"What is a Graphic Novel? (Part I)": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers

Summary

This script explores the complexities of adult graphic narratives, contrasting them with the simpler picture books of childhood. It uses Chris Ware's 'Thrilling Adventure Stories' to illustrate how the interplay between text and visuals can tell two seemingly unrelated stories, urging readers to slow down and appreciate the juxtaposition. The example of Lynda Barry's 'Help You' further emphasizes the emotional depth that can be conveyed through this medium. The video promises to provide tools for analyzing visual narratives in the next installment, encouraging a deeper understanding of graphic narratives.

Takeaways

• 📚 Picture books and graphic narratives both use images and text, but the relationship between them is more complex in adult graphic narratives.
• 🔍 In children's picture books, images typically reinforce or complete the text, as shown in the Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie series example.
• 🤔 Adult graphic narratives can be understood as two intertwined stories: a textual narrative and a visual narrative, which may initially seem unrelated.
• 🎨 The visual narrative in Chris Ware's 'Thrilling Adventure Stories' contrasts with the textual narrative, creating a juxtaposition that requires deeper analysis.
• 👓 Reading graphic narratives involves looking for common features and contrasts between the visual and textual narratives to understand the full story.
• 🦸‍♂️ The example from Ware illustrates how a boy's imagination transforms a mundane story into a hyperbolic, cartoonish visual narrative influenced by his comic book obsession.
• 🔑 Identifying shared themes, such as pain, observation, and the concept of 'zips and flys', helps to bridge the gap between the visual and textual narratives.
• 🧐 The process of understanding graphic narratives is akin to translating unfamiliar phrases and events into one's own perspective, as shown by the boy's interpretation of his grandfather's story.
• 📖 Another example from Lynda Barry's 'Help You' shows how textual and visual narratives can be used to juxtapose a girl's anxiety with her father's obliviousness.
• 📘 The script emphasizes the importance of slowing down and considering the juxtaposition of words and images in graphic narratives rather than viewing them as separate entities.
• 📚 The next video in the series promises to provide terms and techniques for analyzing visual narratives, aiming to enhance the reader's understanding and appreciation of graphic narratives.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video script?

The main focus of the video script is to introduce and discuss strategies for reading adult graphic narratives, highlighting the complexity of the relationship between pictures and words in these stories.

How does the script differentiate between picture books for children and graphic narratives for adults?

The script differentiates by explaining that while picture books for children usually have images that reinforce or complete the textual narrative, graphic narratives for adults often present a more complex relationship where the visual and textual narratives can be juxtaposed, offering different or contrasting stories.

What is an example of a simple textual and visual relationship given in the script?

An example of a simple textual and visual relationship is from Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie series, where Gerald the Elephant asks about a bowl Piggie is carrying, and Piggie responds directly to his question, with the images clearly illustrating the dialogue.

Can you describe the example from Chris Ware’s 'Thrilling Adventure Stories (I Guess)'?

The example from Chris Ware’s 'Thrilling Adventure Stories (I Guess)' illustrates a young boy's internal translation of a mundane story told by his grandmother into a hyperbolic, cartoonish visual narrative in his mind, showing a discrepancy between the text and the images.

What is the significance of the juxtaposition of narratives in graphic narratives?

The significance of the juxtaposition of narratives in graphic narratives is that it calls attention to differences, contrasts, and unexpected similarities between the visual and textual stories, enriching the reading experience and inviting the reader to interpret the relationship between the two.

How does the script suggest we should read graphic narratives?

The script suggests that we should slow down when reading graphic narratives and consider how the words and images are juxtaposed with one another, rather than viewing the visual narrative as a mere complement to the textual narrative.

What is the example of a short comic called 'Help You' by Lynda Barry about?

The short comic 'Help You' by Lynda Barry is about a young girl named Maybonne who struggles with her typing skills and deals with the emotional trauma of her father's abandonment, with the textual narrative of her anxiety juxtaposed against the visual narrative of her father's obliviousness.

