Week 12: Comics By Women

 

I have always liked reading/ watching stories told from a woman's perspective. Firstly, the female characters are relate able as they are often less idealized, physically or behaviorally than what we are used to seeing in the mainstream media. Secondly, those stories often highlight issues faced by women, such as balancing work, household, sexuality, ambition, social expectations, and the list goes on. The female characters are not portrayed as shallow beings who serve as some kind of token, trophy, or sex objects. What those female authors and artists do is to show us, surprise surprise, that women are just as human as men.

With that in mind, I was pleasantly surprised by how This One Summer exceeded my expectations. For a start, we see girls and women with varied body shapes, some can even be considered not ideal by some society's standard. Yet the characters seldom commented on their physical appearances, and the story does not revolve around that. Unlike many stories that emphasize on women dreaming about having the "perfect" body, Rose and Windy never took that too seriously. Sure, Rose is hinted to compare her body with Jenny's voluptuous figure. Also, both of them talked about the sizes of their breasts humorously. However, the book doesn't dwell too much into that. Instead, it concentrates on recreating the anxiety and naivety many girls felt as a teenager.

Rose went through a lot during that summer: Dealing with a gigantic tension between her parents, feeling emotionally isolated from her depressed mom, having a crush on a jerk who happened to impregnate a girl who secretly cheated on him, being uncomfortable around Windy's lesbian aunt, and discovering that her mom miscarried while swimming in the sea. That's some heavy stuff for a fifteen-year old to deal with! Thankfully my teenage years are not as dramatic. However, I can definitely relate to the vulnerability of liking someone and being lonely. Also, the nostalgia is strong during moments where Rose and Windy bond over horror-movies and swimming.
The point is, This One Summer is a graphic novel that is rich in sensory devices.

The art is lovely and expressive. Everything feels so organic and alive. Obviously influenced by manga and Spirited Away, many panels are dedicated to illustrate the scenery, mood, and atmosphere of summer. My favorite scene is when little Rose and her mother were swimming in the lake. The brush strokes delicately show the illusion of water that glides against their body, and bring us to the depth of the cold water in this particular panel:

Though I am not completely sure if being a woman has anything to do at all with the art-style, I wonder if it contributed to the gentleness and delicacy of the line quality found in This One Summer.

To wrap this up, I really enjoyed my experience of reading This One Summer despite what many people complain as a lack of story. I see no problem because it feels like a slice-of-life type of story, which I happen to like. There is also the revelation near the end about how Rose's mother lost the baby and her reason for disliking the sea, on top of the mini drama about Jenny's pregnancy. There are enough tension to keep the story going. Most importantly, the story focuses on Rose's and Windy's friendship; how it develops and how they show support for each other. The meat of the book is in the journey, and considering how vividly This One Summer captured those moments, this is a very nice read!

Week 11: Comics as Contemporary Literature

When I hear the word "contemporary", I think about edgy and new..... like a modern art. I also think about nontraditional narrative styles. As such, Sandman Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman fits the bill pretty damn well!

As written in my older blog post, I started reading The Sandman series. Sandman Endless Nights is like a spin-off that focuses on the Endless: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delight/Delirium. Each chapters tell each of the Endless' stories and the art style shifts accordingly. While all of them are cool and beautiful on their own, the one that stood out for me was Despair's "15 Portraits of Despair."

 

It is crazy! Each page is filled with grotesque imagery of what despair looks like or feels like. How do you portray absolute pain, helplessness, loneliness, and regret? How do you portray something that slowly, but surely gnaws into your heart and mind? "15 Portraits of Despair" does just that. There is no fixed layout or structure in terms of paneling. They are spread or squeezed haphazardly, as if someone shook the entire page violently. Sometimes, the illustrations are somber and lonely, sometime they are filled with rage and confusion. The little amount of texts help bring some coherence and narrative to the chaos. However, upon reading them, they too only add to the sense of despair. While Despair's chapter is not as crazy/ confusing as Delirium's, Despair's is by far the most emotionally charged one. 

On the other hand, Destiny's, Death's Dream's, Destruction's, and Desire's stories follow a more conventional narrative style. I can see why, as their focus is more on their actions instead of the emotions that they inflict. For example, Desire's story tells of a woman who desired the most handsome man in her village, who happened to be a womanizer. After making a deal with a witch and seducing the man into marriage, she finally got what she desired. However, by doing so, she no longer desired for anything as strongly anymore. After her husband's death, her life passed by quickly and rather uneventfully, until she died quietly. I take it that without desire, there is no purpose and excitement in life. After all, desire is what pushes people into the extremes. Desire for money, power, love, peace, or anything at all, leads people to take action. As such, desire is probably one of the most important driving force behind people's life.

