Research methods 1.docx - Repositorio Digital Senescyt

Transcription

Carla Sánchez
Research Methods
13 November 2013
The importance of comprehensible narration in sequential art
A new approach for making better comics
As most children I learned to read with comics instead of books. The idea of sequential images
telling a story has been present through my whole life. During my short career as an artist I
produced a couple of short stories that reached small local audiences, and with this experience I
thought I had a clear idea about the basic process of “making” a comic. During my primary
research I came across the “Gasoline Alley” daily comic from American artist Frank King in 1930,
and the full page multi panel sequence broke my conceptions of “comics” for good.
1.
Why did I find this outdated newspaper comic strip to be so different from all the other massive
amount of comics that I had seen in my life? The answer lies within the deep exploration of the
graphical language possibilities.
Defining sequential art
Sequential art is one of the first ways to tell stories available to humanity. It can be defined as
any two or more images of any kind, arranged in a somehow adjacent order. Or in the more
fancy definition of Scott McCloud: “Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate
sequence”. (McCloud 1993).
Historically it goes way back in time in the human history timeline, but these early artworks do
not concern this study. The sequential art in which I want to focus is the Contemporary
sequential art, most widely known as Comics. The most common format of it being the comic
strip, which underwent an important development (all the way up to the “Graphic Novel”) since
the nineteenth century with the pioneer of modern comics “Rodolphe Töpffer”. He was the first
artist to divide images with Panels in one single “Page”, and to add text that worked
interdependently with the images.
2.
Any two images that are meant to be appreciated in sequential order can be called sequential
art, (and many examples of this can be found before Töphers time) but I want to focus this study
in a specific kind; the one that arranges many images in one single space, which we call page.
These images are usually, but not only, divided in Panels. The interest of this research is the
process of arranging the images to purposely induce a specific read flow in the reader within the
page. We have three elements to start with:
1. Page
2. Panel
3. Gutter
Gutter is that magical space, only available to sequential art, which exists between the panels.
This space is where you expect the viewer to fill the blank making use of his imagination. What
he fills it with will depend on his own experience and background. And there lies one of the
biggest issues around the relative universality of the received message.
Every person will imaginatively fill the gutter slightly different, so it relies in the narrative skill of
the artist to control which audiences will understand what message. As Scott McCloud states:
“See that space between the panels? That‟s what comic aficionados have named “The Gutter”.
And despite its unceremonious title, that gutter plays host to much of the magic and mystery
that are at the very heart of comics! Here in the limbo of the gutter, human imagination takes
two separate images and transforms them into a single idea. Nothing is seen between the two
panels but experience tells you something must be there!”
3.
The elements are at the service of delivering the message
One of the biggest problems an artist may encounter in his attempt to propose a reading flow for
his page is the fact that the readers aye is an unpredictable and uncontrollable spoiled little brat.
As Will Eisner (one of the first modern masters that analyzed sequential art) states:
“In sequential art the artist must, from the outset, secure control of the reader`s attention and
dictate the sequence in which the reader will follow the narrative. The limitations inherent in the
technology of printed comics are both obstacles and asset in the attempt to accomplish this.
The most important obstacle to surmount is the tendency of the reader`s eye to wander. On any
give page, for example, there is absolutely no way in which the artist can prevent the reading of
the last panel before the first. The turning of the page does mechanically enforce some control,
but hardly as absolute as in film” (Eisner, 1985)
The panel is the most broadly employed tool for clearly guiding the reading flow in a page. It
works with the same rules as text reading, from left to right in the west, and the opposite in the
east. But framing images into panels is not the only possibility and does not guarantee a clear
reading flow, although it makes it easier to accomplish. But what is the actual function of the
panel frame? At first I considered the panel`s unmovable existence in modern comics to have its
origin in the cinematic mainstream revolution, but later I realized that it comes from a much
more basic concept. “It should surprise no one that the limit of the human eye´s peripheral
vision is closely related to the panel as it is used by the artist to capture or “freeze” one segment
of what is in reality an uninterrupted flow of action. (...) The panels act to contain the readers
view, nothing more” (Eisner, 1985)
Narrative expression through panel structure has been extensively used upon comic artist
during recent history, and very few western artists have dared to escape a bit from this canons,
besides Will Eisner himself.
4.
I consider that somehow these explorations of atypical narration visually express the research
objective of this study. De-framing the comic, with analytical purposes might lead to a narrative
and artistic quest that, in the best case scenario, could improve the ability of the artist to convey
a message as well as to create comic pages with better flow and a higher aesthetic value.
The frame isn't just a tool to segment reality; it can also have other functions that can be used to
enrich the language of the sequential image story telling. “In addition to its primary function as a
frame in which to place objects and actions, the panel border itself can be used as part of the
non-verbal “language” of sequential art.” (Eisner, 1985)
As we can see in this Robert Crumb`s comic:
5.
We can see how the own irregular character of the lines make the frame emphasize the
clumsiness and uneasy feeling of the story.
Its up to the artist to decide whether to “frame or not”, but it should be a conscious decision
made for the sake of comprehensibility.
I am going to base my research on the assumption that the quality of a sequential artwork is
measure by the comprehensibility of its story. “...The work of he sequential artist must be
measured by comprehensibility. The sequential artist “sees” for the reader because it is inherent
to narrative art that the requirement on the viewer is not so much analysis as recognition. The
task then is to arrange the sequence of events (or pictures) so as to bridge the gaps in action.
(...) Success here stems from the artists ability (usually more visceral than intellectual) to gauge
the commonality of the reader´s experience” (Eisner, 1985)
How is this ability developed? That is the root question of this study.
I assume that the development comes from practice and “Error” analysis.
Why can this exploration be useful to the field of sequential art making?
When I read a comic I sometimes get lost in the story, not knowing what is going on, then I have
to go back and review the sequence several times (depending on the level of confusion) to get a
grasp of what I missed and be able to get back on track. I believe that every comic reader has
had to encounter this ugly situation of feeling “stupid” for not understanding what the author is
trying to express, and I‟m sure that for many people this moment has led to irreversible
discouragement of the whole universe of comics. Many potential comic book reader‟s must have
been lost due to moments like this. It resembles to the moment you see a “contemporary
conceptual art” exhibition and feel stupid about not being able to decode this strange image
language, specially when you have people next to you that seem to talk about it and enjoy it. I
believe that the artist must avoid this uncomfortable moment at all cost. Although the
appreciation of art itself requires the cooperation of the viewer, its the artists duty to ensure that
the reader engages with the message, whether viscerally or intellectually. Of course that some
works might be directed to specific audiences, but there is an ubiquitous assumption that the
artist wants the majority of the reached audience to relate to his artwork, otherwise you would
just keep it in your drawer.
I consider that many contemporary comic artists have somehow forgotten about this
commonality, and a sort of quality decay has shadowed the modern development of the
sequential art language.
As Daniel Raeburn clearly states in his “Chris Ware” book,
“Take any Sunday funnies from the 1920`s, compare it with anyone of today`s, and you will see
overall a near catastrophic decay of craft, quality and style. [...] As the popularity of movies
began to eclipse that of comics, more and more cartoonists began to ape a cinematic look and
cinematic technique. [...] they (the cartoonists) neglected many of the unique strengths and
possibilities peculiar to their own youthful medium. [...] The result was comic strips [...] that
behaved less like comics and more like storyboards.‟ (Raeburn, 2004)
Currently this situation hasn't changed much, as the influence of Internet is redesigning all forms
of art, and we are still unable to define comic as a medium, a genre or as an art? (Raeburn,
2004)
“Underground comics or graphic novels are still not being considered a real “art” due to their
lack of quality and originality, with very few exceptions, being Chris Ware the most outstanding.”
(Raeburn, 2004)
But is this only the point of view of one critical intellectual?
Unfortunately I don‟t think so.
I recently responded to the following call for entries (with a piece that I will include in this study
later). The introduction on the ad states “Dadsville is a comic anthology [...] collaboration of
artists and writers united to create original comics that don't suck”.
6.