What vocabulary challenge does the script mention for students of English literature when analyzing visual narratives?

The script mentions that students of English literature may not have as developed a vocabulary for close reading visual narratives as they do for literary texts, suggesting a need for specific terms to analyze and discuss graphic narratives effectively.

What does the script promise to provide in the next video of the series?

The script promises to provide a handful of terms in the next video of the series that are useful for analyzing and discussing graphic narratives in a sophisticated manner, similar to how readers analyze textual narratives.

What is the final message or advice given to the viewers in the script?

The final message or advice given to the viewers in the script is to stay healthy and have fun reading their next graphic narrative, encouraging an enjoyable and thoughtful approach to the medium.

How does the script use the term 'juxtaposition' in the context of graphic narratives?

The script uses the term 'juxtaposition' to describe the side-by-side placement of the textual and visual narratives in graphic narratives, which allows for a deeper analysis of the contrasts and similarities between the two forms of storytelling.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Adult Graphic Narratives

This paragraph introduces the concept of adult graphic narratives as the mature equivalent of childhood picture books, emphasizing the complexity of their relationship between images and text. It contrasts simple picture book narratives, exemplified by Mo Willems' 'Elephant and Piggie' series, with the more intricate and layered storytelling found in Chris Ware's 'Thrilling Adventure Stories (I Guess)?', where the visual and textual narratives are juxtaposed, creating a dual storytelling experience that requires the reader to interpret the interplay between the two.

🤔 The Complexity of Graphic Narratives

This section delves into the intricacies of graphic narratives, using Chris Ware's work as an example to illustrate how the visual and textual narratives can be seemingly unrelated yet interconnected. It discusses the dissonance between the expected and the actual content, highlighting the need for readers to slow down and consider the juxtaposition of narratives. The paragraph also touches on the thematic similarities between the visual and textual elements, such as pain, observation, and the motif of 'zips and flys,' to demonstrate how these narratives can be understood in tandem.

🌟 The Power of Juxtaposition in Graphic Narratives

This paragraph explores the principle of juxtaposition as a fundamental property of adult graphic narratives. It uses Lynda Barry's 'Help You' as an example to show how the textual narrative of a girl's emotional struggle is contrasted with the visual narrative of her father's obliviousness. The paragraph invites readers to identify and discuss contrasts and similarities in the narrative, setting the stage for a deeper analysis of visual narratives in the subsequent video.

Keywords

💡Graphic Narratives

Graphic narratives are a form of storytelling that combines both visual art and text to convey a narrative. They are akin to picture books but are more complex and often intended for adult audiences. In the video, the concept is central as it discusses how the relationship between text and images in adult graphic narratives is more intricate than in children's picture books, using 'Thrilling Adventure Stories, (I Guess)?' by Chris Ware as an example to illustrate the complexity.

💡Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is a literary technique that places two or more elements side by side to highlight contrasts or similarities. In the context of graphic narratives, it refers to the way the visual and textual narratives are placed next to each other, inviting readers to explore the relationship between them. The video emphasizes the principle of juxtaposition as a fundamental property of adult graphic narratives, as seen in the contrasting narratives of the boy's mundane story and his exaggerated visual interpretation.

💡Textual Narrative

A textual narrative is a story conveyed through written or spoken words. In graphic narratives, the textual narrative often works in tandem with visual elements to tell a story. The video script uses the example of Chris Ware's graphic narrative to show how a simple textual story about a grandfather zipping himself can be transformed into a fantastical visual narrative in the mind of a young boy obsessed with comic books.

💡Visual Narrative

A visual narrative is a story told through images, such as illustrations, photographs, or animations. In graphic narratives, the visual narrative can stand alone or interact with the textual narrative to create a richer storytelling experience. The video discusses how the visual narrative in 'Thrilling Adventure Stories, (I Guess)?' confuses readers at first but eventually reveals common themes with the textual narrative, such as pain and observation.