Sandman Endless Nights is an awesome read, and it gives a fun glimpse of the siblings' relationships long before the main story took place. Believe it or not, Dream used to be pretty fond of Desire, and we even got a glimpse of Delight before she turned into Delirium! It is also nice to see Destruction, as he seldom appeared. Lastly, it is always nice to see comic/ graphic novel artists explore different styles of narrative. When done right, the result is so satisfying and memorable. In addition, this experience is something that can't necessarily be felt while reading a novel.

Week 10: Manga

It's manga week! Finally! And since I have read most of Osamu Tesuka's works, I decided to read something more recent..... Sunny by Taiyo Matsumoto. Like many people, I discovered his works through Tekkonkinkreet. While I don't always relate to his edgy stories, Sunny is surprisingly down-to-earth. It is about children in a child-care house, dealing with growing up without parental love. While the main character is a white-haired deviant kid named Haruo, each chapter shifts between different characters' perspectives.

 

There is a prevailing sense of loneliness throughout the book. The children only get to meet their parents three times a year, and some of them don't even have parents anymore. Their parents are also either too busy, neglectful, or uncaring about the children. One of the girls, Megumi, found a dead cat floating on a river one day. She started crying because she was afraid that she would die alone, her death unknown to people, just like the cat. It is heartbreaking to see a child as young as her have such dark thoughts due to a lack of love.

Despite that, we get to see how those children and the care-takers show concern for each other. At first, I thought that the care-takers were cold, calculative, and stingy. But they actually care for the children discreetly by watching over them, and picking up signs of distress. There is also an invisible, unspoken bond between the children despite their daily conflicts. When one of the boys' baby brother went missing, everyone searched for him. Unexpectedly, the one who went the extra mile and found him was Taro, a man with Down Syndrome wearing only his underwear. For the longest time, he was singing gibberish and acting rather strange. However, he was actually watching over the children and understood his surroundings clearly. The more I learn about the characters, the more I realize that I am too quick to judge people from their first impressions.

The art in Sunny has the same rawness and vitality that is usually found in Taiyo Matsumoto's works. It captures the nostalgic mood of childhood and the vividness of children's imagination.

 

I spent my childhood in Japan, and everything felt very nostalgic. The wooden floor, the quiet town, the cramped and lively interior, and the hot blaring summer: the art captures those things spot-on.

I have currently only read the first book of Sunny, I definitely plan to continue reading the rest! I am curious about how those children's relationship will develop, and if any of them can find some kind of closure about their anxiety. On a more personal note, I realize that I tend to gravitate towards works that depict loneliness.... There is something comforting about watching characters deal with their loneliness.....

Week 9: World Comics

We have finally moved on to comics from all over the world! I read Asterix, Persepolis, and The Bellybuttons. In addition, I watched the French animated film called "The Illusionist." There is something very different about European comics/ animation as compared to American comics. They dare to poke fun at controversial topics and some of them can be very bizarre. Many of them are also very blunt when stating ugly facts and truths!

Speaking of blunt and controversial, The Bellybuttons knows how to hit where it hurts. The story centers around three high-school girls: Kind and naive Karine, glamorous and dumb Jenny, and affluent and devious Vicky. Jenny and Vicky are the hottest girls in school, while Karine is considered by many to be too tall and unattractive. Jenny and Vicky backstab each other, attempt to steal Karine' boyfriend, and insult Karine. Despite that, three of them somehow continue to stay together in this abusive relationship. They are frenemies!

Despite the seemingly shallow story at first, the comic explores some dark topics. For example, despite Jenny's dumbness and carefree personality, she came from an impoverished family whose father was absent, and her mother an alcoholic. In order to fuel Jenny's taste for luxury, Jenny would steal from shops as if it's nothing, something that even Vicky didn't agree to. Not to mention how Jenny treated animals as mere accessories, stealing a puppy simply because its fur color matches her shoes' color, and stupidly drag it to its death by tying its leash to a speeding motorcycle. Vicky on the other hand, suffered from an inferiority complex despite her beauty, wealth, and intelligence. Her older sister insulted Vicky on a daily basis, and her controlling parents always saw her as less than perfect. Once, Vicky fell from the third story and was hospitalized. Nobody cared enough to visit her, except Karine. Vicky realized that all the manipulating, back-stabbing, and selfishness left her all alone. Even the nicer character, Karine, was not without fault. There were moments when I honestly thought that her extreme naivety and unawareness caused her to be such an easy bullying target.

