Graphic Novel: Applying a Concept

                                  Sometimes Simple Cartoons Convey Critical Messages

                      Photo By: Hannah Parker, "McCloud and Spiegelman"

This semester I have the privilege to learn about the art of graphic novels, also known as comic books. Our class is starting off the course by reading Understanding Comics The Invisible Art, by a comic book expert, Scott McCloud. It is an educational text illustrated and written in comic book form that gives the reader a comprehensive up-to-date analysis of what comics are all about. It also stresses that comics can be just as important pieces of literature as non-graphic novels. So far we are into chapter one, “Setting the Record Straight,” and chapter two, “The Vocabulary of Comics.” My Graphic Novel class is also currently reading the well-known graphic novel, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, by Art Spiegelman. This historical novel is about the comic book’s author, Art Spiegelman who is interviewing his father for his next graphic novel, Valdek Spiegelman about surviving his hard life during WWII during the Nazi reign in Europe.

Our assignment is to take a concept from McCloud’s book and apply it to Spiegelman’s graphic novel. The concept that really stood out to me while reading Understanding Comics The Invisible Art is best stated by McCloud, “By de-emphasizing the appearance of the physical world in favor of the idea of the form, the cartoon places itself in the world of concepts” (McCloud 41). He simply means that some authors of comic books choose to draw their illustrations in a less realistic cartoon style to let the reader focus more on the importance of the ideas and concepts of the writing. For example in the novel Maus, Spiegelman’s characters in the story are drawn very simplistically, as are their surroundings and backgrounds. The main characters of the story are represented as very crudely drawn mice.  In observing the illustrations of the characters, I noticed that they all looked extremely similar in the way that they were drawn; all of them possess the same sized body and face. The only way to visually distinguish between them is by what they are wearing. 

                                         Photo By: Hannah Parker, "Maus Page 38"

The simple cartoon drawings of the characters certainly have a significant symbolic meaning of their own, but it is the dialogue and the concepts that are certainly the most important parts of the work. For instance, Vladek receiving a letter from the government telling him that he is to be drafted in the war is a very weighty issue. I could easily imagine the panic and adrenaline rush that Valdek and his family had while reading those words. His wife Anja cried that she was afraid, and heartbroken that she and her baby son would be separated from Vladek. I could also feel Vladek’s quick instinct to protect his family, as well as his fear about fighting in the war. (Spiegelman 38). The illustrated icons that Spiegelman presents are plainly drawn out, but are by no means intended to be picture perfect. As McCloud points out, the reader releases the rest of the full picture in his or her mind letting the author to truly convey the essential concepts of the story (McCloud 45).

Though Spiegelman’s illustrations are basic and simplistic the storyline, dialogue and concepts of Maus; A Survivor’s Tale are quite deep.  This certainly goes along with McCloud’s theory that when the images are more simplistic, a greater focus can be placed on the concepts of the story.

Sources

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics The Invisible Art. Harper Collins Publishers. 10 East 53^rd Street, New York, NY 10022, 1994. Print

Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. Pantheon Books a division of Random House, Inc. Published in New York and Canada, 1992.  

Cooking: Anyone Can Do It!

 I believe having the skills to create a delicious and nutritious meal is one of the most important things that one can do. It is also a skill that anyone can acquire! In my computer mediated communications class we have the opportunity to build our very own website. Mine is going to be a site that is aimed toward people beginning their journey into the world of cooking. It will include helpful information such as knowing what basic kitchen equipment to own, basic food staples to have in ones’ kitchen, and many delicious, and healthy food recipes to make as well as other links to other valuable resources to the beginning cook. I choose this topic for my website because for the past year I have been learning how to cook and I want to share the informative techniques I have learned to show other new cooks. I guarantee there will be something scrumptious for everyone's pallate!  

