Graphic Narratives

What is the First thing you think of when you

hear Graphic Narrative?

Comics??

And more. Graphic narratives have a story line and plot behind them: an understandable sequence. Consider the boxes of pictures as a movie. Each box represents a scene in the movie.

Term: "[Graphic Novel is a] term for a full-length novel of serious intent presented in the form of a comic book."

What is a Graphic Novel??

A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format. (Dictionary Term)

Famous Books/Authors

Robert Crumb was one of the many famous cartoonists Quoted,"Graphic novels evolved from the underground comics of the 1960s and 70s, notably the work of R. Crumb.“ “Like Crumb's work, many of these novels offer autobiographical, ironic portraits of the artist as loser."

Maus

Maus the best known example of graphic narrative, is not actually a novel. Where it portrays the holocaust in animal perspective. The mice are the Jews and the Cats are the Nazis.

They frequently focus on main character's sad childhood dysfunctional family, retreat from reality and ultimate dispair

There are many ways to approach graphic narratives…But the best way is to read a graphic narrative is as if you are reading a movie. Just have fun with it!

When reading a traditional text, it can sometimes be difficult to make predictions about meanings of the words or what is

supposedly being said “between the lines”.

But with a graphic narrative, it’s a complete different

story.

Take for instance this picture, what can you infer from it? What was its artist trying to say?

It’s like that old saying, “A picture is

worth a thousand words.”

So with Graphic Novels, making inferences becomes

easier!

The coupling of text with graphics becomes a tool for understanding. The graphics help fill the space

between the lines.

Lets see this in action

First, take this sentence and see what we can infer:

“But Prince Prospero was dauntless and sagacious.”(Graphic Classics Edgar Allen Poe, Masque of the Red Death)

To a reader this sentence could be very problematic. The words dauntless and sagacious may not be in their vocabulary. But coupled with a Graphic, the student might be able to infer what they mean.

From this picture and the appearance of the man, a reader might be able to infer that dauntless and sagacious means standing strong and fearless as well as being intelligent. Of course these aren’t the exact definitions, but for the purposes of reading, it would be close enough.

Graphic novels do not only help with inferring word definitions, they can also help with inferring content.

What I mean by this is that sometimes there can be little nuances that the graphics help to define. Take for instance this next set of pictures.

There is definitely a lot being said here through little nuances or the characters’ body language.

Imagination and Creativity in Graphic

NovelsIt is common for many people to believe that

Graphic Novels do not allow the reader to use

their imagination and creativity as

they read.

They believe that the graphics do not allow you to imagine the scene, but rather presents it there before

you.

They have a valid argument, but…

There is more happening in graphic novels than meets the eye.

ClosureIn Scott McCloud’s book, “Understanding Comics,” McCloud discusses what is called “closure.” Simply put, “closure” is when the mind pieces together cues or evidence given to create a complete image or story.

Let me show you what I mean.

Closure can have many forms. For many this image or cue can create closure simply because they recognize this as a symbol for Michael Jordan.

Closure can also be more complicated

But I’ll let this scan from Scott McCloud’s book explain this part.

So what does closure have to do with

comics?

Closure for comics is quite similar. According to the definition in the dictionary closure in comics is, “the process by which the mind fills in missing details between the panels of a comic”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closure

This space between the panels is called the gutter by some, but lets

see what Scott McCloud has to say about the gutter.

This is where imagination comes into the reading of a Graphic

Novel.

It is in this gap between panels that the reader’s imagination is allowed to create what is not seen. It’s this gap that allows the

reader to use creativity and

imagination, giving the graphics motion and action apart from what is drawn. It is the comic equivalent of separating words and sentences with spaces.

In conclusion, there is a lot to be said about a Graphic Novel being a legit reading assignment.

I find it surprising to see what can happen when a graphic is added to a of text.

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

http://mentalmodels.mitre.org/Hyperlinks/The_Project_Thesis.htmhttp://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/?id=1963587&refnum=647668http://newyorkette.com/?p=501http://www.flickr.com/photos/evanleavittphotography/2811944253/http://chris.lastlemmingstudios.com/http://www.refreshingcontent.com/index_files/page9_blog_entry39_1.gif

The pictures in this PowerPoint came from the following Graphic Novels.

Graphic Classics, Edgar Allen Poe, Masque of the Red Death, Adapted by Stanly W. Shaw

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Pictures were obtained from the following websites.

Citation