Really, even the side characters went through very dark moments, such as the most popular guy in school, John John. All the girls assumed that he was hot, but he always wore a helmet to hide his face. So far, I don't know how his face looks like, but according to Karine, it was very very disturbing. Also, when he got into a traffic accident and lost his awesome motorcycle as a result, the girls stopped liking him. Apparently, the reason why the girls loved him was because of his bike. Lastly, an ugly outcast named Murphy would manipulate Karine to love him, otherwise he would hang himself in the loo, or jump down a cliff. Eventually, he found a girlfriend whom he thought was even uglier than him, but used her as his sexual release. Just a reminder, they are only high-school kids.

From what I have read so far, I get the message that life is not fair and your looks can either help you are destroy you. Despite that, people do get what they deserve, as we all know that karma is a bi**h. Essentially, it also explains why some people like Jenny and Vicky felt the need to be so mean. It doesn't justify their actions, but merely states why. It is interesting and refreshing to see those characters and their thoughts being portrayed so clearly and bluntly! Also, the art is very appealing. It is fluid and the use of curves add vitality and sensuality to the characters. A very fun and engrossing read!

Week 8 : Stereotypes

There are different types of stereotypes. Race, age, cultural, professional, and gender stereotypes. This week, I decided to look into gender stereotypes, hence I read the Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. The mainstream media in general tends to portray gay and lesbian people in silly and disrespectful ways. How many times have they associated gays with pink, flamboyant outfits? And lesbians with super short haircuts and punk outfit? In reality, the physical distinctions are almost not noticeable (unless they choose to show it, of course!).

Fun Home offers a blunt approach in portraying gays and lesbians. The author, Alison Bechdel, is lesbian, and her dad is gay. At a glance, both of them looked very unassuming and act just like everyone. Alright, maybe not really. Her father was crazy about antiques, was a control freak, and had many affairs with young men throughout his marriage. He was also cold towards his children, arrogant, and very selfish in general. I loathed him for almost the entire book, but Alison's more sympathetic portrayal of him near the end redeemed him a little. Despite his harshness and aloofness, he respected Alison's interest in literature, and bonded surprisingly well with her later on. Alison's attempt at illustrating her rather unusual family brings an interesting perspective to how it might feel like to have a gay father.

On the other hand, Alison experienced a rather disturbing childhood. The absence of her father during his affairs, the tension between her father and mother, and Alison's own sexuality was a lot to take in for her younger self. Worse still, her father's sudden death meant that many loose strings were left; no closure regarding her father's wrongdoings and the loss of a close bond that she painstakingly built with him. I personally find it hard to understand what exactly was Alison's impressions about her father, since her descriptions of him swung from cynicism to respect. Throughout the book, I sense that she disapproved of her father's affairs, yet at the very last page of the book, as her child self is jumping into her father's arms, it's obvious that she still loved him. This very page also almost brought me to tears because of how evocative and sincere it was. After all the troubles her father brought upon himself (having multiple affairs, buying alcohol for an underage kid, etc....) she showed us that he was indeed still a father.

So, to tie this up with how the mainstream media portrays sexual stereotypes, Fun Home gives more depth and reasoning behind people's sexual orientations. It does not glamorize or condemn, it simply states that the absence of a father, paternal tension, and family divide are painful. Seeing her mother suffer through her husband's affairs, having her father die suddenly, and feeling isolated from the rest of the family probably drove Alison to write the book.

Admittedly, I didn't get most of the literally references found throughout the book, and nobody in the book is very like able. Most of them have that grumpy and dead-eyed look constantly, and Alison's narration feels aloof. Shocking revelations were stated in a matter-of-factly fashion, leaving little impact. I did have to force myself to finish reading this graphic novel. However, what helped motivate me was a desire for a sense of closure that Alison was searching for ever since her father's sudden demise. And the book did just that on the final page, and I am happy.

Week 7: Maus

 

I kept hearing good things about a graphic novel called Maus, by Art Spiegelman, and it always slipped my mind to read it. Thankfully, this class reminded me of Maus once again, and I finally got around to reading it! Well, all I can say now is that I am really grateful for the experience, and Maus is very well deserving of its praise.

Maus is a pivotal work that not only highlighted the struggles of the Jews during the Holocaust, but also showed the negative mental implications among the survivors long after the WW2 was over. Maus stood out because it neither tried to sugar-coat the tragedies of war, nor glorify the survivors of the Holocaust. As we can see, though Vladek was extremely resourceful and resilient, the major reason for his survival was through bribery and trickery. He bribed people with food or gold, and tricked his way through his temporary jobs as a shoe-repairer and tin-worker. In addition, Art didn't paint a very favorable depiction of Vladek even after the war was over, showing him to be anal retentive, racist, and stingy. But not all is lost here, as Vladek clearly cherished his son, Art, and still treasured Anja (albeit at the expense of Mala's sanity). In short, Art was not trying to say that his father survived the Holocaust because he was a good person. Yes, Vladek was very intelligent and strong, but he also had many flaws. He debunked many people's belief that only truly good people that deserve it survive the war. Nobody really knows.