  

           Cheesy Queso Dip Photo By- Hannah Parker 

                                                                                                                         

Relay For Life Classroom Campaign PSA

          For my final project in advertising & imagery, the class was divided into four groups that would serve on an advertising campaign for Relay For Life. These groups are PR, video, audio, and print. I am involved in the print group. My team is responsible for creating eye-catching print advertisements encouraging and urging people to participate in Shepherd University’s annual Relay For Life Walk next year that is held every spring semester. There are three theme ideas that my classmates/ “coworkers” are developing for a cleverly executed finished project on each group topic, the themes are as follows: Pirate, Super Heroes/Comic Book, and “Rockin’ Relay” (a fifties rock and roll vibe). Work that has been produced for the pirate themed relay have been focusing on pirate like objects such as treasure maps leading to a trail for gold, representing the “cure.” The “Rockin’ Relay” 50s theme, which seems to be enormously well liked over the other two themes yields images emulating “blue suede sneakers” on pavement, records, jukeboxes, and slick greased hair. The theme that is my main focus is the Super Heroes/Comic Book. I used drawn images of comic book custom designed super heroes that represented a different type of cancer, and put them on a background that is a picture of a track that is used for running and walking. Each character is giving information about when Relay is happening by way of speech bubbles accompanied by comic book phrases such as “boom!” or “pow!.” I am very pleased with all of my print team’s fine efforts. Our local Relay campaign seems to be including all of the types of advertising that I haven’t seen in the past year that I have been at Shepherd University. For example I have not seen video footage or have heard announcements on the radio. Although, there is always room for improvement.    

            After reading an interesting publication from the Advertising Educational Foundation passage entitled “Public Service Advertising,” by William M. O’Barr, our advertising campaign is not as sophisticated as the information posed, which is understandable because we are amateur students. For example, the Ad Council agency for PSAs includes their messages in multiple languages like Spanish. They also carry a bigger budget than Shepherd. But they both are trying to send out a persuasive message that will make you want to listen or partake in events. Also, the amount of creativity that is put into PSAs are being utilized at the Ad Council and our local University.

                I believe that the strength of our work could be a little stronger, but overall it is beginner level success. If I could change some of the courses of action for this campaign, I think that we should have investigated more information about relay for life itself, and have a little more input from other advertising teams for better communication. Overall, I think that Relay for Life will be a triumphant cakewalk with many people involved, enjoying and appreciating the well thought out creations of its theme created by comm. 406!    

Dove For Real Beauty Campaign

In comm. class today we talked about the Dove for Real Beauty campaign. I like this campaign because its main goal is to bring about high self-esteem to young girls and women of all colors, shapes, and sizes. The Dove for Real Beauty campaign wants to make women feel comfortable in their own skin, and not feel like they have to look like skinny, mutant supermodels, as seen in so many types of media, to feel like they are pretty. Their campaign includes TV commercials, print ads, and PR workshops that all stress that women should have confidence in themselves and know that they are beautiful and special in their own way. This print ad shown below is great because many ad campaigns do not choose models that are older. I like this because it shows that at any age a women can be beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. The woman's smile in the ad is a signifier that signifies she is happy, confident, and feels good!   I believe that more companies should promote more positive, feel-good campaigns like Dove!

Semiotics Signifier/Signified

Today in my Advertising & Imagery class we discussed semiotics. Semiotics simply put, is the study of signs and the production of meanings from those signs. The actual sign itself makes up the signifier, and the signified is the concept it represents. In order to obtain a better understanding of signs and what their signified represents, a classmate and I choose an ad and explained one sign and what is signified from that ad. We also explained our findings to the class. From there, we had to come up with five additional signs and their signifieds on our own.

