Scott Pilgrim vs the World is one of my favorite films due to the graphic nature of the film. I did not know when I saw it in theaters back in 2010, but when I found out I could clearly see the influences. I had not heard of SnotGirl, but from the cover and knowing the writer, I am definitely going to look into the novel. I had never heard of Black Eyed Peas "Master of the Sun". It sounds really cool though. I never thought about a comic having voice actors or songs that could be played on your phone while you are reading it. I did not think about defining Scott Pilgrim as a comic, but I think this could be in that category along with film and games. I almost see it as a related search engine, if someone were searching for a graphic novel film with gaming, Scott Pilgrim would pop up. With VR coming into the world, it is hard for me to see how that is going to work. Looking at novels and films, the best part about making them is that the film maker can control where the viewer is looking to a point. Yet with VR, it will be much more difficult to control the viewer's eye so that they do not miss anything important.
I looked up Hi-Fi Fight Club, and it looks beautiful. I definitely want to look into this comic too. All of these comics that have been mentioned in class, I think I may have heard of 2 maybe 3 of them. Through this class, I have seen so many comics that I really want to read and would probably never heard of them without this class. Back with Scot Pilgrim, I had not watched that film since probably 2012, yet it left an impression on me. The part I remember most from that film was the Vegan ex boyfriend, and how they had 3 strikes to being vegan. That part I find even funnier now since I know so many people who say they are vegan, but break the 'rules' all the time. I also remember the pink haired girl and for a good 3 to 4 summers I would dye my hair blue. I was not aloud to have colored hair at school, I went to a private school with a strict dress code, so when I would dye my hair over the summer I felt that I was expressing myself and being a bit of a rebel. I am definitely going to look into the graphic novel of Scott Pilgrim, just looking at a few panels in class I already love it.
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Thursday, November 30, 2017
In Class Assessment: Pretty Deadly
1) What is your reaction to the text you just read:
Overall I found it quite intriguing, but hard to follow. When I read through it, I really had no idea what was going on or whose story I was reading. I got that the rabbit was narrating and that the butterfly was listening, but difficult to tell the motives of the main characters of the story. This may be because I have only read the first volume and half of the second, but what I got was that death had a daughter with a human. This daughter wears a vulture costume and travels with 'the fox' and they hunt down men who have wronged women. I may be wrong in this, but I feel that this is a comic that I would need to read through a few times in order to completely understand the story. I found the artwork to be dynamic and beautiful, and could see the appeal in the over all comic from that. I just finished reading the 2 volume and have discovered that the little girl is not deaths daughter like I originally thought.
2) What connections did you make with the story? Discuss elements of the work with which you were able to connect:
I did not connect the story to any of my personal experiences, but I did connect it so some genres. I saw a lot of western influence, the riding on horses and living in small towns reminded me a lot of an old western movie. Yet I also noticed a lot of action and sword fighting, which reminded me of more eastern movies or Japanese movies. Plus the fantasy of death's daughter and the talking animals mixes in another genre. Yet, I found them all to be well balanced, none over powering the other. I can tell this was set long ago, but it does not feel exactly like earth or our time line, but another world similar to ours. The artwork seemed to be inspired by western comics and manga. I could connect the different themes and mashing of genres and styles, but the overall story that is being told is still confusing to me.
3) What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make:
I this this could adapt well into a live action movie or an anime styled movie. Im sure if I read all of it it would make more sense, but with the visuals in a movie along with the dialogue I'm sure it would be clear and fun to watch. I would not change the color scheme or setting, I think they play an important part in the graphic novel. I feel that this could be converted to a novel as well, spending a lot of time really describing the imagery that is shown in the graphic novel. Kind of like the Harry Potter series, which is very good at describing everything going on around them. Whether it be adapted to a movie or novel, I would not change the story, setting, or colors, but I would try to make it a bit more clear on what was going on either through acting/movement or through description.
Overall I found it quite intriguing, but hard to follow. When I read through it, I really had no idea what was going on or whose story I was reading. I got that the rabbit was narrating and that the butterfly was listening, but difficult to tell the motives of the main characters of the story. This may be because I have only read the first volume and half of the second, but what I got was that death had a daughter with a human. This daughter wears a vulture costume and travels with 'the fox' and they hunt down men who have wronged women. I may be wrong in this, but I feel that this is a comic that I would need to read through a few times in order to completely understand the story. I found the artwork to be dynamic and beautiful, and could see the appeal in the over all comic from that. I just finished reading the 2 volume and have discovered that the little girl is not deaths daughter like I originally thought.