This brings us to the realization that something has to be done for comics to stop sucking!
Maybe the comic artist should focus less in the content and more in the form?
Defining a question
There are many elements in the whole language of sequential art, but we have only talked
about the form, and nothing has yet been said about the content. The reason for this is that I
want my research to focus only on the grammar (form) of the visual language, and not worry for
a moment about the content of it (story, visual style, mood, etc.). By isolating the narrative
aspects, can the sole analysis of it bring new light to the sequential art production process?
Can the artist‟s critical analysis of the narrative language help improve the comprehensibility of
his or her sequential art outcomes?
And more globally, how important is the role of the visual narrative language understanding for
delivering the contained message successfully to the average reader?
Objectives
The general objective of this research is to shed some light in the sequential art field in order to
improve the quality of contemporary comics through:
- Illustrating different creative approaches in comic creation.
- Producing a unique series of “comics” based on the same story, each one reflecting on
different experimental narrative approaches, that altogether will build a whole printed edition.
- Exploring the relation between the use of panels and the comprehensibility of the message
- Propose a dialogue with the reader that generates reflection on the subject of visual language
grammar in sequential art.
- Defining whether the artist‟s critical analysis on the narrative language can help to improve the
quality of his or her own outcomes
- Improving my personal skills for creating a clearer graphic narration.
The method
The method I chose for achieving my objectives is the Auto ethnography.
I consider that this is the most appropriate methodology for accomplishing my objectives.
When I write a story I have my own process, which was mostly acquired in my academic years,
and modified through experience. I pick a story that passions me, write a storyboard, define the
pages layout, and commence the actual artwork craft. Recently I produced this two page short
graphic novel for the call for entries “Dadsville Anthology” mentioned above.
7.
8.
Due to the time proximity of the deadline I did not have time to show it to other people before
submitting for possible post editing. When I asked a friend to read it later I realized that he
understood it very differently to what I expected. He confused the characters and made up
completely different stories within the single story that I intended to show. This exercise
immediately made me realize that there were many elements I had to rethink to improve the
comprehensibility of my work. My friend continued to ask if he was reading what I was trying to
“say” and even apologized for not understanding the “message”. But I was the one that should
apologize.
After this I clearly knew I had to improve the following elements:
- Character consistency through out the whole story
- Visually cleaner images
- Unsaturated the page layout
After seeing how much I had reflected and learned from this simple exercise of making sure
other people understand what you intend to say I recognized the huge role that auto
ethnography played in my research interests. Every persons experience is different, but still
there are major common assumptions about the modern human`s life experience that must be
maintained and reflected upon. As I am leaving out the stories content for the sake of this study
(because the content of certain stories require more specific cultural background analysis), I‟m
only relying on the hypothesis that all readers posses the ability to connect two separate images
into one idea. Its not only the willing participation of the interested reader that‟s involved in
giving meaning to that connection, but humans actually cant help doing it. “No matter how
dissimilar one image may be to another, there is a kind of -- alchemy at work in the space
between panels which can help us find meaning or resonance in even the most jarring
combinations. Such transitions may not make “sense” in any traditional way, but still a
relationship of some sort will inevitably develop. By creating a sequence with two or more
images, we are endowing them with a single overriding identity, and forcing the viewer to
consider them as a whole” (McCloud, 1993)
Due to the universality of this assumption, a qualitative method might result inadequate. The
real need in my study is to make an inner journey across my own personal creative process to
reflect on my skills to convey a message.
I want to improve my skill of telling without telling the reader what the relationship between any
two images in my stories is.
My intend is not to propose a universal way of seeing the comic making process because
enough has been said about it, but to produce a series of comics that provoke a dialogue that
questions the traditional framing layout and narrative in general.
Describing the method
Step 1. Defining a story
I believe that stories fly in front of our eyes constantly in our daily lives, and its just a matter of
observing and grabbing the one that fits your taste. In my case, I like to record stories, through
sketching and, in a fewer amount, writing them. Thankfully I have already chosen one of the
many stories that called my attention. I chose it due to the universality of it and the possibilities
of narrating it with very simple visual elements and if wanted, with very complex ones.
The story is the following:
“A group of students sharing a house find it hard to live together with one of the roommates who
is a filthy sociopath”
I think that it`s a story from the everyday life of the common person (with a slight exaggeration).
This might help to facilitate reader identification with the situation. Although the variable of
viewer recognition in a piece of artwork is a matter that can be covered by another study itself.
Step 2. Defining the approach to the story
Even such a simple story can have many different perspectives from which to be told.
The filthy sociopath`s perspective?
The other roommate‟s perspective?
The neighborhood cat`s perspective?
The filthy toilet`s perspective?
And since it`s a free exploration, I would like to make a short comic that reviews each one of
those perspectives. I want to do this to emphasize the multiple possibilities of approach
contained in the single story. I think that illustrating this is very necessary to change the typical
“camera” perspective that sometimes constrains the imagination of the comic artist.
I will also make this perspective changes to avoid boringness. The relative small amount of
elements within the story might lead me to fall in a repetitive pattern and, therefore, in a loss of
interest from the reader.
Step 3. Defining the outcome format
Since the size and proportions of the page deeply constrain the possible layouts, before
entering the realm of page composing, I must define the format in which I will be working.
I personally prefer the printed format versus the digital, although the benefits of the former in the
amount of reached audience is undeniable, the printed version can later be reformatted to fit the
digital one.
The size of the final printed product will be a horizontal A5. The number of pages is yet to be
defined. I don‟t want to restrain with a maximum number of pages, but instead give myself a
complete freedom of working up to the length I feel necessary.
Even though I am already defining a base format, I still want to give myself freedom to get out of
it and leave open the possibility of inserting some different size pages if I want to.
Step 4. Defining a narrative approach.
Now that the story and the perspective are defined, we can think about the narrative language
we are going to use. Since my research focuses on the concept and function of panels, I want to
explore the many different ways of exploring the layout and composition of the page, as well as
the different possibilities within using panels, implying panels, and not using any panels. This
range of exploration will stream in a more visceral workflow, in the service of providing a specific
mood and a specific course of reading.
Since this is my most important variable, and my objective is to explore the relation between the
use of panels and the comprehensibility of the message, I will take the most time deciding the
composition and structure of each page.
Step 5. Defining an overall structure and printed outcome.
The base format has been defined, but as I already said, it is flexible.
In a rough way of speaking, I can say that the physical printed result I want to achieve is an A5
size compendium of stories told in different ways. The printed outcome will be defined on track.
Although due to the actual costs of printing in massive amounts, the most probable product
might be a sort of fanzine and, in the best-case scenario, a proper nicely printed not so limited
book edition. The reachable audience is proportional to the accessible budget. This is a very
important variable for the actual sharing of the work in its originally intended medium, and to
later be able to get the very valuable and desired reader feedback.
Most certainly, in the worst-case scenario, I will be able to print a limited edition fanzine which
(most probably) will be digitally printed and manually put together. It will be carefully designed
and diagramed to fluidly contain this separate comics that can be read separately but also
convey an overall discourse altogether.
Step 6. Sharing
The fanzine will be manually shared within the surrounding community. Not only the artistic
community, but also with the general public. It will be handed out for free in universities, schools,
movie theaters, community centers and any place that brings people together. It will also be
shared free online and there will be the possibility of requesting printed copies online.
In the back page there will be a message encouraging the reader to send any sort of feedback
back to me. I will also write a very small questionnaire (both in the printed and in the online
version) of two or three questions regarding which story was easier to read? And which story
was most confusing? I will hope that the majority of the readers will feel the impulse to write me
back either with the answer to the questions, random comments or any other questions. They
will have the chance to write me through email or regular post.
Step 7. Analyzing the feedback
After receiving the feedback through digital or traditional post I would like to select the most
outstanding or common comments, and share them back to the public. I will do this in order to
share with the public in general and the comic arts community the results of my project. This
way, not only will I be able to reflect on it, but also the public will have the chance to reflect on
its own opinions.