The ad that my partner and I choose was for the alcoholic beverage Absolut Vodka shown here:

This ad is placed on the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. My partner and I chose the pyramid as a sign. The signified for the pyramids shows ancient culture, power, skill, and eternity.  The Luxor sign itself resembles and signifies the Washington monument located in Washington, D.C. It also represents political power, and control, like that of the President living in D.C. It is taking this powerful American monument and placing it next to another great civilization's monument, comparing it to Ancient Egypt. Which brings us to another sign, the  Great Egyptian Sphinx, one of the most monumental sculptures in the ancient world. Its signified represents royal power, with a head of a pharaoh, and a body of a strong lion. The texts in the ad that read, "VEGAS", and "IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD" are signs. The signified for  "VEGAS" represents that being in Vegas could potentially make you rich or more wealthy because of the opportunities for gambling and the chances to "win big." "IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD" signifies that Vegas in a way could make "your" world as "absolute"; just as fantastic  as  the world of the Ancient Egyptians. The Ancient Egyptians had an advanced society that was prosperous and strong! The Absolut Vodka bottle is a sign. Its location at the top of the pyramid signifies that it is of such great importance that many people can view it and look up to it. This ad overall has signifiers that show that Absolut Vodka is powerful, and everlasting.     

Tween Phone Advertising Campaign.. Fixes! Comm. 406

Today in class, we looked  over and talked about our ads for the Gotcha! Cell Phone Campaign for tweens. My professor and students gave my partner (Ashley Laspina) and me critiques about how our ads could be improved to have a campaign that flows a bit better. Here are the ads that we produced using pictures from CreativeCommons and Photoshop.

 Girl's Ad

Boy's Ad

                     Ad for Boys and Girls

Keeping the ads consistent and cohesive is part of the formula for creating a catchy ad campaign. My partner and I kept the same placing of items and words. Although it was brought to our attention that the ad aimed to boys didn't have a the wow factor as the other ads in our campaign reguarding the background. It's not as bright and eye-catching as the others. Also, the colorings of the photos are not the same. The girl's ad has a black and white photo, while the other two are in color. Also, the girl's picture could be less "squary" looking and cropped more naturally. The boy's ad picture could also have better bright colors reguarding the font. All in all it was quite a learning experience working with the ever-so-complicated Photoshop for the first time, and spending time looking for photos.  

Female Roles in Music Videos Comm. 406

A lot of women portrayed in music videos these days are highly sexuallized for the young male's, or possibly female's, fantasy. I'm not just talking about one particular genre of music. Pop, rock, country, and rap display women as helpless, horney, sexual objects, often dressed in almost nothing, catering to the male artist's every desire. An excellent example of this is R&B artist, Sisqo. Almost everyone, I'm sure, has heard the song and seen the music video for Sisqo's "Thong Song."In the video there are women in thong bikinis sunning themselves and dancing provocativly for the men featured in the video who are portrayed as powerful and wealthly. I think it is disapointing that some musicians have to use not so creative ways to sell a record. Also, women shouldn't always be looked at in such a inhumane way. Many young impressionable minds may be influenced by these women in these videos.

Today's Comm. 406 discussion made me think of the music video "Stupid Girls" by the pop artist Pink.

This really eye-opening music video completely captures the oversexualized role of women in music videos.  It also parodies the ridiculousness of the behavior of certain celebrities, and shows regular women who are damaged by the influence of these celebrities.  This video begins with a young, impressionable girl sitting in front of the television viewing a music video; an act that many young, impressionable girls are doing all around the world. In the video Pink portrays herself as a strong, well-dressed, woman who is meant to look like a female president.  She also dresses as the various "stupid girls" in the video.  She makes fun of Paris Hilton with her sex tape incident, she calls out the overly sexual Jessica Simpson in her "These Boots Were Made For Walking" music video.  She shows how women's body image issues force them into getting plastic surgery, overexercising, and purging to be thin. While she acts out these negative behaviors she asks where all of the girls with ambition and goals have gone.  The narrative encourages girls to have respect for themselves and accept their natural beauty. At the end of the video, the little girl turns off the televison and chooses to go outside to play football, rejecting her "princessy," girly toys and choosing not to be a stupid girl.  While there is definitely some show of skin and sexuality in this video, it is in the form of parody and is necessary to the main premise of the narrative.