💡Adult Equivalent

The term 'adult equivalent' refers to something that serves a similar purpose or function for adults as another thing does for children. In the video, it is used to draw a parallel between children's picture books and adult graphic narratives, suggesting that while both involve images and text, the latter is more complex and suited for mature audiences.

💡Complexity

Complexity in this context refers to the intricate relationship between images and text in adult graphic narratives, which often requires a deeper level of understanding and interpretation than children's picture books. The video script highlights the complexity of graphic narratives by comparing them to the simpler, more direct storytelling of picture books, and by analyzing the layered narratives in Chris Ware's work.

💡Comic Books

Comic books are a form of graphic narrative that typically feature a sequence of panels with illustrations and text to tell a story. They are a significant influence on the graphic narratives discussed in the video, particularly in the example of the young boy in 'Thrilling Adventure Stories, (I Guess)?' who is obsessed with comic books and sees his life in terms of superhero narratives.

💡Close Reading

Close reading is a critical approach to analyzing a text by examining its details and nuances carefully. The video script suggests that students of English literature may not have a developed vocabulary for close reading visual narratives and promises to provide terms for analyzing graphic narratives in the next video of the series.

💡Themes

Themes are the underlying messages or ideas that run through a narrative, giving it depth and meaning. The video discusses how themes such as pain, observation, and the concept of 'zips and flys' are present in both the textual and visual narratives of the graphic narratives, providing a deeper understanding of the stories.

💡Lynda Barry

Lynda Barry is an American novelist, illustrator, and comics artist known for her unique style and exploration of emotional themes. In the video script, her short comic 'Help You' is mentioned as an example of how a textual narrative of a girl's anxiety can be juxtaposed with a visual narrative of her father's obliviousness, demonstrating the power of graphic narratives to convey complex emotions and situations.

💡Mundane

Mundane refers to something ordinary or commonplace, without any extraordinary or exciting qualities. The video script uses the term to describe the simple and everyday story told by the boy's grandmother in 'Thrilling Adventure Stories, (I Guess)?', contrasting it with the fantastical visual narrative that the boy imagines.

Highlights

Graphic narratives are the adult equivalent of picture books, combining complex pictures and words.

In adult graphic narratives, the relationship between pictures and words is often more intricate than in children's picture books.

Pictures in children's books usually reinforce or complete the textual narrative, as exemplified by Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie series.

Chris Ware's 'Thrilling Adventure Stories' demonstrates a complex relationship between the textual and visual narratives.

The visual narrative in 'Thrilling Adventure Stories' confuses readers with its seemingly unrelated depictions to the textual narrative.

Graphic narratives can be understood as two stories in one: a textual narrative and a visual narrative.

The juxtaposition of narratives in graphic narratives calls attention to differences, contrasts, and similarities.

In Chris Ware's work, the boy's mundane textual story transforms into an exaggerated visual story in his mind.

Both the textual and visual narratives in Ware's story involve pain, observation, and the concept of 'zips and flys'.

Identifying common features between the visual and textual narratives helps make sense of seemingly strange passages.

The boy's interpretation of his grandfather 'zipping himself up in his fly' leads to a visual of a superhero zipping and flying.

Graphic narratives require slowing down to consider how words and images are juxtaposed, rather than viewing the visual as a mere complement to the text.

Lynda Barry's 'Help You' uses juxtaposition to contrast the textual narrative of a girl's anxiety with the visual narrative of her father's obliviousness.

The principle of juxtaposition is a fundamental property of adult graphic narratives.

English literature students may lack vocabulary for close reading of visual narratives compared to literary texts.

Upcoming videos will provide terms useful for analyzing and writing about graphic narratives in a sophisticated manner.

Staying healthy and enjoying graphic narratives is encouraged as part of a well-rounded life.

Transcripts

When you were a small child, you probably read picture books.

In the next two videos, I want to show you some strategies for reading the adult equivalent

of these kinds of stories: graphic narratives.