I believe that the feedback I will hopefully receive will be extremely valuable for continuing my
self reflecting process and to improve my visual story telling skills.
A creative log will be written during the whole process of creating these stories. Keeping initial
and further sketches, comparing and analyzing my own attempts to create clear stories in
different creative ways. At the end I will have learned plenty, and hopefully my last made story
will convey the message easier than the first one. And if not, its going to be ok, because I will
already have an extremely valuable insight in this specific creative process, and being able to
share it with the public will be achieving a very big goal by itself.
It is difficult to predict what this process will turn to be, but I want to execute it with a very honest
excitement on the uncertain possible outcomes.
Bibliography
1. McCloud, Scott. (1993). Understanding Comics. New York
2. Eisner, W. (1985). Comics and Sequential Art. New York.
3. Raeburn, D. (2004). Chris Ware. London
List of figures:
1. Frank King, “Gasoline Alley” The Chicago Tribune (1930). Tribune Media Services
2. Untitled comic strip. Rodolphe Töpffer (unknown date)
3. Carla Sánchez, “The comic elements” (2013)
4. Will Eisner, Sketch from “The Spirit”. (unknown date)
5. Robert Crumb, “Fritz the cat”. The Rip off Press. (1969)
6. Unknown. “Davsville call for entries” (2013) public
7. Budoka, “Pervert Dad” (2013).
8. Budoka, “Pervert Dad” (2013).
PDP
When I first entered this masters program, I thought I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I
felt a lot more confident about it, but this changed immediately after the first couple of taught
classes. I knew I wanted to make a graphic novel, but later I understood that finding a pretty
story was not the only concern I had to overcome. On some of the first sessions of the research
methods module I started to feel a slight sense of being lost, this feeling increased considerably
fast. I started to wonder why the word research was relevant to me and to my field of study? All I
wanted to do was a graphic novel, why did I need to “research”?
The “Critical positions module”, deepened my confusion to unknown levels! I eased out my
anxiety by making compulsive notes and sketches.
I felt myself to be uninterested in the intellectual debate as I thought that art was more of a
visceral creative process and that any sort of expression should be respected as a valid artistic
outcome. How wrong I was!
When we had the presentations carnival I was overwhelmed by the variety of people that were,
just like me, struggling to introduce research in their own personal, uncorrupted by the demons
of critical thought, creative process. After my presentation I received some incredibly useful
feedback, both from the subject leaders as well as from other classmates. One of the module
tutors told me that I should pick any comic that I liked and decompose it for analysis. This
advice gave me a great starting hint for my future research. Many of my classmates suggested
comic artist of their own personal taste for me to refer to, and that was also a great help to begin
the mind-broadening journey of research. Regarding the journeys of my other colleagues, I
found a special interest in Anna Bhushan´s project. I found quite fascinating the concept of
“Illustrating the abstract ideas” and I was very attracted by her illustration style. Later on she
suggested me to look up a graphic novel called “The Arrival”, by Shaun Taun. I found this to be
mind blowing. The artworks were so beautifully crafted and the narration was so clear and
provoking. It completely changed my later considerations on the iconic content of the comic art
to achieve universal identification.
One of the first breaking points I experienced happened after I read about the extensively
known comic strip “Peanuts”. The universality of the characters, the children having non childish
philosophical conversations, and the overall iconic visual treatment got me to think that I might
want to explore the differences between iconic and realistic content in a comic.
Trying to define more iconic characters:
After giving it a lot of thought, I decided on the following things:
1. I had to narrow down my ideas
2. I had to start reading more
And so I did.
Shortly after I started doing my own reading on my subject of interest I started to completely
change my points of view about the things I had already preconceived.
I realized that the sole act of reading was already an act of research and a beginning to grasp
critical thinking. These processes could actually help me improve my practice and, therefore,
the quality of my artworks.
Changing my point of view about what art is?
Time went by and I still felt a slight dissatisfaction from some of the lectures. Initially I was
questioning the validity to call certain things “art”.
Even though every piece of expression should be respected as a “valid” piece of art (due to the
subjectivity of the concept of art), not every piece of art would enter into my category of artworks
that I define as “worth” spending your time on appreciating.
Many of my other classmates, also shared my questioning. The idea of separating real “art”
from mere discourse actually discouraged us. Personally I decided that my definition of art
would be: “A visceral discipline”. Anyways, later on I understood that some of the most
conceptual lectures were trying to illustrate the process of deep research for creating anything,
whether you call it art or not.
Still I asked myself this question; what makes a “good” artist?
For me the answer was that it depends on the level of constant self reflection on the own work,
or how often an artist leaves the “comfort zone” (the place where he feels safe, doing what he
already learned to do, and where he keeps on selling his art works, and keeps on producing
what appeals to the public, only because of that). And there was the magic word we so much
hear in the lectures: “self reflection”. I realized why I was subduing myself to this academic
program: to force myself to self reflect on my own work, with the aid of other professionals in the
field. So I decided that even though I (and other authors) weren‟t yet able to define comics as
an art, a craft, a genre, a medium, or a language, I would focus on carrying on with a sincere
process of self-reflection and research.
As I kept on reading comic anthologies and books on theory about comics, more and more
possible questions came up to me. I felt that there were so many knowledge gaps and
unexplored territories in the comic world that I felt even further away from actually defining
something. And this might sound contradictory, but the more comics I read, I realized that many
of my own ideas had already been done. I kept on having a very uneasy feeling of being lost. So
I decided to try and structure some specific approach to research:
Making a “diagram” helped me to visualize where I was in the vast universe of comics.
I had so many research possibilities; that I still didn‟t know where to start. At first I thought I
might explore the more iconic drawing and drift apart from the realistic drawing for a bit. This
was triggered by the ideas of Chris Ware who states that “In order to work visually my comics
have to fall somewhere between the general and the specific (…) so I use specific details but I
try to draw the details in a general way, if that makes any sense at all” (Raeburn, 2004). Then
came Scott McCloud, who talks about the realism and the cartoon, stating we should use
realism to objectify elements, and drift apart from them, and we should use more iconic cartoons
to identify and explore the world within ourselves (from the reader perspective):
Meeting with the work of Chris Ware was an extremely important moment for me.
Many people had mentioned him before, but It wasn‟t until my academic tutor suggested him
and showed me his very popular “Buildings” story, that I lent all of his available books from the
library. I immediately realized that he was something else. So I gave it a lot of though on why is
he so special? Why has he received so many awards? Why is he respected as an “artist” and
not merely as a “comic writer” (because apparently there is still a deep conceptual difference
between the two).
I came to the conclusion that his works are so outstanding for the following reasons:
-
He reaches a high level of overall DESIGN on all his artworks.
-
His use of color is very smart for creating moods with a beautiful overall harmony,
-
Unlike most of his contemporaries, he explores the narration outside the typical panel
structure (this would later on become my subject for research)
-
Etc
I admired his works of art and comic single pages in the book “Chris Ware” by Daniel Raeburn,
and I though I would most certainly get deeply engaged with his graphic novels. I started
reading one of his most famous works, “Jimmy Corrigan”. It was a very fulfilling experience in
the first pages, enjoying every small detail, reading up to the smallest text, admiring the
cleanness of the work. I found that one of the most outstanding characteristics of his narration
was the ability to clearly convey a mood, like anxiety or human disenchantment. But later on, I
got lost at several points with the multiple gigantic time jumps and similarity between the
characters, I didn‟t continue reading it. And it will take me some effort to pick it up again.
After a lot of thinking and research, with the help of the very wise Will Eisner and Scott
McCloud, I recognized that what makes a good comic is the ability of the artist to involve the
reader in a solely perceptual fluid participation, and to avoid making the reader having to
analyze too much for understanding the story.
So I guess that somehow Chris Ware failed to accomplish that with readers that have a
background and life experience like mine.
Reflecting on my process
I decided to produce a small piece of artwork with two major purposes:
1. Create a subject to analyze in my research process
2. Present a submission for an American comics anthology call for entries.
The result of it can be appreciated in the research proposal above.
