Monday, October 27, 2008

MAUS I

i noticed this book seems to be very structured, panel-wise anyway. most of the pages have a similar set up: mostly between 5 - 10 panels that are small with a square or rectangular shape. and as far as time goes, when he jumps to the past he makes a clearly defined and outlined panel. when he's in the present the panels are open unless there is a large number of them grouped together.
i personally find it amazing that his father lasted so long before he got discovered and sent to auschwitz. he moved around so much, he seems very resourceful. but it seems he had no choice.

Team 2 Topic D:
when recounting the past the words are obviously narration to what the panel depicts. the narration is usually found outsid the borders of the cell but if it is inside it's kept in a clearly seperate box. every once in a while the narration is involved in the pictures. page 15 he uses a train ticket as a text box.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Blankets finale

the ending there: really? thats how it ends?
its just done. at first i thought "no. that doesnt finish anything." but i realized after that yeah, it kinda does. i guess i was expecting more of a revealing conclusion. but i feel like this way, it means you need to draw your own conclusions.
i do like his small transformation at the end there. i noticed in the panel where his hair is chopped off that its probably the only time he has more than a dot for an eye. it shows change, appreciation, growth (i think anyway). after this he gets a more mature style, growth, and apparently a tattoo. it seems to be the typical release of his past and beliefs.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Blankets chap.s 1+2

in the first chapter i found his depiction of his childhood grim and depressing. the dark content is only amplified by the thick, dark, and jagged style of artwork. something about that style was really off-putting to me. too harsh i guess, but it gets the point across.
i started to like it better in the second chapter when his lines got softer and more open to show change and budding romance.
the story seems to move very fast considering he's a child in one chapter and a teen in the next.

team 2 topic C:
he seems to really utilize line thickness with a preference for the dark thick side. in chapter one we see a lot of dark shaded areas. i took notice on pages like 46 with darkness and jagged lines to show a creepy feel. a definate use of positive/negative space in the one larger panel on the page.
on the next page over i noticed him using abnormally thick lines to show an almost aura around his mother. maybe to seperate her from everything else.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Finishing Fun Home

i have to say this book ended depicting her father in a completely different note than when the book began. that suprised me. i started out resenting him and all he represented; wishing she would just explode at him one day and put him in his place. At the end i felt that he actually expressed compassion, perhaps not explicitly, but in his own way by finding a common bond with his daughter.
i also noticed a little detail in one of the panels. on page 226 her father's temporary grave marker reads "Bechdel Fun'l Home." i thought it was, if this was actually how it was in real life, a interesting coincidence that "fun home" would be almost directly referenced by accident. im not quite sure what the importance of it is but i took note of it.
she sure does reference a lot of books i've never even heard of.

Team 2 Topic B:
i feel like through this entire novel that time and motion is more implied than depicted. through the narration time is expressed and explained. through the readers own knowledge of day to day life and through cleverly designed illustrations one understands the motions.