2) What connections did you make with the story? Discuss elements of the work with which you were able to connect:
I did not connect the story to any of my personal experiences, but I did connect it so some genres. I saw a lot of western influence, the riding on horses and living in small towns reminded me a lot of an old western movie. Yet I also noticed a lot of action and sword fighting, which reminded me of more eastern movies or Japanese movies. Plus the fantasy of death's daughter and the talking animals mixes in another genre. Yet, I found them all to be well balanced, none over powering the other. I can tell this was set long ago, but it does not feel exactly like earth or our time line, but another world similar to ours. The artwork seemed to be inspired by western comics and manga. I could connect the different themes and mashing of genres and styles, but the overall story that is being told is still confusing to me.
3) What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make:
I this this could adapt well into a live action movie or an anime styled movie. Im sure if I read all of it it would make more sense, but with the visuals in a movie along with the dialogue I'm sure it would be clear and fun to watch. I would not change the color scheme or setting, I think they play an important part in the graphic novel. I feel that this could be converted to a novel as well, spending a lot of time really describing the imagery that is shown in the graphic novel. Kind of like the Harry Potter series, which is very good at describing everything going on around them. Whether it be adapted to a movie or novel, I would not change the story, setting, or colors, but I would try to make it a bit more clear on what was going on either through acting/movement or through description.
Literature of Comics: Day 12
Cockaboody and the other animations you showed at the beginning of class were very interesting. They reminded me of the Yellow Submarine, very surreal. I loved the first one with the play because they would switch from 'real life' to imaginary world. I could tell that they just recorded their kids interacting for the dialogue did not feel scripted at all, very organic. Overall the animations were very cute and felt relatable.
The work I looked at before class was "This One Summer", and thought I have not finished it, I have really enjoyed what I have read so far. The art style is appealing and shows the emotion of the characters. I can relate to a lot of the characters and what they are going through, the mom especially. Not in the way of losing a child, but I deal with severe anxiety and can understand how it feels to have to "put on a face" for others. The scene that really stood out to me was when everyone was at the beach and they kept trying to get the mom to go in the water. She tried to be nice about it, but they kept pushing her into doing something she did not want to do. I do not like being pressured into doing things that I do not want to do, especially if I already have a bad experience associated with what ever it is. The mom is also trying her best to keep it to herself and away from her daughter. I see both sides of the coin on this, the mom does not want her daughter to have to deal with it, yet the daughter is mad that she is being excluded and treated as a child.
I had never heard of Judy, but I loved her spoon illustrations. She had a very distinct style I had not seen before. Fanny's work looked familiar. I really liked the style, finding it very pretty and baby doll like. Kate Carew's work was very different from the previous. It reminded me of modern cartoonists, and its cool that she would get to hang out with some famous people of the time. Rose's art was very colorful and reminded me of early Disney comics. The Kewpie doll was a bit creepy, but I can see why people thought he was cute. I love that many of these women were politically active in trying to get the vote for women. They saw the power in their work. I had played with paper dolls before, from magazines when I was little, but I did not know that they dated back to the 1800s. I never knew how much illustrations influenced people as much as it did, especially with the overall political stand of women and the ideal look of women. Nell Brinkley's illustration of the girl trying to fit into her tight dress id something I did not know anyone illustrated until recently. That is such a relatable thing, even now with dresses and skinny pants. Neysa McMein's work was beautiful, my favorite thus far, especially her use of color. I loved Edwina's dog comics. I can relate for I love cats and draw cats all the time. I was amazed at how well many women were able to make their mark on comic history, especially for their time. Many of the names you showed us I had never heard of, and a lot of their works I really liked and plan to look more into their works. I had no idea that Fun Home was a comic before becoming a musical.
The work I looked at before class was "This One Summer", and thought I have not finished it, I have really enjoyed what I have read so far. The art style is appealing and shows the emotion of the characters. I can relate to a lot of the characters and what they are going through, the mom especially. Not in the way of losing a child, but I deal with severe anxiety and can understand how it feels to have to "put on a face" for others. The scene that really stood out to me was when everyone was at the beach and they kept trying to get the mom to go in the water. She tried to be nice about it, but they kept pushing her into doing something she did not want to do. I do not like being pressured into doing things that I do not want to do, especially if I already have a bad experience associated with what ever it is. The mom is also trying her best to keep it to herself and away from her daughter. I see both sides of the coin on this, the mom does not want her daughter to have to deal with it, yet the daughter is mad that she is being excluded and treated as a child.