When I reflected on my mental process of making sequential art (as I had somehow learned
through reading comics and the academia) I expected to see this:
- Me trying to express a story on a piece of paper with no creative boundaries other than the
paper itself.
But what I actually saw was:
-
Me and an invisible camera between me and the subject.
Every image I was going to draw had to go through this camera. That is a very big creative limit,
I thought.
The camera I had in front was trying to follow the subject and to figure out the most appropriate
position and perspective to make a shot that satisfied my idea of “good composition” (for a
screen, I thought). And this process was carried out for each panel, with the ubiquitous
presence of the camera constantly squaring down my composition creativity. I considered that
this unconscious filter constrains the development of the comic page as a separate (from film
making and storyboard crafting) art.
I supposed I had made a great finding and I even decided to focus my project on the
relationship between cinema and the “decay” in the quality of comics since the past century.
Thankfully I was enlightened by the wisdom of the master Will Eisner. In his book “Comics and
sequential art”, he clearly states the actual relationship between comics and film. It turns out
they do have a close relationship, but obviously sequential art came many centuries before film,
and it was comics that shaped the concepts of what we now know as film.
Regarding the project design module, I am eventually finding it to be incredibly useful in the real
world. At first glance it didn‟t catch my attention, but later on I recognized how many times I had
given up on writing projects for funding only because I felt incompetent in doing it and I thought
it was a very boring process. I still think it is not the biggest amusement, but I also came across
the conclusion that artist don‟t HAVE to be poor hippies, and that multiple source funding can be
an excellent way to live a creative life while being paid for developing your own projects instead
of other people´s.
At the moment I can say that I even though I underwent moments of confusion and unease, I
feel much more confident with my work and I have to thank the whole researching process and
the rich lectures for that.
Bibliography
1. Raeburn, D. (2004). Chris Ware. London
Carla Sánchez
Critical Positions
4th December 2013
The role of the readers background in the process of establishing the
relationship between two juxtaposed images in graphic Novels
1
Abstract
Sequential art is, in the most basic sense, two or more juxtaposed images that being
put in a context acquire a new relationship with a meaning in its own and possible
only by the act of reading them as a sequence. Even though this relationship can
seem obvious in most types of basic transition from a panel to the next one, it is in
the more complex stories, that have been developing mostly in the European pseudo
independent graphic novel market, that the gutter assimilation by the reader relies
almost completely in his or her cultural and cognitive background. By analyzing the
target audience of the graphic novel, the author is more likely to ensure a clear
reading of his narration. In order to narrow down the broad concept of sequential art,
I must first revisit the differences between comics, comix and graphic novel. My focus
will be the graphic novel visual language.
Comics vs Graphic Novel
It is relevant to this study to differentiate between comics, comix 1 and Graphic
novels. In the beginning of my studies I was not paying attention to the difference
between comics and Graphic Novel as I considered that it was only a matter of
diverse names for a single graphical medium.
After further research I realized that I was not seeing the phenomenon clearly as I
was overlooking years of differentiated paths of development of sequential art
throughout the history of culture.
“In the United States, the genre of the graphic novel, (...) is not fully yet recognized
as a serious artistic practice. In Europe, and more specifically in Belgium and France,
1
Comix is the name given to American underground comics developed in the
second half of the twentieth century
2
the situation is quite different: Comics have been more or less canonized during the
last decades, but the very term of graphic novel remains largely unknown (...). In the
United states, and increasingly in Britain (definitely a non European market in this
respect) the „graphic Novel` is, at least theoretically, used to make a clear cut
distinction between the `good guys` and the `bad guys, between comics pulp fiction
and more or less high-art visual narratives in book form whose ambition it is to save
the literary heritage in an illiterate world” (Baetens. 2001)
But it is not just a matter of sociological and cultural misunderstanding, and there is a
clear difference between the graphical products spawned by the American
newspaper comics industry and by the, more independent, graphic novel producers.
Its a difference that lies in the, sometimes, more complex content of the graphic
novel stories as well as in their deeper exploration of the visual narration, which goes
further than just accompanying text with stereotypically styled images.
“The main difference, however, is not juts a matter of sociological appreciation of
cultural distinction, as Bourdieu would say. In fact, the big issue which separates the
American and the European efforts towards a transformation of the comics genre has
to do with their different visions of the word and image problem. Indeed, the „
American graphic novel‟ considers itself a literary genre, (...) the important word is
„novel‟, not „graphic‟. In Europe (...) the emphasis is put much more on the word
„graphic‟. This helps to explain why so many contemporary European graphic authors
(...) no longer illustrate or visualize stories, but try to create new types of storytelling,
where methods and contents of plot and narration are engendered by the search for
and the use of a new visual logic.” (Baetens, 2001)
I want to clarify this difference to ensure that the reader knows that the sequential art
I have in consideration for this study is not the marvel American newspaper
3
stereotype of comics. Even though all types of sequential art deal with the same
issues concerning narration, I am interested in analyzing and providing deeper
insights in the graphic novel narrative exploration.
Even if this differentiation might not appear relevant, I think it is relevant due to the
fact that the gender of American (and American influenced) comics lacks a real
exploration of the narrative elements as opposite to their counterpart Europe-ish
graphic novel. And it is precisely that explorative ground that gave fertile soil and
nurtured the ideas on this essay.
Decoding the gutter
1
In the graphic above (fig 1) we can see the most basic elements that compose the
sequential narration in graphic stories
4
Two unrelated images placed together in a specific order suddenly compose a
sequence and the reader inevitably involves in the exercise of decoding the hidden
connection between them. But what happens in this magical and indefinable space?,
and what are the elements that allow us to connect one panel with the next one?
The gutter or the invisible connection between two images is a widely spoken
phenomenon exclusive to graphic novels. “The gutter could be said to constitute the
single element that defines comics as a separate medium rather than a subgenre of
literature or the graphic arts.” (Goggin and Hassler – Forest. 2001)
But how does a person automatically fill this blank space? What he or she puts inside
might be a mere automatic connection coming from a past memory or an experience
of his past life, but the level of subjectivity depends on the amount of effort required
to decode the gutter, and this is related to the type of transition from one panel to the
other.
Even though many authors consider that it is natural for the human mind to create a
connection between any two unrelated juxtaposed images, I still consider that our
brain takes hand of our cognitive and cultural background as well as of our personal
memories to give a certain meaning to this connection.
Scott Mccloud considers the many possible transitions between two panels, and
states that some types of transition require more involvement of the reader to render
the closure.
“The last category [of panel to panel transitions] suggests an interesting question. Is
it possible for any sequence of panels to be totally unrelated to each other?
Personally I don't think so. No matter how dissimilar one image may be to another,
there is a kind of [interruption of the narration by an unrelated image] alchemy at
work in the space between panels, which can help us find meaning or resonance in
5
even the most Jarring of combinations. By creating a sequence with two or more
images, we are endowing them with a single overriding identity, and forcing the
viewer to consider them as a whole.” (McCloud, 1993)
Putting two images in one same context pushes the reader towards linking them
somehow or another. Scott Mccloud states that the forced connection that the reader
creates is inevitable, and I personally agree with this, but the interpretation of this link
is directly related with the cognitive background, or put in other words, which of our
memories do we find represented, and with what knowledge do we try to
understand?
If the author puts this into consideration, it is expected that the target of readers
should be crucial at the moment of building his idea for the next project. Usually the
author‟s creations reach the local market first, which mostly ensures that the
background of the readers will allow them to fluidly understand what the author wants
to present. But still many readers must have been disappointed by the fact that their
background stops them from understanding graphic novels that contain specific local
elements. In the following example we can see the crucial importance of the readers
background to create the intended relations between the panels:
6
2
“Here elements of repetition are still present, but collocation plays a very important
role, so much so that without the readers input the relatedness of the passage would
be very feeble. Relations like
Snow - winter
Lightening/rain - end of winter (...)
