ENG 4433: Topics in World Lit

Plenty of people talk about themes of anarchy and rebellion and revolution in v for vendetta. But V for vendetta is very similar to a Russian matryoshka doll. Anarchy, rebellion, and revolution are the outer doll, the most notable part. What do you see on the page where V blows up Parliament? It clearly seems like an act of anarchy and rebellion. But what if I was to make the claim that the main theme of the graphic novel was not anarchy, rebellion, and revolution? What if the theme of V for vendetta is actually a call to action aimed at the audience? Now you might be thinking “what kind of call to action?”. Well let me assure you it's probably not the one you’re thinking of, probably not. But rather, it is a call to action against complacency. It takes the quote “the only thing needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing” very seriously. It rages against the idea of simply accepting your circumstances and being a cog in a machine you have no faith in. It is complacen...

I was going to talk about Aya life in Yop City but I ended up reading Aya Love in Yop City because the library has it cataloged wrong. I should have read the spine of the book because the front of the book was covered buy a sticker and I didn't read it closely enough. Because of this I want to talk about Aya Love in Yop City. Hopefully because they are both text from the same culture it will count. One of the things love in Yop City does to show that it is for an audience outside of Cote d Ivoire, is introduces to a character named Innocent. He arrives in Paris and instantly you start to see the cultural differences and his struggle with learning new social norms. There is a scene in the novel where he is trying to catch pigeons for food and freaks out an old lady who keeps calling for the police. Not knowing the people in France don't eat City pigeons. It can also be seen at the beginning of the novel the difficulty and learning directions in a new environment. The no...

Hello everyone. Today I'd like to talk about a graphic novel I recently read called As the World Burns and a graphic novel series that I've loved for many years call X1999. This may take a bit so please make sure you have popcorn soda and anything else that you may need during this reading. Also, emergency exits are to the right and to the left depending on your political preference as I am sure that both sides will in some way disagree with me in the course of this reading. As the World Burns is a graphic novel by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan. It's a graphic novel with a very pessimistic view of the future. The novel is incredibly well-grounded and self-aware of its themes. It's a story about the environmental crisis and people's blindness to the fact that simply doing small things on a checklist won't save the world. However, the tone of the book changes about halfway through and starts to shift towards a more extremist point of view. While I ...

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. ...

Wow! That was my exact reaction after reading Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. It was a whole roller-coaster ride of emotions throughout the whole comic. To begin, I would have to state that at first, I was not over the top to read this comic. It did not look interesting to me. Although the front cover of the book did quite look interesting to say the least. The cover art showed a picture of the protagonist. It also gave me a sense of a serious tone for the mood of the comic for my first expression. I took in that phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover.” And so, my adventure to read it began. After reading the introduction, it gave me as sense of the book being from another country, and culture. The author even stated how “a nation should not be judged, and so writing Persepolis was very important, it was also so that Iranians would not be forgotten. That was a very powerful statement that even sparked me to further continue to read. Foreign to me means something unknown, and so...

As an English major and being a lover of books, I have a great idea on what fiction and non-fiction books differ. Non-fiction works is something that is based on a true story. It is based on facts, real people, and real events. Whereas fiction means something that is false. Something that is make believe and made up of people’s imagination. The real question is…. can a novel be a non-fiction text? Yes, yes it can. It would be classified as history, or a biography. Maus by Art Spiegelman is a non-fiction novel that is indeed based on a true story. It uses story telling techniques of fiction, while also giving a sense of a novel since it is indeed a book length story. A story can be non-fiction and have the art form be in comics, or any other kind of medium. Just because an author chooses to use art forms and sequential art, it does not take away from a story being true. If anything, portraying a non-fiction story and then adding it to a comic makes it even more fun and worth readi...

Earlier this year, Billie Eilish told her followers to “be smarter” and go vegan after sharing a graphic video of what is pretty much industry standard. She’s been an open advocate for veganism, but many still debate the individual consumer’s impact on the animal product industry. I’m vegan, which I don’t tell people often because I live in Texas and I honestly don’t care if other people are or aren’t vegan or vegetarian at all. I wasn’t always vegan, but people do not enjoy stories of my goat-slaughtering youth. We often hear the statistic that the meat industry is the biggest contributor to climate change, so capitalists can put the blame on individuals instead of industry. It still gets tossed around in young adult spaces. I’m going to assume for now that young adults are the primary audience for any kind of activist-encouragement, which is what As the World Burns, a satirical graphic novel about climate change… tries to do? I want to start off by saying I don’t ac...

Climate change is real. Somehow, that's still a controversial position to take. Every day we're growing closer to destruction, if we haven't already sprinted past the point of no return, and every day we have more people insisting that the planet isn't in any danger. Being a filthy millennial, I can't say I'm thrilled to have been born into this mess. It's difficult for me to remain hopeful in the face of all the ignorance and greed that drives this controversy, and despite trying my best to limit my carbon footprint, I often feel like it's all pointless so long as green policies are considered unprofitable. As the World Burns , a cartoonishly cynical take on this crisis, reflects my thoughts well. Let's dive in. Graphic novels aren't often thought of as an effective tool for social activism. No matter what, we're always going to have people who think all comics are Mickey Mouse and cheesy Superman  serials--not that there's anything ...

