Shedding the Skeptic's Skin

I had the pleasure of discussing our course with a handful of people today.  And, as I boasted about having to play video games and read comics in my required course, I realized that I am actually really enjoying the course.

Do I understand it all yet?  Not even close.  Just today, one of my captive listeners tried to explain Indy games to me.  But about five words into his animated explanation, I pasted on a smile and resorted to nodding enthusiastically.

Yet, I am enjoying the learning process.  I recall a certain panic after that first night back in January.  This class is so entirely different from my previous fifteen years of education.  For the first time that I am aware of (besides perhaps a few days in senior year precalculus), I felt completely powerless in the classroom.  I have come to appreciate this experience as a future teacher.  I learned how to succeed in the game of school early on and have always felt confident in the classroom.  However, I understand that not all of my students will feel this same confidence, so it is a huge learning experience to be thrown into their shoes!

I looked at graphic novels for the first time last semester.  As I continue to interact with them, my appreciation for them increases.  Numerous times this semester I have engaged in arguments with skeptics about the merits of graphic novels  Most of these encounters end with me shoving graphic novels in their faces.  I have already forced at least two people to read The Arrival.

The graphic novel is a powerful mode of expression.  I remember being absolutely captivated with The Arrival.  The story was translated so powerfully and movingly through the images.  A friend of mine just returned The Arrival back to me.  As he handed it over, he mentioned that he didn't really understand what it was trying to say.  I immediately opened it up and spent the next fifteen minutes discussing the story with him.  It was awesome!

I suppose the theme of this post is my excitement with this new genre.  Graphics novels are sucking me in.  I never expected to care about them, but they are just wonderful!  Graphic novels open a world of new possibilities that are beginning to unlock my imagination [as corny as that may sound].  To illustrate my point, in Understanding Comics, Scott draws himself into a scene in Japan.  In Japan!!!  How did he get there?  With the flash of a pen!  The visual limitlessness of the comics thrills me!

In my presentation on intertextuality, I talked about a panel in Blankets that incorporated Tom and Jerry.  I interpreted that particular intertextuality to represent two things.  First of all, Craig's wish that Tom would "fall off a cliff and die" represents the poisoning of an innocent child's show, which then reflects the poisoning of Craig's own childhood.  Further, Craig wishes that Tom would die, but in the show neither Tom nor Jerry ever die.  Therefore,  while Craig wishes life would improve through the elimination of the horrible things in his life, like the television show, life follows a pattern of sorrow that does not deviate from the script.

Who knew so much could be read from a single panel?!

The conglomeration of images and text thus provide the reader with a wealth to discover.  Graphic novels offer a new perspective on the human experience.

I still have a lot to learn, but I fully embrace this perspective!