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TEACHING GRAPHIC NOVELS IN THE MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOM

TEACHING GRAPHIC NOVELS IN THE MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOM. SHARP 2011 Holger Briel University of Nicosia. The crux with pictures. Pictures seem to pose little problems when interpreting them, they are deceptively simple.

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TEACHING GRAPHIC NOVELS IN THE MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOM

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  1. TEACHING GRAPHIC NOVELS IN THE MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOM SHARP 2011 Holger Briel University of Nicosia

  2. The crux with pictures • Pictures seem to pose little problems when interpreting them, they are deceptively simple. • And it is true, we have to process a large number of them for information purposes • But pictures are also what semioticians call ‘signs’ – • They represent reality in very specific ways. • Invariably, they carry subtexts

  3. Example: men’s shirts

  4. Example men’s shirts • Can concentrate on many things when decoding these pictures : content, model, colors, lines, spatial sequencing, etc. • One particular aspect here: shirt not tucked in • Cultural ramifications of this gesture: - Europe - Philippines

  5. Comics Study at UNic • Student body mixed, with UG majority being of Greek-Cypriot background. On MA, 50 percent non-native. • Study, conducted in Oct 2009: small sample of 30 participants, 12 UGs from BA in Graphic Design (4th year), 10 PGs from MA in Communication and 8 faculty member from the Humanities • Age range: 22-40 students, 27-46 faculty

  6. Comics Questionnaire 1 • Age: • Gender: • Nationality: • Did you read comics as a child? If yes, which ones? What are your earliest memories of comics? • Did you watch cartoons as a child? If yes, which ones? What are your earliest memories of cartoons? • What were the reactions of your parents? • Do you watch cartoons today? Which ones? • Do you play video games? If yes, which ones?

  7. Comics Questionnaire 1 (cont’d) • Are you a comics reader today? • Are you using the internet to find – read – download comics? (Circle the correct one(s). Which web pages do you use? • Are you familiar with Manga? If yes, what do you think of them? Why are they so popular? • Are you familiar with the concept of “adult” comics? If yes, what do you think does it mean? • Do you think there are different cultural/national/linguistic centers for comics? If yes, which are they and why? (Problematic question, not many knew what to do with it) • Do you think pictures need translating? If yes, why and how? (Problematic question again, not many knew what to do with it) • Any other remarks you might have regarding comics:

  8. Choice of Manga Battle Royale • Controversial 1999 novel by Koushun Takami. • Original Manga run November 2000 – January 2006. • 2000 Feature film, directed by Kinji Fukasaku. It was followed in 2003 by Battle Royale II: Requiem.

  9. Storyline: In an alternate timeline, a Junior High School class is kidnapped and brought to an island where they have to kill each other, only one survivor will be allowed. This is broadcast on TV. They are wearing collars which allows the director to view and hear everybody and also to kill them if they do not follow the rules. It is a combination of Golding’s Lord of the Flies, and The Truman Show on Angel Dust.

  10. Most have died, a few survive…

  11. Traditional frames, but with conjunctive writing

  12. Nationalist background • Foreign Baddie • Hero before the Flag And • Usage of filmic techniques (extreme slow motion)

  13. Violence

  14. Amy Shirong Lu (2008): 3 facets of internationalization in Japanese Anime (also true for Manga) • De-politicized internationalization, which primarily serves as a commercial tactic to attract international audiences; • Occidentalized internationalization, which satiates a nationalistic sentiment; • Self-orientalized internationalization, which reveals a cultural desire to establish Japan as an ersatz Western country in Asia.

  15. Battle Royale chapter 119; last frame Good example of point 3. This is Broadway, but a very Japanizised Broadway. The rest is pure (Japanese )Teen sentiment. Anybody for hitchhiking in NYC?

  16. Choice of “Western” Comics I The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. They first appeared in 1968, have sold over 40 million comic books worldwide and have been translated into 14 languages. A stop motion technique film is about to go into production.

  17. Gilbert Shelton talks about his inspiration for the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: (http://www.grassrootsthemovie.com/gr/FabulousFurryFreakBrothers.html)

  18. Gilbert Sheldon The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers 1971-1992. SF: Rip-Off Press

  19. Choice of “Western” Comics II Alan Grant, Tank Girl, Apocalypse (1995)

  20. Traditional Framing, but with tank driving women and mutant kangaroos in the Australian Outback as content

  21. Comics Questionnaire 2 • What did you think of Battle Royale? Why?  • What would you say is its specific cultural “other”? Be precise, mention particular frames, objects, attitudes. • Do you think you understood the specific cultural references? How many? (in percent) • In your opinion, what are the Western influences on Battle Royale, if any? Be precise, mention particular frames, objects, attitudes. • How would you compare Battle Royale with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers? How with Tank Girl? Be precise, mention particular frames, objects, attitudes. • Would you want to see the film of Battle Royale? Why/not?

  22. Results I: • Two thirds of the participants were not familiar with Manga (20/30) • Adult Manga were almost completely reduced to violence, sex and erotics. Only a few (mostly women) thought they also dealt with women’s stories and were designed to “make you think”. • When asked about their comics’ background, most cited Disney – there continues to be a large dominance of American comics and cartoons. This is especially true for the Mediterranean basin. Only three respondents mentioned Arkas, arguably the most famous Greek comic. • The Cuteness factor, as one of the main estrangement factors of Japanese Manga, was not mentioned at all.

  23. Results II • Those having grown up in the US were the only ones attuned to Newspaper comics and the “Saturday morning ritual” of watching cartoons on TV. • By far the largest group of video game players were UGs, but this did not automatically correlate to heightened Manga or comic usage. • In this age group, Japanese cartoons do not yet play a significant role; only Dragon Ball Z (1984 through 1995) was mentioned once, the only other non- American series was the cartoon Maja the Bee which is based on a 1924 book by the Czech writer Waldemar Bonzel and originally aired in Japan from April 1975 to April 1976 and consequently adapted for the European market. • Otherwise, Mickey Mouse rules supreme, closely followed by Spiderman. • Tank Girl was largely ignored.

  24. Results III • Manga’s cultural other is not much realized in Western Readings. • The participants, although overwhelmingly familiar with comics and cartoons, are not reading/watching these with an eye for cultural differences. • Only non-Western participants expressed their reservations about comics in general. • Speculation I: If this study had been done in France or Japan, the results would have been different. • Speculation II: The next generation will be better equipped to understand these cultural differences.

  25. Thank you for your attention!! briel.h@unic.ac.cy

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