Author: sarahcox

Understanding Comics

I have to admit that I was hesitant to read this book. I’ve never been a huge fan of comics, aside from my childhood love of “Calvin & Hobbes”. I have never opened a graphic novel or actual comic book- not because I thought I was too good for it or thought of it as lowly, but because I was never interested enough to pick one up. So far I am enjoying reading the book. It presents comics in a fresh light that I truly had not considered before. I knew that skillful drawing was usually involved (obviously) but I had not realized how complex the process was. To manage both a storyline that captures interest and pictures that appeal to the eye is a difficult thing to accomplish.

I enjoyed the tone of the book. For a profession that is often looked down upon by other artists, cartoonists seem to have a good sense of humor. I liked that the author noted how hesitant cartoon artists are to call themselves that. The stigma involved is something that I had not considered prior to reading this. Now that I think about it, it is fairly easy to imagine a “normal” artist looking down on a cartoon artist. It led me to imagine two pictures in my mind: one of the typical artist, snobby and pompous, and the other of a cartoon artist, good-humored and earnest. Reading this portion allowed me to empathize with how hard a cartoon artist’s work really is, and the little amount of credit they receive for it. It also explains why so many people (adults as well as children) are fanatical in their worship of these drawings that tell stories.

What we’ve read so far has already made me reconsider what I consider comics to be. Before I thought of them as humorous little pictures that tell a simple story, or make cheesy jokes within a limited number of panels. Already I’ve been forced to amend that view: comics are much more complicated than I thought they were, and they deserve more credit than I had anticipated.

Afternoon

One thing that pleased me about “Afternoon” was that it was not told from Wert’s point of view. He was quickly labeled (by me) as a character that is completely unsympathetic. It is almost as if your job as a narrator is to overlook these faults of his in order to learn more. His treatment of his wife and his disregard for the feelings and well-being of others in general made him an automatic negative presence within the story.

I admired the narrator’s personality. It made the story much easier to go through and understand. It also made Wert appear even sympathetic at times, although he mostly came off as selfish. I suppose it’s because that from personal experience I’ve learned that most people who act that way (chauvinistic, crude, or just plain jerks) do so from feelings of inadequacy or insecurity.  It also makes me wonder more about the narrator’s history with Wert- they must either have a strong attachment that allows the narrator to put up with him, or the narrator must have unending patience.

The plot in itself was pleasantly intriguing, much like the Baron’s “kidnapping” journey. Trying to figure out the story of the narrator’s ex-wife and son is just as interesting. I did have some difficulty navigating the story, though. The dialogue was hard to pick apart and I would have to think about who said what more often than I usually do when reading a conventional novel. I was a little disappointed at the conclusion. I like to have an idea at the end, like a neatly wrapped lesson. Again, to compare it to the Baron, all of those endings were satisfactory, and I understood the meanings behind them (the monster is within the father himself, he’s been scarring and torturing his daughter, etc.) Afternoon seems much more vague and requires more insight on the reader’s part- I’m not sure if I like that quality about it or not. Regardless, it was an interesting read.

Photopia

Well, first off, Photopia did not manage to make me cry; however, it did leave me depressed, which is an accomplishment in itself. I found myself easily frustrated by the site. I didn’t want to cheat, so I labored on. The most difficult pages for me to get through were the Wendy/dream themed ones. I don’t think I ever want to type “Go north/south/east/west” ever again. I was also frustrated by the scifi theme that so starkly contrasted with the more normal narrative pages, but I came to appreciate them once I learned where they came from.

As for the story, it did make me sad. I had a feeling something bad would happen to Alley when she was young. Darwin didn’t seem to be working overtime for a little girl who jumps in a pool to check out if it looks different from underwater. The car accident was sad and senseless. The little pieces of Alley’s waking life were all happy. It’s easy to imagine her date the following Saturday if she had not gotten into the wreck, or everything turning out differently if she had gone to the dance as opposed to babysitting. The one piece of the story that bothered me was the photopia itself. Alley’s parents note that she seems enamored by it as a baby, but it led to her having strange and unpleasant dreams all of the time, along with the creepy one of her talking to the older and cursed version of herself. Would Alley’s dreams have been left uncorrupted if she didn’t have the photopia? Or was it inevitable? It struck me that the thing her parents bought to comfort and inspire her ended up contributing to the tale of her demise.

