My final project took the form of a CYOA, using just pictures to convey the story. The only text is the choices, which are simplistic. The drawings are simplistic and in comic form. My intention was to strip the narrative down to the bare essentials, to see if the reader can convey the basic story from the simplest images. Personally for me, it's sometimes hard to discern what's going on in a comic book with all the extraneous glitzy artistry, so by conveying the most simplistic image possible, hopefully the story speaks for itself.

I also tried to make the choices as true to the consequences as possible. Without giving too much away, I only put 2 arbitrary or unrealistic paths. Due to the nature of the story it should be somewhat obvious what path you should take. I won't give away the basic premis of the story, because I want a fresh reaction when I present on Thursday. Be on the look out for recurring "motifs", I'll ask if anyone notices any and what you think they mean.

Read more . . .

By establishing a loyal following of readers and by providing an acumen for discerning writing , the critic can both alter the perceptions of readers before they even read the text and determine its reception. Not only does the production and everyone involved need to worry about presenting the writer's vision, ensuring the story has value, and presenting the material in a logical way, but they also need to keep the critics in mind. Can the text make money? How can we attract audiences? How can we please the critics,aka audience, who comes to the text with predetermined expectations in mind.

Read more . . .

For my final project, I weighed the pros and cons of both the creative option and the analytical option. I finally settled on the creative option, not because I think we've exhausted our analytical approaches in the past, but because the creative option gives more leeway into what you can produce. I chose to produce a Choose your own adventure with purely pictures. The only text on the page will be the choices, and even those will be fairly simplistic. It garners quite a bit of dissection, to interpret the picture and subsequently the event it is describing. I'm by no means an artist, so this will also present quite a challenge to both me as the artist and the reader. I may incorporate snippets of actual pictures as elements of each picture. Specifically, I may draw a person, but not the chair they're sitting in, instead I might find a picture of a chair and implement that etc.. I'm not sold on what story I intend to follow, however I don't want it to be a run of the mill abducted-by-aliens-sort of story. I hope it turns out the way I'm imagining it to, and makes sense to the readers.

As I was traipsing through our homework of Zork and Galatea, I found myself wondering, just how far can I push the envelope here? Since this is "limitless" narrative, and the feedback of the narrative (Zork especially) seems to be bordline witty, what would happen? Well, I made it all the way to the house, through the trapdoor, killed the troll and made it to the cliffs before I just couldn't seem to get any further. I typed "kill myself" with a chuckle, thinking the familiar "I didn't recognize this sentence" or "I do not know the word 'myself'" would pop up. Boy was I surprised! It said something along the lines of "If you insist, you take the sword and off yourself", then I died. :O

Read more . . .

Read more . . .

Ever heard of the old adage, "To list freedoms is to limit them"? Essentially it means that boundless, or implied freedoms are better left unlisted, because once they are committed to paper, it's as if we will jump circles around them, trying to find loopholes in the rhetoric. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative controversy of 1972 presents a lucrative example. So in terms of the infamous Choose Your Own Adventure books, you're not exactly choosing your own adventure. You're choosing from the list of adventures they give you. Now, I am by no means knocking the CYOA books, they're probably the most interactive and open-ended form of fictional narrative that exists. But it's important to think about the true "freedom" that exists with CYOA books. True CYOA would imply you write it yourself. Looking for loopholes around the meaning of a word "choose your own adventure" puts me at an impasse.

Read more . . .

In discussing Disney's pivotal influence in not only animation but American culture, I'm surprised one was left out (also an American institution)---Broadway! Most of us tend to think of Broadway shows as being very stereotypical, glitz and glamour complete with flashy costumes and elaborate dances, shows like Chicago; Memphis; and In the Heights. But in the 90s, once Disney enjoyed their reign as the heavy hitters in animated and children's film, a new progression was made. That progression took the form of translating perhaps the most famous Disney movie of the 90s,1994's  The Lion King, from animation to stage.

Read more . . .

It's pretty obvious that Disney is a pivotal stitch in the fabric of American culture, specifically for children. Thousands of visitors flock to Disneyland and Disneyworld every year in the hopes of creating some magical vacation memories. The movies have captured our attention since the early 1900s, with no indication of slowing down. The movies combine elements of animation, song and dance to enthrall audiences. I've been a huge Disney addict since I was little, and specifically I'm reminded of The Sword in the Stone, Disney's take on the classic story of King Arthur and the sword in the stone, made in 1963. More narrowly, the "Higitus Figitus" scene where Merlin is packing his entire house away into a suitcase for his trip with the young Arthur via a sung spell.

Read more . . .

With all the recent discussion about metapictures and how it develops the action/meaning of the image, I immediately thought of the classic children's book Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. Hopefully all of us have read this timeless classic at some point in our lives (if not, the link above contains snippets of it).

Read more . . .

So the comment in class the other day piqued my interest, specifically the one about New Yorker cartoons being not only hard to understand but not exactly tickling the majority of our funny bones. I definitely have to agree on that one. Prime example by George Booth from 1987.

We see a wife cleaning dishes from the kitchen, saying to her husband "Basil, do you think the center is going to hold?" who is sitting in his armchair reading a paper, while a dog and a cat look away from each other............Look at it carefully. Are you roaring with laughter? Do you even get it? Because I sure don't. I reminds me of cisco104's blog about value judgements in determining the worth of cartoons. Apparently just because it's in the New Yorker, it is therefore high culture which takes an elevated sense of comical acumen to discern it. I guess it doesn't even matter that it's not funny, it's the New Yorker.

Read more . . .