Halloween pumpkin – autumn
can only be established by each individual reader, since they are by no means
objective. The connection between Halloween pumpkin and autumn, for example,
can only be made by someone familiar with Anglo - American culture. And, in
general, the whole sequence makes sense only for people who live in parts of the
world where there are seasonal phenomena like those depicted on the panels”
7
(Saraceni, 2001)
So the question is, how can I, as an artist, use this cognitive tool to provide a more
fluid reader experience?
At the present moment, when I make people read my comics, usually the first
comments I get are disappointing and sound like:
“I dont understand”
“Im not good at reading comics”
As improvised phrases for trying to justify their evident confusion to what they have in
front. In order to avoid this reaction on the reader, In one of my last graphic
storytelling experimentation (fig 3 and 4) I tried the use of simple elements to
facilitate reader identification, but still I think I need to review my creative process so
that my stories can be understood by more people.
In this specific case, i think I need to consider the following facts:
1. A person with no background in reading comics can easily get lost with the various
elements that happen around the main panels.
2. The panel composition might lead to further confusion due to the not clear
definition of physicall space and separated moments of time in the panels.
Since this was a pure experimental exercise, I hope to consider these variables for
my next creations.
8
3
9
4
10
Bibliography
Baetens, J. (2001) The Graphic Novel. Louvain Belgium, Leuven University Press.
Goggin, J., Hassler-Forest D. (2010). The rise and reason of comics and graphic
literature: Critical Essays on the form. Jefferson USA, McFarland.
McCloud, Scott. (1993). Understanding Comics. New York
Saraceni, Mario (2001) Relatedness: aspects of textual connectivity in comics. In:
Baetens, J., ed. The graphic novel. Symbolae Facultatis Litterarum Lovaniensis,
series D: litteraria (13). Leuven University Press, Leuven, pp. 167-180.
List of figures
1. Carla Sánchez, “The comic elements”. Digital interpretation of Franz Shultz
“Peanuts” comic strip. (2013)
2. Seth, “it’s a good life if you don’t weaken”. (1993)
3. Carla Sánchez “The creepy sociopath wacky adventures”. Ink on paper.
(2013)
4. Carla Sánchez “The creepy sociopath wacky adventures” Detail. Ink on paper.
(2013)
11
PDP
When I first entered this masters program, I thought I had a clear idea of what I
wanted to do. I felt a lot more confident about it, but this changed immediately after
the first couple of taught classes. I knew I wanted to make a graphic novel, but later I
understood that finding a pretty story was not the only concern I had to overcome.
On some of the first sessions of this module I started to feel a slight sense of being
lost, this feeling increased considerably fast. I started to wonder why being “critical”
was relevant to me and to my field of study?
I felt myself to be uninterested in the intellectual debate as I thought that art was
more of a visceral creative process and that any sort of expression should be
respected as a valid artistic outcome.
When we had the presentations carnival I was overwhelmed by the variety of people
that were, just like me, struggling to introduce research in their own personal creative
process. After my presentation I received some incredibly useful feedback, both from
the subject leaders as well as from other classmates. Mahnaz told me that I should
pick any comic that I liked and decompose it for analysis. This advice gave me a
great starting hint for my future research. Many of my classmates suggested comic
artist of their own personal taste for me to refer to, and that was also a great help to
begin the mind-broadening journey of research. Regarding the journeys of my other
colleagues, I found a special interest in Anna Bhushan´s project. I found quite
fascinating the concept of “Illustrating the abstract ideas” and I was very attracted by
her illustration style. Later on she suggested me to look up a graphic novel called
“The Arrival”, by Shaun Taun. I found this to be mind blowing. The artworks were so
beautifully crafted and the narration was so clear and provoking. It completely
changed my later considerations on the iconic content of the comic art to achieve
universal identification.
12
Figure 1. Page of The Arrival. By Shaun Taun.
One of the first breaking points I experienced happened after I read about the
extensively known comic strip “Peanuts”. The universality of the characters, the
children having non childish philosophical conversations, and the overall iconic visual
treatment got me to think that I might want to explore the differences between iconic
and realistic content in a comic.
13
Figure 2. Carla Sanchez. Sketchbook page. 2013
14
And so I did.
Shortly after I started doing my own reading on my subject of interest I started to
completely change my points of view about the things I had already preconceived.
I realized that the sole act of reading was already an act of research and a beginning
to grasp critical thinking. These processes could actually help me improve my
practice and, therefore, the quality of my artworks.
Making diagrams helped me to visualize where I was in the vast universe of comics. I
had so many research possibilities; that I still didn‟t know where to start. At first I
thought I might explore the more iconic drawing and drift apart from the realistic
drawing for a bit. This was triggered by the ideas of Chris Ware who states “In order
to work visually my comics have to fall somewhere between the general and the
specific (…) so I use specific details but I try to draw the details in a general way, if
that makes any sense at all” (Raeburn, 2004). Then came Scott McCloud, who talks
about the realism and the cartoon, stating we should use realism to objectify
elements, and drift apart from them, and we should use more iconic cartoons to
identify and explore the world within ourselves (from the reader perspective).
15
Figure 3. Carla Sánchez. Sketchbook page (2013)
16
Figure 4. Carla Sánchez. Sketchbook page (2013)
As I kept on reading comic anthologies and books on theory about comics, more and
more possible questions came up to me. I felt that there were so many knowledge
gaps and unexplored territories in the comic world that I felt even further away from
actually defining something. And this might sound contradictory, but the more comics
I read, I realized that many of my own ideas had already been done.
But one of my most important recent discoveries was that there is an actual
difference that goes beyond the mere use of words, between comics and graphic
novel. I felt that this difference was very important to my research because I realized
that I don‟t want to explore the world of comics because I didn’t like and didn’t get
inspired by comics, as I did with graphic novels. This is the moment when I
understood what my academic tutor was telling me. He said he didn‟t like comics
because it had too much information packed in a little space. Words, balloons,
17
represented sounds, panels, superheroes, titles etc, all occupying a single page, it is,
generally speaking, oversaturated.
On the other hand, there are the graphic novels, fewer texts, more innovative page
composition; contents not limited to American superheroes or antiheroes adventures.
My initial inspiration was the visual memory of a graphic novel page, not of a Sunday
funny cartoons. This realization helped me to shape up my current project idea,
which goes around the interpretation of the gutter depending on the person‟s
background. I want to understand how I can make my stories more easily
understandable for the biggest number of people, by analyzing what part of their
background and past experience makes them understand what in the relation
between two images.
After the last week session on the presentation, the comments of the tutors help me
realize that I wasn‟t being clear about my ideas. I couldn‟t realize my incoherence‟s
because I was submerged too deep inside my bubble of thought.
I had two very important elements in my research, clarity and non-linear narration,
and I was going to explore both if them in my body of work, or so I tried. But these
two variables seem to point towards two very different research paths. I thought I
should focus on only one. So I chose clarity. I consider that first I need to fully
understand how to be clear and then, after achieving this, I can begin a new search
for non-linearity. I feel that I need to get the hold to control what people understand of
my stories so later I can use this knowledge and play with the narrative tools in
complete freedom and maybe approach new ways of narration.
Before I started this course I had a lot of time to do my personal work and every once
in a while I had the feeling of suddenly loving my work. The other day as I was
working on my consistent body of work for this module I realized that it had been
18
months since I didn‟t have that feeling. I think that this is because I have been
learning to think more than I have been improving my skills as an illustrator, which I
don‟t necessarily like, but I hope that it will eventually make me develop my practical
work.
19
Project Design
PDP
Carla Sánchez
19 December 2013
Considering the whole process of creating a project, as I perceived it during
the module, has changed the way I treat my ideas. At the beginning I found it
to be a little strange to share the thoughts and exchange feedback with
projects that weren‟t at all related to my topic, but now I feel that it has
broadened my view and kept my ideas moving around all possible fields.
