Pyongyang and Traveling in North Korea

In Pyongyang, we follow our author as he travels to North Korea and the events he encounters there. This excerpt and story tell us a lot about North Korea that I for one had no idea about. The fact that he had to leave his cell phone at the air port and then he could pick it back up when he left shocked me. I knew that you could not take pictures everywhere and that is why North Korea is such a mystery to most of the world, but I had no idea they were as strict as that. When he was going through the airport at the very beginning and the officer was checking his stuff and asking so many questions, it was a great way to begin because it gives the reader the sense of how important this trip and national security is for the people of North Korea. It leaves the reader on edge and makes it seem like at any moment something terrible could happen and our author would be jailed or worse. I think it is super important to use graphic novels/ comics as a median for news reporting and journalism because it can give an image to a place that words might not be able to. In places like North Korea where pictures can not be taken, it is useful for the writers and authors to take mental pictures and draw them out for the audience to be able to step into their shoes and see what they are seeing. It is also a good medium for places that are war stricken because it is easier for the general public to digest. To me, it is very difficult to see pictures of pain and suffering which makes me not want to look at is and learn about it. If it is drawn, the audience can still receive the message without being desensitized to it.

Comments

Iconic Abstraction and the Vocabulary of Comics in Hellboy

In Chapter 2 of Understanding Comics , McCloud talks about two key concepts I’d like to discuss: he identifies reality , language , and the picture plane as a representation of the pictorial vocabulary of comics, and he expresses a scale for iconic abstraction of comic art. As readers following the action in comics, we are guided by what objects and events cartoonists decide demand focus in each individual moment or panel. This focus via simplification of reality - referred to as abstraction - provides a rhythm of reading the visual representation of a sequence of events, controlling the timing of action and dialogue through spacing of panels and objects on a page. McCloud makes it clear that abstraction in comics is really just about the representation of ideas . Conceptually, we can perceive a specific drawn event, such as an explosion or a fight, without that event being pictured exactly or photorealistically. Rubble or glass flying midair can represent the impact of fights depi...

Our world: Anyone can make a change

Are you a social activist? Do you do your part to make the world a better place? Even small acts can make a difference. First, I’d like to point out that a social activist is someone that takes a stand, someone who campaigns for a social change, an advocate that stands for what is right, it is someone who promotes environmental, social, political, and economic reforms to make that change in society. Now that I have defined it, let me explain some acts of social activism. Volunteering at any local shelters, whether it be for babies, kids, adults, and even to help to care for animals, your time makes a difference. You’d be amazed at how rewarding it is for yourself, as well as giving than receiving will make a whole positive change to your persona. Another example of social activism is going green. Recycling papers, boxes, and plastics, makes a whole positive change into saving our earth, as well as saving the ocean alongside the animal’s habitats, and stopping global warming. ...

Is Maus a Non-Fiction Graphic Novel?

Art Spiegelman’s Maus is considered to be a non-fiction graphic novel, but is creating a graphic novel based off a true story even allowed? Maybe you thought graphic novels were meant to be fiction. Well, I think the form of a graphic novel should not be restricted to only fiction. It is known for graphic novels to be fiction rather than non-fiction because that is what a novel is, fiction, but the name shouldn’t be a limitation of what can and cannot be told though this medium. There are many reasons for why telling a non-fiction story through the form of a graphic novel is beneficial. Spiegelman was able to share the story of his father’s holocaust experience by creating a graphic novel of it, and from the looks of it, it’s been very successful. Telling a story through the form of a graphic novel allows the creator to deliver it in a unique way. We are able to understand the plot because of the language that is used along with the accompanying panels. In Maus , Spiegelman writes e...

ENG 4433: Topics in World Lit

Search This Blog