegelman and Satrapi use imagery differently/ similarly?

2.      Satrapi’s Persepolis proves unique in the comics genre because it is centered on the viewpoint of a female child and, later, young woman.  How does gender factor into your experience of Persepolis?  Does Satrapi suggest something about the ways in which revolutions affect women in particular? How does Satrapi’s focus on female experience challenge our idea about the conventions of comics?

3.      Persepolis is very much a narrative about place and the role it plays in the formation of identity.  The characters in Satrapi’s memoir struggle to stay in a chaotic homeland or deal with the complexities of exile.  How does Satrapi use the physical space of the comic to comment on the power of geography during a period of social tumult?

Incognegro:

1.      Incognegro foregrounds the experience of passing in American culture.  What sorts of passing take place in the graphic narrative and how do Johnson and Pleece use the visual nature of the medium to make a commentary on the optics of race and the discourse of visibility in America?  How might Chaney-Lopez’s piece on the construction of race be useful in reading this text?

2.      Johnson begins Incognegro with a foreword, just as Satrapi begins Persepolis.  How do these forewords frame your reading of the texts to come? How are they similar? How different? What about the form of the graphic narrative seems to encourage this type of explanation?

3.      Incognegro depicts a number of scenes of lynching.  How do Pleece and Johnson choose to depict this racialized violence? How do their illustrations compare/ not compare to the many photographs of lynching that were disseminated during the same time period?

Stuck Rubber Baby:

1.      In Stuck Rubber Baby, Howard Cruse compares the civil rights movement with burgeoning movements around GLBT rights. What point does he make in this comparison? How does the graphic medium allow him to draw out this comparison? How does his work illustrate the theme of intersectionality as articulated by Crenshaw?

2.      Stuck Rubber Baby is one of the earliest works we’re reading in class. How does it mark the early days of the graphic narrative/ graphic novel movement? How does it compare to other books we’ve read stylistically and thematically? Pick one other text and make a detailed comparison.


King:
1.      We are used to seeing photographic representations and cinematic images of Martin Luther  King, Jr. How does Ho Che Anderson use these images to create his visual narrative in King? How does King’s iconic status affect the way we read Anderson’s graphic depictions?  Does the comics version of King expand the conventional narrative of his life?

2.      While both Maus and Persepolis deal with ethnicity and national identity in different ways, King is the first work we’re reading that explicitly deals with questions of race and American culture.  Explain how the visual nature of Anderson’s text provides a commentary on race relations during King’s time.