My project has moved a lot from the point where it started, and I consider that
all the changes were directly related with important conversations with tutors,
specially my academic tutor. His thoughtful feedback has helped me realize
the flaws of my theories. It has moved so much that I believe that the last idea
(the one explained in the poster) spawned from the last conversation with
Chris Glynn and the further research I did afterwards. He told me to rethink
the things that I seemed to be caring about. I was focusing too much on the
hard and dry theory of the narrative form and leaving aside all the beauty that
lies within the simplicity of a simple story well told. I think that this concept is
what I aim to understand and play with the project. I can only describe it as
the sparkle that makes stories be alive, and not only images and words
printed on paper. The authors that I admire achieve this level of mastery
through a long career of improving their art of telling stories. It is a sort of
ability to express not only a story but also a whole mood clearly, whether its
confusion, unease, happiness, disappointment, sadness or grieve it doesn‟t
matter.
At first I had an idea of making a graphic novel, then I thought that only that
wasn‟t enough, so I thought I had to contextualize it with something that
seemed to be more important. So I read a lot about comic‟s history, theory
and critics, but then my ideas felt so dry that I thought I had lost motivation on
my project. I wasn‟t excited to think about it anymore, and I was a bit sick of it.
Fortunately I had a session with my academic tutor and I told him my
situation. He asked me about the story I wanted to make. As a body of work I
presented some inked short stories. I received a lot of feedback about it and
most of it was not positive (In the way I consider as positive). So Chris Glynn
helped me realize that I had gone on a sort of strange path of thought that led
me to focus too much on trying to “explore new ideas of narration”, I had
forgotten that the best idea for making a new narration is to have a good story
in the first place. I was overlooking the most important part of the creative
process, the need of being inspired by a good and self conclusive (even in the
simplicity) story. So I left the theoretical books for a bit to start reading the
books written by the talented artists themselves, the graphic novels. This gave
me back my motivation on finding a story, and letting the rest of the process
reveal itself from based on the stories own visual needs. Each story asks for
an own way of being visually told, and the art lies in discovering,
understanding and using this knowledge.
So I decided to let the new fresh ideas come from the things that inspire me in
my everyday life. And that is the Japanese Martial tradition, as well as the
esthetics that this inspires. I reopened the books that I had read years ago
and this opened many new creative doors that were just there waiting for me
to open. I selected several elements that could be linked together by a story,
and by doing this I found the story I had been looking for. Later I considered
the way in which I wanted to build it visually, and it felt much easier resolving
it after analyzing the visual identity of the Japanese medieval aesthetics.
Making sketches and color keys is extremely important to start picking up and
developing my own visual ideas on the story.
During the presentation on the poster I received some very important
feedback. The tutors and my classmates seemed to understand the basic
idea of the project, even though the distribution of the information turned out a
little bit crazy. I think the texts with the images were enough to express the
visual idea and the theory around it. Although I do consider that the Japanese
Samurai moral code is understood better with a practical method that can be
accompanied by a theoretical background and philosophical study. It is easier
to grasp it when you consider it as what it is, a lifestyle. You can‟t avoid it and
its better understood through experience. Thank fully everybody seemed to
agree that it could be an interesting topic seen from the point of view of a
western woman analyzing a male predominant eastern traditional set of
morals. Especially since I deeply experience it in my daily life.
The tutors suggested specifying the aims and objectives more clearly since
they seemed to get lost in the busyness of the layout. To have a better
reading experience it is suggested to be seen big or zoom in to see details
better.
At the moment I can say that I even though I underwent moments of
confusion and unease, I feel much more confident with my work and I have to
thank the whole researching process and the great feedback from the tutors
for that.
PDP
When I first entered this masters program, i thought I had a clear idea of what I
wanted to do. I felt a lot more confident on my idea, but this changed inmediately
after the first couple of taught classes. I knew I wanted to make a graphic novel,
but then I realised that finding a pretty story was not the only concern I had to
overcome. On some of the first sessions of the research methods module I
started to feel a slight sense of being lost, this feeling increased considerably
fast. I started to wonder why the word research was relevant to me and my fild of
study? All I wanted to to was a graphic novel, why did I need to “research”?
Then It came the “Critical positions module”, which deepened my confusion to
unknown levels! I eased out my anxiety by making compulsive notes and
sketches.
I felt myself to be uninterested in the intellectual debate as I thought art to be a
more visceral creative process and that any sort of expression should be
respected as a valid artistic outcome. How wrong I was!
When we had the presentations carnival I was overwhelmed by the variety of
people that were, just like me, struggling to introduce research in their own
personal, uncorrupted by the demons of critical thought, creative process. After
my presentation I received some incredibly useful feedback, both from the
subject leaders as well as from other classmates. One of the module tutors told
me that I should pick any comic that I liked and decompose it for analysis. This
advice gave me a great starting hint for my future research. Many of my
classmates suggested comic artist of their own personal taste for me to refer to,
and that was also a great help to begin the mind broadening journey through
research. Regarding the journeys of my other collegues, I found a special interest
in Anna Bhushan´s. ) found quite fascinating the concept of )llustrating the
abstract ideas and ) was very attracted by her illustration style. Later on she
suggested me to look up a graphic novel called The Arrival , by Shaun Taun. )
found this to be mind blewing. The artworks were so beautifully crafted and the
narration was so clear and provoquing. It completely changed my later
considerations on the iconic content of the comic art to achieve universal
identification.
And so I did.
Short after I started doing my own reading on my subject I started completely
change my points of view about the things I had already preconceived.
I realized that the only act of reading was already an act of research and a
beginning to grasp the critical thinking, and that these processes could actually
help me improve my practice and, therefore, the quality of my artworks.
I also came to the conclusion that, even though every piece of expression should
be respected as a valid piece of art due to the subjectivity of the concept of
art), not every piece of art would enter into my category of artworks that I define
as worth spending your time on appreciating.
And ) asked myself this question; What makes a good artist?
For me the answer was that it depends on the level of constant self reflection on
the own work, or how often an artist leaves the comfort zone the place where
he feels safe, doing what he already learned to do, and where he keeps on selling
his art works, and keeps on producing what appeals to the public, only because
of that . And there was the magic word we so much hear in the lectures self
reflection . ) realized why ) was subduing myself to this academic program, to
force myself to self reflect on my own work, with the help of other professionals
in the field.
The Representations of femininity in Japanese comics, A critical approach
Carla Sánchez
Research Seminars
The representations of femininity in Japanese comics
A critical approach
14 August 2014
Introduction
1
In the present work I will try to explore the influence of Japanese
contemporary pop culture, in the form of comics, and the construction of
femininity in Japanese society and internationally. The starting point is the set
of cute aesthetics spawned by Japanese comics called „Manga‟. Analyzing
the concept of cuteness present in this visual culture, or „kawaii’ in Japanese,
as a tool for social control by softening the weight of a highly suppressive
society and the relationship of this phenomenon with sexuality and gender.
How is the culture of cuteness related to a misogynistic tradition?
Coming from an interest in comics and mass communication I began my
research process with the idea of making a comic book, or graphic novel.
Later I chose to bring this idea into a more artistic goal that would allow more
possibilities to explore different perspectives and materials. So instead of
trying to tell a story using images and words together, which proved to be a
too narrow exercise for exploring comics and its mass communication
influence, I decided to build a body of work that allows me to explore in more
freedom all the past and contemporary social issues as well as the art that
has developed from manga. I was attracted to the specific aesthetics used
and developed within manga and as soon as I started decomposing its
elements I came across the importance of its relationship with gender issues
that are already deeply rooted in contemporary Japanese society, as well as
other western markets that avidly consume manga.
I will go over topics of historical background of manga as a mass literary
genre as well as its current influence in building an idea of the ideal female. I
2
have selected some elements of manga that proved to be keys in
understanding this worldwide phenomenon. On top of the list is the cute or
kawaii in Japanese, which was somehow born in manga, and its gradual
eroticizing process. I want to highlight the deep influence that the cute factor
has had over the contemporary culture and how it has shaped what now
means to be a good women, always young and innocent, what is now called
lolicon, which stands for Lolita complex in modern Japanese. This inevitably
led to considering the similarity with the Pygmalion myth. This will be
developed further in a small case study on one specific manga named
“Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge”.
