AoB 2 Describing the Structure of Media Texts

maus

This graphic novel had a closed narrative. as at the end of the novel the main character dies. The first book on maus is a open narrative as it leaves you on a cliff hanger this makes you want to want to read the second installment. the first installment of maus follows Tzvetan Todorov’s theory of equilibrium/ disruption/ equilibrium this is repeatedly used throughout the first and second installments as there are moments of calm followed by disruption and then calm. the second installment does follow the theory to a certain extent but ends in disruption as the character dies at the end of the story therefore ending the series this way that the narrative has been used in maus reminds me of a documentary cause its going back in time to ww2 and it is a recount of what it was like for one person throughout the war the other media type this graphic novel reminds me off are of a ordinary novel because of the way it were written its like a story of his life also you could link this to a film because it uses flash backs throughout the novel but unlike films the comics can't use sound or do slow motion but these are invented by the artist in the way of movement lines also you can over exaggerate more better than films the framework is used ingeniously because the frame work is use to get through the story and to draw you in also it gives the characters human like senses also the novel was done in first person this can provide more context and can engage the reader by using the frame work to give a change of tone or the technique of telling the story the narrative hook that was used in maus is the way the writer uses mice to symbolise Jews cats as Germans (cats chase mice) pigs as polish fish as Britons and the frogs as the french these are all stereotypes used throughout the novel also the mice were taken from illustrations of Micky mouse drew by Walt Disney who was an anti Semitic other narrative hooks used are the picture of the dad near the end of the novel and how he looks nothing like the main character ect.

history of comics

The history of graphic novels begins with the birth of comics. but we can go further back in time where sequential art first appeared.There are a number of differences between pictures and sequential art but the main one is that the one tells a story through the juxtaposition of images that builds to something that a single picture image can’t replicate.The placing of pictures side by side gives you a sequential narrative on which to read.scientists and art historians believe That the cave paintings of Lascaux are the earliest type of sequential art. Images of hunting are not single images but a collection of man and beast at different stages of the chase there for giving a narrative.The paintings in the egyptian tombs and pyramids also record important events through sequential art and hieroglyphic lettering.Sequential art can also be found in the Bayeux Tapestry, recording the invasion of Britain by the normans in 1066 the battle of hastiings.it must be made clear that these are not single images, but a collection of images in a series. Even though there are no borders frames or speech bubbles or no over eggagerated lettering they are building a narrative nonetheless.There are manny more examples that could be used such as Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel and medieval manuscripts.
If we go little while back into the 1700s to Britain, an man called William Hogarth would kick start an interest in narrative works. In 1743–1745 Hogarth painted the six pictures of Marriage à-la-mode,this work poked fun at the upper class people of the 18th century society. This ’story cycle’ shows the unfounded tragedy of an not well thought out marriage based on money. The paintings were designed to be shown side by side so providing.The Swiss, Rodolphe Topffer 1799-1846 is generally considered to be the founder of modern comics. His drawings with their borders and most importantly interdependent words were close to what we know as modern comic artwork.Before this in 1440, the Gutenberg press had improved society and now printed books and with siquentacl art could come to you rather than you to it. now that book production was a commercial business, the first copyright laws were passed to protect what we now would callintellectual rights.At the end of the nineteenth century things started to take shape. a pice of work named ‘Yellow Kid’ appeared in Richard F. Oultcault’s ‘Hogan’s Alley’. A gap-toothed skinhead street kid in a yellow gown. This was probably the first cartoon art that people followed.In 1935 print salesman Max Gaines thought up with a plan of reprinting daily and weekly newspaper comic strips in tabloid papers this would be known as comic books These were found to be so popular that publishers such as National know now as today DC Comics began to produce original stories to cope with the public demand.
National’s Action Comics no.1 featured Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster’s Superman character in 1938. With this character the future of comics was cemented and the medium had found its killer format.Soon to follow was Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America and many others. By the early 1950s the boom of the Super had died and DC Comics published Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman but that was about it. The only genre that was doing well was horror. The leading horror publisher was EC Comics .
Bill had reluctantly taken over from his father and had a different approach. He let the artists imagination run wild. Brutal war stories emerged such as Two Fisted Tales Wertham attempted to show the long term negative effects of comics on children. Eventually the comics industry imposed on itself a system of content regulation.EC Comics sales and fell sharply as retailers wanted nothing to do with the company. Mad comic changed into a lack and white magazine d the code) and became a household name in the states.