I had never heard of Judy, but I loved her spoon illustrations. She had a very distinct style I had not seen before. Fanny's work looked familiar. I really liked the style, finding it very pretty and baby doll like. Kate Carew's work was very different from the previous. It reminded me of modern cartoonists, and its cool that she would get to hang out with some famous people of the time. Rose's art was very colorful and reminded me of early Disney comics. The Kewpie doll was a bit creepy, but I can see why people thought he was cute. I love that many of these women were politically active in trying to get the vote for women. They saw the power in their work. I had played with paper dolls before, from magazines when I was little, but I did not know that they dated back to the 1800s. I never knew how much illustrations influenced people as much as it did, especially with the overall political stand of women and the ideal look of women. Nell Brinkley's illustration of the girl trying to fit into her tight dress id something I did not know anyone illustrated until recently. That is such a relatable thing, even now with dresses and skinny pants. Neysa McMein's work was beautiful, my favorite thus far, especially her use of color. I loved Edwina's dog comics. I can relate for I love cats and draw cats all the time. I was amazed at how well many women were able to make their mark on comic history, especially for their time. Many of the names you showed us I had never heard of, and a lot of their works I really liked and plan to look more into their works. I had no idea that Fun Home was a comic before becoming a musical.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Literature of Comics: Day 11
Anomalisa is such an interesting film. I remember you showing this film in the literature class I was in with you last year, and I am so glad you showed it. I have watched it a few times and I truly appreciate the uniqueness of this film. I am actually very interested in the art of stop motion film making, and I had heard of this film, but never really got around to watching it until you showed it in class. I love it when films do something out of the ordinary with films, like Wes Anderson's flat style of filming or like the short Paper man that was all black and white except for her lip stick.
With the Acme comic, its was interesting, but not a huge fan. When I first opened it, I thought the character in it was like Stewie from Family Guy, but when you said in class that it was like the Peanuts, I saw what you meant. Overall the comic was a downer, and gave a very industrial feel due to the very geometric comic panels. I found his use of color to be the most interesting part of the comic, I love when color means something and each panel uses color to convey a message.
I really did not like Eightball. I appreciate the work behind it and can understand why people like this kind of work, but I just don't find any joy in reading it. The visuals and overall appeal of the drawings are not there for me. A lot of times when reading it, I would scrunch up my face in disgusts from the visuals and subject matter. Overall this is just depressing and gross.
The third comic, Ice Haven, reminded me of 80's comics in terms of style and color. Again very depressing work, but of the comics we have looked at today, this is the most appealing visually, but still not a huge fan. I am glad you show us this work, for I would never have seen any of it on my own.
Arsene Schrauwen has a puck/cyber punk visual style which reminded me of the 80s. This artist seems to have no technique, but I can see the argument that this makes it more interesting/spontaneous. The story is overall about media, so he took that idea and organized it in an interesting way.
You also showed Chico and Rita in the literature class last year, and I also enjoyed this film. The style is very different from american animated films, and I love the music. The music gives the entire movie a rhythm, each song sets a tone and the style of animation does not take away form this.
I also remember reading Asterios Polyp last year too. All of the different art styles merging into one comic, and the overall symbolism of the work with colors and style is quite beautiful. I know how hard it is to pull off such a feet and this makes the novel all the better. I agree that this would not translate wall into any other media, which shows how great it is as it is. I truely would love to see an animated film that merged different styles though, kind of like the short "Get a Horse" - 3D and 2D or "Nightmare before Christmas" - 2D and Stop Motion.
With the Acme comic, its was interesting, but not a huge fan. When I first opened it, I thought the character in it was like Stewie from Family Guy, but when you said in class that it was like the Peanuts, I saw what you meant. Overall the comic was a downer, and gave a very industrial feel due to the very geometric comic panels. I found his use of color to be the most interesting part of the comic, I love when color means something and each panel uses color to convey a message.
I really did not like Eightball. I appreciate the work behind it and can understand why people like this kind of work, but I just don't find any joy in reading it. The visuals and overall appeal of the drawings are not there for me. A lot of times when reading it, I would scrunch up my face in disgusts from the visuals and subject matter. Overall this is just depressing and gross.
The third comic, Ice Haven, reminded me of 80's comics in terms of style and color. Again very depressing work, but of the comics we have looked at today, this is the most appealing visually, but still not a huge fan. I am glad you show us this work, for I would never have seen any of it on my own.
Arsene Schrauwen has a puck/cyber punk visual style which reminded me of the 80s. This artist seems to have no technique, but I can see the argument that this makes it more interesting/spontaneous. The story is overall about media, so he took that idea and organized it in an interesting way.