The auto ethnographical and practical process of creating the body of work
was key for putting together this essay. The works were developed with the
constant goal of approaching to the subject in a more personal way, as a
female artist coming from a Latin American back ground and studying a
culture from Japan in a European academic context.
The conclusions that came from this combined process point towards the
misunderstanding of the Japanese culture that the west eye has had since the
first contacts were made centuries ago, and to the mediocre attempts to
understand the vastness of a rich isolated culture from the point of view of the
colonizer that was somehow defeated in the contemporary commercial and
mass cultural war by the softness of a smiling cat with a pink ribbon.
Analysis
3
Manga, what is it?
The word manga in Japan means comics in a broad sense, not necessarily made in
Japan but they must have the esthetics of flatness. They come in different publishing
sizes and formats and their stories refer to any possible topic. The market of manga
in Japan is very specific in terms of the targeted audience, so there are many
subgenres that cover all possible tastes. Its huge impact cannot be denied, both in a
Japanese context, and internationally.
It is a universe in constant ferment, forever changing and evolving, while
nevertheless remaining linked to a tradition intrinsic to Japanese culture and
perspective. This (...) world has, on occasion, hurtled into our Western lives
like a meteorite, blasting an impact crater into our collective consciousness
and it has been immediately stigmatized by the press and the cultural world.
Yet the language and culture underlying the manga phenomenon have left
their mark on generations now. (Brophy 2010)
Figure 1. Typical manga comic spread.
4
Manga has been judged and misunderstood by westerners since the first
magazines reached continental land. The same can be said about most part
of the “Japanese culture”. Only a superficial approach can be achieved about
the phenomenon of manga, as it is not parallel to comics in the west. It is
stronger in every way and its power in society cannot be compared to
Superman or Tin Tin;
The Japanese have developed comics into such a powerful mass
literature that it can stand up against the seemingly unstoppable
dominance of television and movies. (Gravett 2004)
As Gravett affirms, Manga was known to the west in the middle of a political
and diplomatic international situation of instability. After being invaded by
America, and signing a security treat with the US force in 1950, Japan was
seen as a “boy of twelve” as said with no bad intention by coronel Mc Arthur in
his declarations of 1951 which cost him the sympathy of the whole nation.
(Gravett 2004).
“We saw Japan as a nation dependant on America. (…) By the 1980,
when a skewed sample of Manga and anime started to be exported,
one image repeatedly came to sum up western disdain towards
Japanese and their comics,: the business suited salary man on the
commuter train to work, absorbed in his violent, sexy manga magazine.
Manga proved to be an unbelievable improvement of what Japan first saw
decades before. American comics first reached Japan in 1945 through the
5
occupying forces, and they were so popular that Japan started creating their
own, with their own style and innovation, in general, Japan made the genre
mature in every possible way, exploring up to the far most of its limits. The
reason why they grew so popular was because of the cheap fantasy escape
from reality that they offered. In a country that had just been devastated by
war, and whose people were struggling to survive, it came as a heavenly
medicine. Japan has always been a country of tough conditions for the
people, immersed in civil war until as far as the 19th century, full of constant
natural disasters and struck by war. Until now, this situation remains pretty
much the same.
Much of a Japanese person‟s home, school and work life is governed
by strict notions of respect and hierarchy. The solitary activity of
reading manga allows him or her to leave behind daily formalities and
experience, if only vicariously, for the more liberated realms of the mind
and the senses. (Gravett 204)
The cute and the erotic
After understanding the huge importance of Manga Japan and the world, I
want to highlight the most prominent aspect of the aesthetics developed
inside this huge industry; the cute factor mixed with the erotic. But first it is
necessary to understand why was manga such a fertile ground for these two
elements to combine.
As probably any person who has visited Japan could notice immediately,
explicitly erotic manga is sold in any convenience store, and is consumed in
the most casual way. There is a small difference between purchasing a
6
fashion magazine and purchasing a manga porn magazine (also known as
Hentai) that depicts childlike faces with prominent adult bodies involved in
sexual situations. Hentai is probably one of the best examples of the
child/erotic mix in manga, but I must leave it outside of this work because of
its excessive and explicit sexual content that makes it nothing more than a flat
kind of pornography. Manga and anime were important triggers for the
lolicon1, that is closely related to the representations of the eroticized childish
female.
Lolicon opened the door to increasingly explicit representations of
minors involved in all manner of sexual acts with other minors as well
as adults (Sarrazin, 2010)
This is not an invention of globalization or the new millennium, but it is part of
the Japanese history, and an aspect of Japanese culture that has captivated
the west in many occasions; the attitude of the Japanese towards sex. The
first Japanese erotic images to ever reach the west were what we now call
Shunga. When Shunga first reached Britain many decades ago it generated
nothing more than disgust and the images were immediately burned (Screech
2004). The same pictures are now glorified as “erotic art” and exhibited in the
most prestigious art spaces in the world.
Incredibly enough, even though manga can depict images of explicit sex,
violence and gore, in reality Japan is not like that at all, at least on the
surface.
This contradiction has been present for many centuries;
1 Lolicon refers to the Lolita complex. A contemporary term for the grown males that are
sexually attracted to young teenagers.
7
The pictures (shunga) show what there isn’t in the city. (…) But it was
not a place (Tokyo, former Edo) of laxity and freedom, sexual or other.
The city was disciplined and under tight control. Pictures show the city
as it was not, or rather, they showed its illusory spaces of pleasure and
momentary enjoyment, adrift from normality.
But when did manga begin to generate this image of a strange and
ambiguous female? To try to answer this I need to refer to the father of
modern manga, Osamu Tezuka.
Tezuka Osamu perhaps unknowingly opening Pandora‟s box with
young women who never seemed to get out of adolescence. Later on,
Tezuka would be the first mainstream manga and anime artist to
introduce sex in his work. (Sarrazin, 2010)
I want to consider that this representation of the female with ambivalent
sexuality eventually evolved to become what we now call Shojo.
Shojo is the girl – woman that is born in the tension, „a phenomenon that best
typifies the ambivalent sexuality of kawainess (…) who has been for twenty
years also the most typical creature of Japanese manga, (…) a liminal
creature settled between woman and child who has given rise to a culture
excelling in aesthetics expressions that hover within ambiguous field between
innocence and provocations‟ (Botz-Bornstein, 2010).
Shojo literally means young-girl-woman (Chao & Youn 1962), and it also
refers to a subgenre in Manga that is specifically directed to young girl
8
readers. The shojo subgenre has a very stylized graphic style and a
particularly emotional arrangement of vignettes.
The voice of the Pygmalion
As Cath Davies said in her research seminar, after knowing about the pygmalion
myth, you will inevitably see it everywhere. According to professor Cath Davies, they
Pygmalion myth is the story of a man that creates woman and then falls in love with
her. The most important characteristic of this woman is innocence. She is a woman
and a child at the same time, she is sexually desirable but the key is that she is not
aware of it. She is not aware of the power she owns in her sexuality, and therefore
she doesn't represent a threat. The Shojo is a pure Pygmalion creation; „Officially just
because she is shojo, she cannot be employed productively in sexual and capitalist
economies‟ (Botz- Bornstein 2010)
Not only in general terms the myth is present in the research, but I found a specific
sample for study of a manga that proves the direct relevance of the myth when
approaching the subject of cuteness. “Yamato nadeshiko shichi henge”, literally
“Perfect girl evolution” was released first in 2000 as a manga in Japan and later
turned into an animation series. The story narrates the adventures of 4 men that due
to strange circumstances end up having to face the challenge of transforming a
clumsy boyish girl into a proper feminine beauty. There are seven changes or stages
to get to the goal and they have to make it within a certain time limit. If they get to
make it they can keep on staying in their actual house for free, and if they fail they
will have to pay rent.
The Pygmalion myth is evident, and the objectification of a female for practical
purposes that serve the male also comes to mind. The idea of the perfect female that
has to be built because the desired characteristics don‟t come naturally, she is a
fiction but despite of that she provides a comforting feeling. As we argued above,
9
manga has a social function of accessible entertainment and comfort, so what the flat
and fictional world of manga even more appealing? A cute and sexually desirable
female that will never reject you, the Shojo is impersonated outside of the pages of a
comic and takes a more tangible form, and this leads to a new dimension of this
phenomenon that could would need to be covered by a whole other study by itself,
Asian pop idols.