Like those picture books from your childhood, graphic narratives usually include both pictures

and words.

However, as you would expect, the relationship between the pictures and words in graphic

narratives written for adults is often much more complex that the relationship between

pictures and words in a picture book written for children.

In those picture books, the images on the page usually reinforce or complete the textual

narrative.

In this example from Mo Willems’ terrific Elephant and Piggie series, Gerald the Elephant

points to a bowl that Piggie carries, and asks “What is THAT!?”

Piggie holds up the bowl and replies “THIS is slop!”

Simple, right?

But what about this passage from Chris Ware’s graphic narrative “Thrilling Adventure Stories

(I Guess)?”, a painfully awkward coming-of age tale of a young boy who is so obsessed

with comic books that he dyes his underwear different colors so that he can look like

a superhero.

While he is looking for adventure, the story he delivers is far from “thrilling.”:

“Once my grandmother told me this really funny story about [my grandfather].

She said she was up in the kitchen fixing dinner and he was in the basement getting

dressed after taking his shower.

She heard this really loud yelp and she ran to the top of the stairs to see what was wrong.

He said that he’d zipped himself up in his fly.”

If we look at the images that accompany this narrative, we’re immediately confused.

Why is a person being shot?

Who is this caped superhero who crashes in from the glass roof to save the day?

And what the heck does this have to do with the grandmother’s story?

As this (admittedly extreme) example suggests, graphic narratives can often be understood

as two stories in one: a textual narrative and a visual narrative.

These narratives are placed in juxtaposition to one another, calling our attention to differences

or contrasts as well as to unexpected similarities between the two stories.

In the passage from Ware’s graphic narrative, the seemingly simple and mundane TEXTUAL story

that the boy’s grandmother tells him is somehow translated in his head into a hyperbolic,

cartoonish VISUAL story.

Reading the two narratives together is a strange experience for sure, and at first, the two

stories appear totally unrelated to one another.

If we give it some thought, however, here and elsewhere in Ware’s story, we can begin

to see some common features that cross over between the visual and textual narratives.

Both narratives involve pain: the pain of being shot and the pain of, well, zipping

yourself in your fly.

Both involve observation: the grandmother checking on her poor husband and the superhero

observing the crime in progress.

Finally, both involve zips and flys, though the words are obviously used very differently

in the graphic narrative and the textual narrative.

Identifying these ideas in juxtaposition with one another, we can begin to make sense of

this very strange passage as the story of a boy’s struggles to translate unfamiliar

phrases and events into his own limited (and comic book obsessed) worldview.

When the boy hears that his grandfather “zips himself up in his fly,” a superhero zipping

and flying through the roof is, perhaps, what he thinks.

This is, obviously, an extreme example, but it does remind us that we should slow down

when we read a graphic narrative to consider how the words and the images on a page are

juxtaposed with one another rather than reading the visual narrative as a mere complement

to the textual narrative.

Consider one more example from Lynda Barry—a short comic called “Help You.”

The textual narrative involves a young girl named Maybonne struggling to practice her

typing skills in class while dealing with the trauma of being abandoned by her father.

The textual narrative places this anxiety in juxtaposition with the visual narrative—her

father at an anonymous bar seemingly oblivious to the destruction he has caused.

There may be other contrasts and similarities at work in this passage, and if you spot any,

I hope you’ll share them with me in the comments section below.

So, now that we have established a fundamental property of adult graphic narratives—the

principle of juxtaposition—the next question that arises is how exactly to analyze visual

narratives.

As our YouTube series suggests, there are a ton of terms for describing what’s going

on in literary texts, but students of English literature may not have as developed a vocabulary

for close reading visual narratives.

In the next video in this series, I’ll try to give you a handful of terms that I have

found useful in my teaching and research to get you on the path to thinking about and

writing about graphic narratives in as sophisticated a manner as you now read textual narratives.

In the meantime, stay healthy and have fun reading your next graphic narrative!