Graphics in Literature or, Comic Books in School (better.)

British Literature. Mon, Jan 7th, 2008 at 3:24 pm

This week we will begin a section on graphic analysis. Basically, this means that we will be looking at works (mostly outstanding graphic novels, some shorter comics and comix, some advertisements, and possibly a short video) as we do with literature—think T-DIDLS but with Sandman or Jimmy Corrigan.

So, we began today with an overview of "why we are doing this." Always my favorite way to begin, as it ensures that our vital time isn’t wasted. My reasoning is this (please feel free to add another reason in the comments section):

We are literally surrounded, daily, by images. Whether it is the cartoon on our Count Chocula in the morning, the pictures we take on vacation, television we watch, instructional videos we watch in psychology or chemistry, movies or television we use to avoid our homework, or webpages we obsess over. (I’m sure this is one; right? Um, guys?)
Because we are surrounded, we become used to these visual messages in our lives, but we rarely think about them. When is the last time you went to a movie by your favorite director (unless it’s Michael Bay; he doesn’t count) and were able to come out with a good explanation of why it was good, or why it wasn’t (beyond "It seemed real")?
Because the little illustrations that came with your MP3 player manual are really helpful, but would you know how to create one yourself?
Because we can apply what we have learned about literature to graphic pieces. If you still aren’t comfortable discussing tone, diction, detail, imagery, language or syntax in a written piece, perhaps it will click as we move through the visuals.

And,

Because graphic novels are finally becoming worth reading in the classroom. Really, what’s more fun than that?

We then discussed Scott McCloud’s terminology for understanding comics (found in his aptly titled work, Understanding Comics), and discussed how these terms can be applied to anything visual. (What’s the tone of your MySpace or Facebook page? How do you know?) Here are his terms alongside our own:

Moment	Diction
Image	Imagery
Frame	Detail
Word	Language
Flow	Syntax

Your homework for tonight:

1st hour: Read chapter 13 of Dracula

3rd and 4th hour: Read chapters 13 and 14 of War of the Worlds