The school uniform trauma
Continuing my search for understanding the Japanese (and other Asian
Countries) cult for youth and beauty I came across the fashion expression of
the Shojo, the school uniform. In this point Japan proves once more its
uniqueness and it comes to evidence how far the kawaii phenomenon can
reach the behavioural patterns of society itself, specially affecting vulnerable
groups as young women.
In 2008 the japanese foreign ministry selected three women to be
ambassadors of cute (kawaii Taishi) including Sefuku (school uniform
fashion) wearing actress Shizuka Fujioka who was 19. The ministry
hoped to capitalize on the popularity of Japanese cute things abroad
and Fujioka saw her selection as a huge honour!!! (…)
For girls in their mid teens, the uniform symbolizes a brief period in
their lives when they are free, unbound by adult matters like career,
marriage, and children. (...) They are not children and they are not
quite adults, yet they have more freedom than both. Anything is
possible. (Ashcraft 2010).
10
This is why „school girls now a days have opted for the school uniform
fashion, for casual wear`(Lloyd 2004). The Japanese fashion brand CONOMI
dedicates to designing the school uniform fashion and encouraging young
women to wear school uniforms even if they are not student in school
anymore. After looking at a video of a CONOMI cat walk (Figure 2), I
encounter myself with many thoughts about things that didn‟t appear in the
initial stages of the research and open new possible fields of connection. The
search for eternal youth, as well as the feeling of not letting go of childhood
times seems to reveal a sense of discomfort in the adult life. Manga and idol
culture clearly appears as a way of avoiding reality and finding a refugee in a
world of surreal phantasy of plush toys and young girls in school outfits and
short skirts.
At this point I need to agree with Hasegawa when she affirms that the Kawaii,
directly relates to a crisis of masculinity engendered in part by the defeat of
Japan in the second world war. „ Hasegawa argues that their transformed
representations of the indeterminate cute body offer the possibilities of
transcendence of the commercial excess of sex and consumerism and the
limitations of national identity.
11
Figure 2. Conomi designs.
Japan is densely populated and suffers constantly from natural disasters. A
tightly structured society appears necessary to survive in harmony with the
neighbours. Survival is directly linked with social and personal order and
demands a constant effort. The Japanese are constantly urged by the race to
success in an environment where everyone is used to giving their best in
every aspect of their lives, competition is tough. The race begins early, if your
child did not attend to a proper school, most likely he/she will not be accepted
in a good high school and the cycle continues until you retire. Before the
teenagers finish high school they must secure themselves entrance to
university by giving really hard academic tests, and before they set foot
outside their degree, they must spend most of their time in interviews to get a
very desired but shitty job in any prestigious company and the only way to
escalate the professional ladder is to loyally stick to the same company for the
12
rest of your young adult life, or, start all over again from the lowest position in
a different one.
Practice based research
In the parallel practice that I carried alongside tis research I decided to use
ceramics as the main material as well as pen and ink traditional drawings.
As Takashi Murakami already stated, Manga is the representation of flatness.
(Murakami) I felt that the flatness needed to be challenged with something
with volume, so this is why I started working with ceramics from a figurative
approach. Within the clay, I chose porcelain for its purity of form, texture and
color. Porcelain shows almost every little thing on the surface and thus gives
the piece a higher level of sensitivity to the touch. Its whiteness relates to the
subject of purity and youth, and therefore creates new meanings when the
piece itself is talking about innocence.
The unfired clay talks to me about the Pygmalion myth and the act of creating
another being with my own hands, and maybe later, fall in love with it. The
fired clay represents the fragility of that being that is being born as well as my
own.
Alongside with the ceramics I made a series of subtle drawings that deal with
the issues that were discussed in the essay. I chose this because I wanted to
maintain the link of the subject to its origin in printed material on cheap paper,
since manga and comics in general have a very close history with the
invention of the press.
13
Conclusions
Manga has the very important role of providing accessible entertainment for
all sorts of tastes (from adults, to teenagers and children) and to entertain the
short moments of relax and freedom of the population of Japan and the world.
In a thought society, with a history of recent war and constant natural
disasters it provides short moments of personal freedom and subtle bliss. The
cute faces of sexually attractive women that don't reject and keep an innocent
smile in their faces encourage a fake sense of security and confidence in men
that are incapable of assuming the complexities of real mature women, and
give the exact opposite to young girls that fall for the trap of the unattainable
beauty and youth. Unfortunately the insecurity they generate in women is far
more real than the fake comfort that both men and women receive.
The act of working on the subject with freedom with my own hands helped me
to extract the 3D experience from the flatness of manga.
Body of work
14
Figure 3
15
Figure 4
16
Figure 5
17
Figure 6
18
Figure 7
19
Figure 8
20
Figure 9
21
Figure 10
22
Figure 11
23
Figure 12
24
Figure 13
Figure 14
25
Figure 15
Figure 16
26
Bibliography
-
Philip Brophy, 2010. Manga Impact: The World of Japanese Animation. 0
Edition. Phaidon Press.
-
Stephen Sarrazin. Ero Anime Manga comes Alive. 2010. Manga Impact:
The World of Japanese Animation. 0 Edition. Phaidon Press.
-
Paul Gravett, 2004. Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics. 0 Edition.
Harper Design.
-
Timon Screech, 2004. Sex and the Floating World: Erotic Images in
Japan 1700-1820 (Essays in Art and Culture). Edition. Reaktion Books.
-
Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, 2010. The Cool-Kawaii: Afro-Japanese
Aesthetics and New World Modernity. Edition. Lexington Books.
-
Yuen Ren Chao and Lien Sheng Yong. 1962. Concise Dictionary of
Spoken Chinese. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
-
Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, 2010. The Cool-Kawaii: Afro-Japanese
Aesthetics and New World Modernity. Edition. Lexington Books.
-
Brian Ashcraft, 2010. Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage
Girls Made a Nation Cool. 1 Edition. Kodansha USA.
-
Fran Lloyd, 2004. Consuming Bodies: Sex and Contemporary Japanese
Art. Edition. Reaktion Books.
-
Super Flat. Edition. MADRA Publishing Co., Ltd.
27
List of illustrations
Figure 1. Typical manga comic spread. “Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi henge”
Figure 2. Conomi fashion designs and models.
Figure 3 – 10. Untitled series. Ink on Paper
Figure 11 – 12. “I like to hold incidence” Glazed earthenware
Figure 13 – 14. “I look up to the wall” Glazed white stoneware
Figure 15 – 16. “I love you, come and touch!” Glazed white stoneware
28
Super rounded Flatness
 
The forever childish female
Asa Ishino. Illustrator. Japan
Manga?
- “Yamato Nadeshiko
Shichi Henge”
-  Shojo Manga: Destined
(and designed) for female
consumers.
-  Plot: 4 men have to shape
a woman to the “Ideal
woman” (yamato
nadeshiko)
-  Pygmalion myth.
CUTE (KAWAI)
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
Set of aesthetics
Innocence
Roundness
Unthreatening
Building
behavioural
patterns in female
youth
Sexuality and pedophilia
SUPERFLAT
-  Takashi Murakami (graphics and
sculpture)
-  -Aya Takano
Yoshimoto Nawa
Tabaimo
Laurie
Simmons
with her
series ‘ The
Love Doll’
2014
Cuteness is in the roots of
society.
My dear friend Mizuki Ota Autoethnography
-  Me as a latin
american woman,
processing a culture
from Japan in an
European country.
-  A strong
background for
interpreting
Contemporary Ceramics
and Japanese pop
Culture:
-  Kim Simonsson
Finland
Hayashi shigeki
Akira
- First Anime to
have a boom of
success in the
western market.
Thank you

Research methods 1.docx - Repositorio Digital Senescyt

Transcription

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