Both the memoir project and the war comic projects have produced some outstanding results from the students. I am also pleased to say that their efforts, and my efforts to provide them with an example, have also produced some results that I am proud of, both personally and professionally. Below is my effort that began as an exemplar for the memoir project and morphed into what more closely resembles the action comic that I was assigning for the war comic project. Hard to believe that we are in the middle of the fourth month of this course, and we are only now getting to some independent reading. Two months exploring superheroes and comic books, one month on serious nonfiction themes shared through memoirs, and now a brief time to spend on some guides reading that will be limited in form (all the book choices are graphic novels), but unlimited in content, representing all genres in literature that will hopefully engage the varies tastes and interests of the students.
I wish that the independent reading could be structured differently, but we are limited because there is no formal way of loaning out the books without there being a risk of loss or damage. And since the graphic novel collection comes almost exclusively from a private library - with no hope of reimbursement from the school in the event of loss or damage - reading has to take place in class time. There are also no multiple copies of anything - no class sets - so it is difficult to study a book exclusively in class. Of course copies are made of some chapters, but I do think it is best that students choose their reading material (from the selection) to maximize the potential for engagement and appreciation of the novel being read and its use of sequential art. The collection contains popular titles such as V For Vendetta, The Watchmen, and The Dark Knight Rises, as well as contemporary titles about family, history, work, and travel that are both serious and humorous. This is the closest we will come to a typical literature studies class before we explore issues of race, age, and gender representation in graphic novels and comic books. Perhaps it is no coincidence that superhero films were a popular category in the student survey given their popularity amongst the movie-viewing public. While it is a clear subgenre of action-adventure films, it does stand out as being more heavily dependent on CGI and other digital special effects than practically any other genre (with science fiction being its closest rival). That has
been our focus as a class - deconstructing the superhero genre and evaluating its dependency on digital effects. The irony that films of pure fantasy depend on impossible superpowers coming off as realistic is lost on no one in the class. it also again allows us to return to content from the first unit - film roles - and the idea of production costs, marketing, and a reliance on familiar narratives. The fact that all the major studios are cranking out superhero films - and television series - is clearly a decision driven by profit and audience approval (until we reach a saturation point). What has made this possible is that film technology has finally made the superheroes look real, and that was aleays the impediment to their box office success in the past (since they would not be taken seriously as a film genre of superheroes could be seen dangling from wires as they "flew" around. Mix that with a need for cinemas to draw audiences back to the big screens (away from their small screens, big screen tvs, and monitors) to prevent even further huge losses of revenue, and the superhero genre came to the rescue, offering blockbuster films that are best viewed on the biggest screen available (at your local cinema!. All this is to say that the superhero genre does deserve special attention in a film studies course now more than ever. The genre also finds itself right in the middle of one of the most significant issues in Hollywood (and society) today - that of representation. There is currently lots of debate about gender and race representation in these films, which grounds these fantasy worlds to real world issues. There was a fairly smooth transition from graphic novel memoirs to war stories, partially because the second memoir that we examined, Waltz With Bashir, took place during a time of war. The assignment isn't exactly about graphic novels, but about how to make a war story that is written using sequential art jump off the page in a different medium - namely a motion comic, with sounds and everything (using iMovie and a folder full of war sounds).
It is something of an extension of our look at Waltz With Bashir. One of the observations from a number of students was that the film presented the story in a more engaging way, and so our task here is to find some middle ground, where we are still using panels to tell the story, while adding sounds and some motion to encouragement the reader's engagement. This will likely lead to a discussion on how to convey action and produce excitement without the gimmicks of motion and sound. Action is something that is the meat and potatoes of many superhero stories, and is clearly something that most war stories will also contain. Inevitably, it is probably also something that this course must include as well. In last semester's version of the film class, with the exception of the first unit, each subsequent unit focused on a particular genre. It felt quite stale after the fifth or sixth genre study, and a change in structure was sorely needed. I think I made some reference to this already in a previous post, but our exploration of film genres will only be about a third of this course, with the class only focusing on four or five of their top genre choices.
The first genre to launch this unit was the action-adventure genre, where we viewed parts of the film "Salt" and discussed how closely it follows the elements of a traditional action-adventure movie. It also allowed us to discuss such issues as gender, the modern action hero, male vs female action hero, and how much the style of that genre impacts on the narrative and plot choices. The final project of that genre mini-unit was to create a promotional trailer for the film, which was successful in two ways - it helped reinforce what had been discussed about moviemaking as a business (and the marketing of films) and because it was a project that was completed by nearly every member of the class. It also confirmed for me that the course's new structure was more effective - for teaching, for learning, and for understanding film as both an industry and an art form. There are a few reasons why the first genre of graphic novel the class looks at following the superheroes unit is a study of memoirs and biographies. The idea of reality being illustrated - literally (and literally) - through the sequential art medium demonstrates better than anything that the graphic novel can deliver more than just humour and escape. It can present important information, raise profound questions, and give us insight into ourselves, our society, and the larger world.
The memoir Persepolis was a good place to start the journey, as it is accessible, relevant for teenagers and young adults, and provides a unique perspective to a place and a story that is unknown to many North American students. While there are certainly Iranian-Canadians, those not from that region are often not familiar with that region or their recent history. Even the recent film Argo would have not necessarily been on the viewing radar of most teenagers, although Iran has been in the news quite frequently (and held a prominent position in George W. Bush's Axis of Evil). It definitely fits the bill as a piece of literature that introduces new ideas, cultures, and perspectives to the reader. The second memoir also comes from a different region of the world, although is in the same region as Persepolis. It is called Waltz With Bashir and involves a former IDF soldier trying to recall events from the Lebanon War that he witnessed but of which he no longer had any memory. The memoir is about war, trauma, responsibility, and the role of memory - a long way from men in tights and capes saving the world from greedy villains. It requires context to understand it well, but regardless of prior knowledge, it is compelling to consider the idea of responsibility in wartime and what we choose to remember about events that challenge our sense of self and of right and wrong. Clearly, students cannot be left to think that there is not room for lighter fare too, but the contrast between superhero feats and wartime trauma does send a clear message that graphic novels are just as capable of doing heavy lifting as are traditional novels. |
AuthorAs a high school teacher, I have worked in many different places and taught a wide variety of courses. This blog is about the trials and successes of teaching film, graphic novels, English, history, and whatever else comes up. Archives
May 2019
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