What I appreciate about Maus is how it lets the readers be their own judge when it comes to deciding who is right or wrong. Although our impression will undoubtedly be affected by Art's portrayal of the characters as different animals (that Art admittedly, was pretty confused about), the effect is counter-balanced by how similar their bodies are. All of them have human bodies, roughly similar in size. Though the Germans looked more menacing, they did not tower over the Jews too much (this contrasts with how many artists tend to depict the bad guys as very large beings, physically). Art did not force his opinions; he tries to be as objective as possible by carefully stating the facts. And this allows us to reflect and connect with the story on a deeper level without being influenced too much by the narrator's personal opinions.

And that brings me to the next point: Art's choice of simplifying his drawing actually enhanced the readers' relationship with the characters. The art at a glance, looks minimalist and cute (I really, really think that the mouse and dog characters look adorable!) (Okay, maybe not everything in this book is cute, such as the scenes depicting massacre). Most of the time, the characters' faces were depicted with mere dots for the eyes, and simple mouths (The mouse characters don't even have mouths!) Yet, their emotions are clear and resonated with me. This reminds me of what McCloud said in his book "Understanding Comics" about simple looking characters. The simpler the characters are, the easier it is for the readers to relate and project themselves into the characters. That is probably why I felt Anja's despair as her face contorted in pain upon realizing that everyone from her family died. The same can be said when they were smiling with their eyes. I also believe that the simplified art made it more accessible to wider age range of audience. The book deals with very heavy subject matter about mass murder, cruelty and racism, and the approachable art helps acts as a balance. (This reminded me of how Persepolis presented heavy and sensitive topics through simplified art too).

Lastly, I learned in class that Maus was one of the first few graphic novels that was widely acclaimed and accepted by the academics. It proved that comics are for adults too, and really, any kind of stories can be told in that form. Growing up reading manga (many are obviously not kiddie friendly), I always found the misconception about comics being only for kids to be flabbergasting and downright sad. As such, I am grateful of Maus' widespread success (despite the artist's guilt about reaping success from the sacrifice of the millions of Holocaust victims) and hope to see more comic books/ graphic novels/ mangas in the schools' reading list and treated with less prejudice.

Week 6: Underground Comics

Wow! So, we read a bunch of bold and daring underground comics this week. As the name suggests, many of them were rampant with racism, sexism, and other politically inappropriate stuffs.... But they were fun anyway! I am kind of reminded of the Gekiga movement, because those artists wanted to differentiate adult comics from mainstream family-friendly ones. These underground comics pretty much tell us that anything really goes. We can tell any kind of stories in the form of comics because..... why not?

Anyway, I read  Girl Fight Comics, and (pardon my language) Tits and Clits. Both of them have female protagonists and both of them are about women doing whatever they want. Girl-and-girl relationships are common, and men are often portrayed as immoral and perverse, sometimes no more than a thing for sex. Moreover, they often portray single women finding ways to deal with their sexual needs. While the snippets of stories appeared to be rather nonsensical and self-indulgent, they are strangely liberating. I can only imagine that in those days, women had even less rights compared to now, and were expected to adhere to even more strict social conventions. As such, these kinds of underground comics that depict free-spirited women must have raised quite a lot of eyebrows back then. Maybe, it will still do the same even now, considering how regulated publications and medias are.

Back to the comics, while they are crudely drawn and direct, I enjoyed their honesty and sarcasm. These women are not modest nor righteous. They want money and sex, lots of them, sometimes while balancing their role as a mother and wife. Of course, I am not saying that all women are sex-crazed, money-hungry, and scheming people. It's just that it is generally more frowned upon when females display such behavior, as opposed to men doing the same. These strong sense of anger and hunger for freedom are probably the driving force behind many underground comics artists. They want people to listen, and one way to do that is to amp up the shock value.

Though to be fair, as I read other underground comics, some of them appear to be crude for the sake of being crude. No real statement or message, just to shock and offend people with blatant sexism and racism. But then again, there is really nothing wrong with that because the readers have the choice to either not read them, or to be offended. The important thing is how underground comics created more diversity in the area, and how it dispelled many people's assumption that comics are for kids. Without the underground comics movement, it is hard to imagine the existence of edgier and grittier graphic novels that we get to enjoy now.