In this day and age, it is extremely easy for just about anyone to partake in social activism. Especially with the rise of technology and its users, bringing awareness to an issue you are passionate about can be done with a single click and tap on the keyboard. In the graphic novel As the World Burns by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan, the current state of the environment and its inevitable downfall is addressed through the use of quirky characters and a satirical voice. The work’s ability to emphasize such a serious issue in a more lighthearted manner makes it able to appeal to wider audiences. Especially with such a time-sensitive issue, this method is a great way to reach various types of people efficiently. It can appeal to children, who absorb the artwork and still retain the overall message. It can also appeal to young adults who are aware of issues such as climate change, capitalism, and the rapidly deteriorating ecosystem of our planet while providing them with more knowledge that they may not have known previously. I think that is why the graphic novel is so effective as a medium to portray this type of message. Because graphic novels are written in a storyboard format, they are easy to follow and make for a quick read. Quickness is an extremely important aspect of the graphic novel medium because they can depict their message in a much shorter time than a typical novel can. Throughout the span of this course, I have been able to learn about life in the Cote D’ivoire, iconic Indian epics, and life in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in great depth. Imagine if all these topics were portrayed in textbook format. I would not have been able to gather the same amount of information in the same amount of time. It would have been nearly impossible. However, thanks to the power of graphic novels, it is entirely possible. In addition, As the World Burns was able to build on the snippets of information I had gotten from social media and news sites, allowing me to be more educated on the topics discussed. I was able to learn about the extent of harm being done to our environment, as well as the lack of action people in power take due to greed and power. Because of this graphic novel, I was able to recognize that what is shown in popular media is not always the truth, and that things can be skewed a certain way. I also learned that adding a little humor transforms a hard-to-swallow story into one that inspires me to take a stance in saving the environment we are blessed to live in.
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...
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