Tuesday, December 15
(Last Class Meeting)
announcements

1. Roll

2. Questions?

3. For Today You Were To
1. Read the graphic novel Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
2. Write a preparation sheet in response to this prompt (sent by email 12/10):

1. Do a "McCloudian" analysis of a panel (or set of panels) from Persepolis. In other words, write in detail about a panel (or set of panels) that exemplifies some technique or idea from McCloud's Understanding Comics. Be sure to cite page numbers from both Persepolis and Understanding Comics.

2. Write about Satrapi's prevalent use of contrasts of black and white in one of more particular panels. Consider what Satrapi said in an interview:“Here’s the problem, today, the description of the world is always reduced to yes or no, black or white. Superficial stories. Superhero stories. One side is the good one. The other one is evil. But I’m not a moral lesson giver. It’s not for me to say what is right or wrong. I describe situations as honestly as possible. The way I saw it. That’s why I use my own life as material. I’ve seen these things myself, and now I’m telling it to you. Because the world is not about Batman and Robin fighting the Joker; things are more complicated than that. And nothing is scarier than the people who try to find easy answers to complicated questions.” (2006)If she doesn't believe in a black-and-white world, why does she represent the world using sharply contrasting black and white tones?

4. Course Evaluations

5. Final Exam Take-Home Essay
I will give you the prompt today in class

6. In-Class Portion of the Final Saturday 12/19 at 2 p.m. in this room

 

7. List of Readings Covered on the In-Class Exam

  • Sven Birkerts
  • Janet Murray
  • "Web 2.0...The Machine is Us/ing Us" by Michael Wesch (YouTube video)
  • Jürgen Habermas
  • George Orwell
  • Scott McCloud
  • Marjane Satrapi
  • Peter Elbow's "Believing and Doubting Game" (handout/web page)
  • Diegesis (online handout)

 

8. Return of Prep Sheets (McCloud) at the end of the class meeting today.

radings

Persepolis

Why is the comic (or graphic novel) genre so often used for memoir (a personal, subjective form of autobiography)?

See, for example, Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Allison Gechdel's Fun Home:A Family Tragicomic, Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid in the World, or David Small's Stitches: A Memoir.

o'gara's bar
O'Gara's Bar, Snelling Ave, St Paul. MN, where a young Charles Schultz drew comics in his bedroom above his father's barber shop.