You also showed Chico and Rita in the literature class last year, and I also enjoyed this film. The style is very different from american animated films, and I love the music. The music gives the entire movie a rhythm, each song sets a tone and the style of animation does not take away form this.
I also remember reading Asterios Polyp last year too. All of the different art styles merging into one comic, and the overall symbolism of the work with colors and style is quite beautiful. I know how hard it is to pull off such a feet and this makes the novel all the better. I agree that this would not translate wall into any other media, which shows how great it is as it is. I truely would love to see an animated film that merged different styles though, kind of like the short "Get a Horse" - 3D and 2D or "Nightmare before Christmas" - 2D and Stop Motion.
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Literature of Comics: Day 10
I was never a big manga reader, but I have watched quite a bit of anime. One of the first anime that I truly fell in love with was Sailor moon. When I was 4 and 5 I dressed up as Sailor Moon for Halloween, had the magic wand and everything. I didn't even know what anime was at the time, but I knew that I cared about the characters, loved that they were magic and there were talking cats which sold me. I also watch Pokemon, but I really didn't truly start getting into anime till about 6th grade. This is when I discovered so many anime to the point where I overloaded a bit and probably watched over 300 different anime over the corse of a few years.
For class I went and read some of the sailor moon manga to see how similar it is compared to the anime I saw as a child, and I found that there were a lot of differences. I knew that when they brought it to the USA, that it was censored like crazy. But I didn't know that the overall style is a bit different compared to the original anime. The manga is a bit more stylized in the old anime style with long limbs, overly drawn sparkle eyes. I remember as a kid that I looked the most like Sailor Moon and I liked her enough to where I wanted to dress up like her for Halloween twice, but my favorite sailor scout was Sailor Uranus. I thought she was so cool and wish that she was in the manga more, but when I got older I discovered that she did have more screen time, but it was cut to censor her. This was because she was in a gay relationship with Sailor Neptune. I sometimes wish that Sailor moon was created now, so that it would play on american tv again without the unnecessary censorship.
I never knew that manga literally translated to "playful pictures", that stood out to me for I thought it was just Japan's word for comic. I also didn't know that 50 percent of everything published in Japan was comics and 30 percent of all money made from printed sources was from manga. I had not heard of Princess Knight, but it looks adorable. I didn't know that Yuri was a late development, I had always assumed that it had come out at the same time as Yaoi. I love that the richest manga artist in the world is a woman and I get it for I have seen Inuyasha and I totally get why because her work is very popular.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Literature of Comics: Day 9
I love the film Triplets of Belleville, the style and caricatures are so interesting. It is not really like any american animation, I would compare it to maybe Aristocats only in it keeping the sketchiness around the lines, not cleaning yup the cells. A lot of the back grounds look as it they are ink and water color. The beginning is very interesting, using old animation styles, black and white tube arm animation, to convey an older time. It reminds me a lot of a Miyazaki film, having a lot of life experiences and long scenes showing life. Also by not having a lot of dialogue, it allows anyone of any culture to understand what is happening. This makes it easy to translate and circulate widely.
I had read Persepolis, and though I found the art to be very graphic and interesting, the story did not speak to me. I feel for the girl, but I am not a huge fan of these kind of stories. I found her choices throughout the novel interesting, that she cared about freedom, doing what she wanted to do, more that her welfare and her family. I appreciated that her family truly cared about her and changed for her, from sending her to live with the nuns for her safety to treating her as an equal when she came back. Uncle Anoosh, I feel, was the catalyst that send her down the path of social activism. He taught her about the world and they become very close, thus making his execution all the more painful for her. I understand her choices and feel that she truly made a difference in the world, but I am not a big fan of social or political stories. I really enjoyed the over all style of art that the novel was drawn in, reminded me of political revolutionary posters.The naivety of the artwork is also reminiscent of a child, who is the voice of the story.
I had also looked at Valerian. I had seen the film over the summer, and though not a huge fan of the overall story, the world building and characters were beautiful. I was interested in seeing what the comic looked like for I had not known the film was an adaption. I actually found the film to be more compelling in character design and color, not that the comics were not compelling. I got the feeling of the 60s to early 70s style from Valerian, and I loved that the film clearly took exact panels from the comic and used it in the film.
I had read Persepolis, and though I found the art to be very graphic and interesting, the story did not speak to me. I feel for the girl, but I am not a huge fan of these kind of stories. I found her choices throughout the novel interesting, that she cared about freedom, doing what she wanted to do, more that her welfare and her family. I appreciated that her family truly cared about her and changed for her, from sending her to live with the nuns for her safety to treating her as an equal when she came back. Uncle Anoosh, I feel, was the catalyst that send her down the path of social activism. He taught her about the world and they become very close, thus making his execution all the more painful for her. I understand her choices and feel that she truly made a difference in the world, but I am not a big fan of social or political stories. I really enjoyed the over all style of art that the novel was drawn in, reminded me of political revolutionary posters.The naivety of the artwork is also reminiscent of a child, who is the voice of the story.