As a high school English teacher, I often struggle with getting my students to read something other than Instagram captions. Lately, I've been having some luck with getting them to read graphic novels, however. I have one student in particular who struggles with sitting down and reading anything or an extended period of time. Yet as soon as we begin talking about anything social justice oriented, particularly anything in regards to climate change, she becomes suddenly engaged. So, Monday, I let her borrow my copy of  As The World Burns: 50 Things You Can Do To Stay in Simple Denial ,  a satiric graphic novel about modern environmental policy. Of course, as teenagers do, this one walked off with my book and has yet to return it. But, I'm really kind of okay with it. The right book in the hands of a teen can change their world even help them change the world, and graphic novels seem to be better equipped than most books to do so. Lately, I've been throwing graphic nov...

I often find myself entertained by politicians and certain "activist" groups that have come to the undeniable conclusion that global warming does not exist, and that there couldn't possibly be any reason for the earth dying any time soon. I mean, what evidence do we have really? Ice caps melting, record temperature highs, species endangerment....? Nope, not global warming. It's clearly just a hoax to stop large corporations from profiting. But, for the sake of argument, let's imagine that the earth isn't indestructible and that what we do to this planet while we live on it can and will have a significant environmental impact. How does that change things? And, if it does change things, how do we begin to spread awareness of our carbon footprint? It has become increasingly clear to me that trying to change the world is no longer possible through word of mouth, especially in a society that has become overwhelming introverted and opposed to human interaction (gene...

So what do global warming and global graphic novels have to do with one another? More than you might think. For example, they both have become more prevalent over time, there is evidence of the effects they can have on climate… political or otherwise, and together they can go hand in hand to make a statement. As the World Burns by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan is proof of graphic novels taking a stance in social activism. The stinging satire begins immediately on the front cover where a subtitle reads: "50 Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial." Simplistic cartoons, earth-eating aliens, and a one-eyed bunny might first appear to be something to dismiss with a good eye-roll, but stay with me here. It is the unembellished design and hyperbolic story in  As the World Burns   that makes this graphic novel so effective. Satire through Simplicity As the World Burns does not sugar coat or hide behind incredibly artistic or detailed images. It takes simple black and w...

There are many ways that a point can be made, but what better way to touch an audience than with the many unique qualities that a graphic novel has to offer! After reading a wide variety of them, I was able to pinpoint that what makes graphic novels so effective is the use of closure and style of art. So what do I mean by closure? Well let’s take a look at As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan. According to McCloud, there are six different types of closure, “moment to moment,” “action to action,” “subject to subject,” “scene to scene,” aspect to aspect,” and “non-sequitur.” On the page above, we can see how McMillan, the artist, uses moment to moment closure on the first two panels, and the bottom three are scene to scene. Let me say that the images on this page broke my heart. I'm the type of person that easily cries while watching a film, and I think the music has a lot to do with influencing my emotion...

Something that I have noticed lately is this new wave of caring for the earth and the ecosystem. People like Bill Nye and Neil degrasse Tyson have been using their platforms to cry out for help on behalf of the earth. The younger generation has been using their voices too, creating protests and rallies to advocate for climate change. It makes sense to use a graphic novel to bring more awareness to the new generations, since they will soon be the ones making these decisions. One of my favorite ways that the authors of As the World Burns  do this is to have the animals speak for themselves. These animals are literally begging not to be tested on, not to be seen as disposable, not to use their homes as dumping grounds for toxic waste. It's one thing for an academic, scientific journal to discuss these issues at length, but it's something completely different when drawings (however crude) of these animals are begging for help. While I can make the argument that there are too many...

Helllooooooooo my good people! Tis' the season! Christmas is coming up and things are just so bubbly and colorful around the world :) (i love Christmas time) what better time to have a blog on something like this? Makes you want to be more appreciative, alert and knowledgable about your surroundings. ... as usual click the link to check out this vid! If you could change the world, how would you? I hope this week is GOOD TO YOU! Be good to YOU! and those around you... peace and blessings guys! :)

As the World Burns is a classic example of a tool for social activism. It is written by climate activist to promote a “climate” agenda.   So, what exactly is climate change? Unfortunately, that depends on who you are talking to and what their agenda is.   Before I continue, I want to clear the air, I am not a planet hating, destroy the world, climate change denier. I am a realist, who does my own research on the topic rather than losing my head amid the “Armageddon” fear mongering, holy cow we’re all going to die in 10 years rhetoric. So, reading this book, for me, was an “eyerolling” endeavor because of the research I have done and life that I have lived. Disclaimer done, now moving on to the book! Extraterrestrial planet eating robots whose goals are to kill or eat everything on the planet, “Big bad corporations” of America ( who according to the book are implied to be the ones eating the planet themselves), two little girls, one who is a bit more conservative in her ap...

Bunnies are terrorists! Alien robots who poop gold are devouring the world! The president is wiping his ass with letters from social activists! Well actually, I’m reading As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can do to Stay in Denial   by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan. This book really does have all of these things in it. The creators were definitely passing along a message of “stop screwing up the world!” in their book and did it in a very entertaining and even sometimes adorable way. The authors were able to implement a message that is hugely important to the world today and make it entertaining, instead of being from a politician’s speech or some other droll way of conveying information to the public. I mean if someone tells you that we need to stop animal testing you’d probably roll your eyes in anticipation of a political argument, but what if a really cute one-eyed bunny tells you? I mean it definitely made me listen. That’s something incredible a...