For an assignment which, to me, was by far the most challenging and difficult, I chose to focus on what made sense to me the most from what we’ve learned and the pages that have had an effect on me. My thesis was that while Stitches was better in its choice of image, they were similar when it comes to their choice of moment and the flawlessness seen in the two pages. The similarity also lies in their upbringing. Therefore, comics was the solution for them to present their story the best way possible.
Annotating helped in making me think more about comics generally and the two pages more specifically. It made me think more critically about things that I would have just spent a second on otherwise. When it comes to the format, my English from the first place is not my strongest suit, so writing in the new format made it extremely more difficult. It changed primarily in making me revise the essay more and more. The assignment led me to shed light on topics that I would not think about. The single biggest thing I would say is how emotions/feelings could be displayed in a way much, much more effective than an actual movie.
Stitches (by David Small) and Fun Home (by Alison Bechdel) are two graphic novels memoirs that describe the authors’ relations with their unusual families. I chose page 219 of Stitches and page 255 of Fun Home to find the similarities, differences, or observations that I found comparing the two. In their comics, both David Smalls and Alison Bechdel describe their upbringing and growing up with a dysfunctional family. I chose the two pages since they do an excellent job of explaining the more significant themes in both comics. The two selected pages differ in how emotions and, relating to McCloud’s framework, choice of image are displayed, with Stitches being more detailed. On page 219 of Stitches, the therapist and Small’s eyes clearly show the devastation David felt, combined with the therapist’s hesitance preparing to share how Small’s mother hates him. While reading Stitches, this was the only page (apart from David complaining to his mother about his grandmother) where I felt the emotions in a way comparable to watching a sorrowful scene of a movie. However, on page 255 of Fun Home, the feelings are more described than drawn, particularly when Bechdel notices the fear in her father’s eyes. Bechdel chose to write this as a text instead of a more detailed image showing her father’s emotions. While this might be subjective, I felt more emotions in Small’s choice of image.
In addition, as Hillary Chute notes, “Comics is not an illustrative form, in which the words and images match, but rather one … in which the words and the images each move the narrative forward in different ways the reader creates out of the relationship between the two.” [1] In the two chosen pages, the choice of moment was reasonably similar. Both Small and Bechdel connected the dots flawlessly, making it easy for us as readers to create relationships between the words and the drawings. On page 255 of Fun Home, the three panels’ similarity from one scene to another, showing Bechdel and her father (while reading, talking, and in the car), convey the unnoticed connection between them. Noticing the fear in her father’s eyes, reading, and going to the movie made me connect what was not shown much earlier—the unexpected similarity between the two. Similarly, on page 219 of Stitches, moving to Small’s reaction and back to the therapist made me feel the tension Small felt. A strain that struck me not by looking at Small’s eyes but also at his therapist’s. While the scenes are different in terms of the way in which the message is portrayed, both share the flawlessness in moving from one panel to the other.
When it comes to the choice of image, Stitches, compared to Fun Home, was able to deliver a more emotional effect that was exceptionally well done, especially on page 219. The choice of moment, in addition, was well-made on the two chosen pages and generally throughout the two comic books, simplifying it for the reader to understand the general theme in both. The two writers, David Small and Alison Bechdel, shared a similar upbringing: dysfunctional, immensely mysterious families. From Small not knowing about his mother’s sexuality, Bechdel not knowing about her father’s (and exploring and realizing hers, eventually), to Small realizing how his mother hates him, and Bechdel discovering her father’s unique story, a story somewhat relatable to her. Therefore, it is essential to acknowledge the extraordinary way both writers expressed their past and narratives. Comics, surprisingly, was their method of describing something that might not be describable otherwise.
[1] Chute, Hillary. Comics for Grown-ups? from Why Comics?: From Underground to Everywhere. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2017.
The past few days have been exhausting, but I can finally see the finish line. All in all, drafting, storyboarding, writing, and drawing a comic has been pretty fun and decent means for detachment in the shadow of looming mid-terms. Even after drawing my fairly ambiguous storyboard, I wasn’t sure which direction I wanted to go in textually. I am content with how my comic turned out, though. I drew from scenes in my textual literacy narrative, though took a different in terms of plot structure. I think it all worked out for the best, though. I am happy with the end result. My only concern is that certain stylistic mechanisms are a little too vague.
Turning my narrative into a comic was a process that consisted a lot of thinking. I think the first thing I did was just start drawing. I really wasn’t sure where I wanted to go, so it seemed like a good idea to start there. I started with the introduction of my narrative and then moved on to my actual relationship of books and how it changed. It was hard to know what you needed to include in both literay and visual representation. I think I could still improve in making my comic express what I want.
This was a series of trial and error, and I am referring to my narrative first. When writing my narrative, I had to scrap most details that didn’t belong, and implement new details as I wrote the narrative. I am happy to say that it came out to be what it is and it made it easy for me to visualize the type of story I want to tell in what way.
When thinking on how I want to execute this comic, I planned on having me, the author, narrate the comic and break the fourth wall here and there. Those were ideas that were able to be incorporated throughout the graphic memoir. Another goal I had in mind was to make it humorous, and after letting some of my friends to read the work in progress, many enjoyed it and laughed, which I was glad about.
The process of drawing was tedious, yet great and rewarding. Every time I finished a panel, I was excited to commence onto the other. This gave me a sense on how I wanted to see the finish product ! This reflection, helps pave the way on how I enjoy writing, which I am glad about people knowing !
I am really excited for you all to enjoy this graphic memoir and hopefully you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it ! Here is the link to it !