Although I was frustrated by navigating the site, I did appreciate the little witty comebacks they had at the ready. At one point I had typed “kill”- Who?, the site politely asked, “me”, whereby the computer discouraged me from such senseless violence. Or if I tried to pick up the broken shovel, “The shovel is not useful anymore.” Well, thanks, I hadn’t realized that. That’s one aspect of interactive storytelling that really differs from regular old books… here, you have to work for it. I’ll admit, I did get frustrated, but the payoff when I would finally type the right thing (for once) and be rewarded with a paragraph was almost euphoric. It made me more aware of the story and more eager for details to emerge.

CYOA Map Reflection

My map crystallized my book’s choices and multiple paths. I think it adequately captured the multitude of endings, and easily shows what kind of endings they are using color-coding. My map illustrates how different chains of decisions are able to lead to different endings, and that the length of the decision-making chain does not have an impact on whether you end up with a good, bad or ambivalent ending.  It also shows what kind of choices are made in the book (when they can be categorized). This aids in comprehension of the flow of the novel that I chose.

“My Boyfriend Came Back From The War”: How Plot is Presented

I found this work to be the most interesting one that I’ve seen so far. It seemed strange to me at first that the pacing was so slow, but then it made sense- the few words revealed upon the clicks did tend to complement the photos on the site. It surprised me that there are actually relatively few words in the narrative- it seemed much longer than it actually is, due to how it’s split up. The images on the site look very morbid, formal and creepy. The all black-and-white motif was a special touch.

I enjoyed reading the narrative, and determining the plot of the story by clicking through. It was akin to overhearing a phone conversation- including the parts where you wish that you could hear the other person in order to better understand. I’m thinking about the “tiger” part here… that was the only part of the work that stumped me. The girl seems relatively young, but of dating age. I got the feeling that she was being supervised in a fashion- “After dinner, they left us alone”, with “they” being her parents or guardians. It seemed ironic to me. She is only left alone when in the safe company of yet another guardian; in this case, her boyfriend. The tone that the conversation takes seems to be quite topical and shallow at times- she asks if he likes her dress (at least I hope she’s the one saying that part- if not, the war had a greater impact than anticipated) and is giddily excited for their wedding after he proposes. The part that intrigued me the most was the part that may have addressed infidelity (“He was my neighbor/ it was only once/ forgive me). There seems to be much depth to the relationship presented here: guilt and defensiveness play right along with faux-joy and confusion.

Plot was what drove me to click through “My Boyfriend Came Back From The War” more than once. While I enjoyed the photos, it was the plot narrative as well as guessing which dialogue parts were missing that made the piece fascinating.

Blog #1: Representational and Evocative Meanings

The representational meaning of Firefly is quite clear: A mere click of any line will seamlessly fit into an already established somber poem. The interactive process allows the audience to change the direction and tone of the poem. It is up to the viewer to decide the path that the poem takes. One interesting aspect of the representational meaning can be found by seeing how replacing one line with another alters the poem’s meaning. It is also a fun website- I found myself surprised that no matter how many times I clicked, the poem still flowed perfectly, and still amazingly managed to retain its morose qualities.

The evocative meaning of Firefly is more complex. One meaning that came to me was how the site showed how trivial the words we use seem to be, and how arbitrary a process it is when we pick certain words above others to express how we feel. A poem is seen by many as a mode of poetic expression- every word means something and contributes to a delicate message. Firefly brought to mind the idea that these words aren’t in reality so precious. They are, in fact, easily replaceable with another completely different phrase.

The dynamic between the evocative and representational meanings of Firefly is certainly interesting. While the representational meaning shows the viewer’s ability to be interactive and influence the progression of a poem to their heart’s content, the evocative meaning delves a bit deeper and shows how strange it is that we live in a community that values words and evaluates them based on their difficulty and sequence. Firefly‘s evocative meaning makes me consider how cynical and almost silly some facets of the English community have become. While some words compliment each other and flow nicely, there is always another combination that would likely work just as well. Both meanings allowed me to examine and appreciate what Firefly presents, as well as what it means.