This seminar addresses two interdependent topics in graphic narratives: the violence of representation and the representation of violence. In other words, we will take a look at how violent events (i.e. war, genocide, domestic violence, etc.) find their ways into the pages of comics and graphic novels, and how graphic representation itself can be violent, as an act of painful revelation, revisiting of past trauma, body fragility, etc.
Within this course, students will learn about the multimodal (visual and verbal) tools artists use to visually depict and narratively frame violence. The following questions will be asked: How do different genres (graphic fiction, documentary, autobiography) engage with violence? What happens when we depict violent events through the aesthetics of the cute and the comic? Is violence always visible in comics, or can it be ‘hidden,’ silent, merely hinted at? And how does it affect our interpretation?
With these questions in mind, students will be invited to perform close readings of graphic narratives, applying the rich methodology of postclassical narratology as it is used in graphic literature. We will analyze multimodal metaphors, page layouts, juxtaposition of elements within a panel, panel progressions, choice of color palette, and other means of artistic communication used to represent and reconfigure violent experiences in comics.
- Dozent/in: Svitlana Stupak