I had also looked at Valerian. I had seen the film over the summer, and though not a huge fan of the overall story, the world building and characters were beautiful. I was interested in seeing what the comic looked like for I had not known the film was an adaption. I actually found the film to be more compelling in character design and color, not that the comics were not compelling. I got the feeling of the 60s to early 70s style from Valerian, and I loved that the film clearly took exact panels from the comic and used it in the film.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Literature of Comics: Day 8
Waltz with Bashir was an interesting film both visually and in terms of theme. I was not a huge fan of the animation, mostly due to me knowing how it is done. I found it to be quite stiff and swim-y, but I found that the subject matter, story, and overall symbolism of the movie to be done well. I feel that stereotyping and repression of emotion to be harmful. Yet, in my major, Computer Animation, we are taught to embrace stereotyping to a certain extent, mainly because it is recognizable to a majority of people. In film, stereotypes are used all the time, and often become a major theme in the film.
Look at (one of my favorite films) Legally Blonde. Opens on Elle Woods, the stereotypical hot, white, blonde, stupid sorority girl waiting to be proposed to by her hot, rich boyfriend Warner. In the musical, the first song "Oh my God you Guys" is literally singing about her making herself bride material with the help of her sorority girls. This can be seen as very stereotypical, yet I have met girls just like her, and Elle in the show is kind and funny and smart when it comes to fashion, yet is called "a Marilyn not a Jackie". That line really made me think, but it is another stereotype that may not be true, but everyone in the audience knew exactly what he meant. I had never questioned that line until I looked at it from this standpoint.
Another stereotype in the film is that students at Harvard are boring, dull, serious lawyers. Then here comes Elle dressed in all pink compared to there navy blue, grey and black cloths. I find truth in this for I have never seen a lawyer dress in a hot pink Juicy Couture sweats, they are always dressed in suits or nice work clothing. This is a stereotype, but everyone in the audience understands this and finds the contrast between the law students and Elle to be funny. There is an entire song in the musical called "Is he Gay or European" which makes fun of those stereotypes, yet the audience is laughing the whole time. I feel that people get racism and stereotypes mixed, both can happen at one, but when I think of stereotypes they are traits that have been observed repeatedly to the point where they are easily taken as truth. For example, lawyers wear suits or business men wear watches and carry a brief case. Are these stereotypes? I have met many lawyers and businessmen whom wear suits/ have watches/ carry brief cases, so does that make it a stereotype? What about a Texan wearing cowboy boots? I am a native Texan and I own and have worn cowboy boots, does that make me a stereotype? I am white and like Starbucks, does that make me a stereotype?
Look at (one of my favorite films) Legally Blonde. Opens on Elle Woods, the stereotypical hot, white, blonde, stupid sorority girl waiting to be proposed to by her hot, rich boyfriend Warner. In the musical, the first song "Oh my God you Guys" is literally singing about her making herself bride material with the help of her sorority girls. This can be seen as very stereotypical, yet I have met girls just like her, and Elle in the show is kind and funny and smart when it comes to fashion, yet is called "a Marilyn not a Jackie". That line really made me think, but it is another stereotype that may not be true, but everyone in the audience knew exactly what he meant. I had never questioned that line until I looked at it from this standpoint.
Another stereotype in the film is that students at Harvard are boring, dull, serious lawyers. Then here comes Elle dressed in all pink compared to there navy blue, grey and black cloths. I find truth in this for I have never seen a lawyer dress in a hot pink Juicy Couture sweats, they are always dressed in suits or nice work clothing. This is a stereotype, but everyone in the audience understands this and finds the contrast between the law students and Elle to be funny. There is an entire song in the musical called "Is he Gay or European" which makes fun of those stereotypes, yet the audience is laughing the whole time. I feel that people get racism and stereotypes mixed, both can happen at one, but when I think of stereotypes they are traits that have been observed repeatedly to the point where they are easily taken as truth. For example, lawyers wear suits or business men wear watches and carry a brief case. Are these stereotypes? I have met many lawyers and businessmen whom wear suits/ have watches/ carry brief cases, so does that make it a stereotype? What about a Texan wearing cowboy boots? I am a native Texan and I own and have worn cowboy boots, does that make me a stereotype? I am white and like Starbucks, does that make me a stereotype?
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