4. Choosing one of the films we've seen in class this semster and an illustrative passage from one of the comics we've read, analyze the animated as opposed to the static use of images in the depiction of a historical event. What can drawn (and, in the case of the films, animated) cartoon-ish image rather then 'real' photographs or live actors accomplish in the depiction of history?
Much of the artistic power of comics lies in the associative and iconic familiarization that this form of sequential art possesses. "And since viewer-identification is a specialty of cartooning, cartoons have historically held an advantage in breaking into world popular culture." (McCloud, Understanding Comics pg 42) In addition to this viewer association to the comic is to a certain degree a viewer distancing. Interpreting the comic as nothing more then a visual fantasy, the viewer consciously detaches, thus opening themselves to the underlined artistic implications of the comic. It is though this iconic association or distancing between the viewer cartoon that makes a powerful vessel that allows the reader them to live between the lines in which to convey serious, difficult topics in a way that is almost impossible with real life film or photography. 
It has been said that the racial problems in America as well as the rest of the world are not as simple as black and white. Yet in "North Americans" it is the strict black and white images combined with iconic symbols and distorted drawings that sets the tenacious setting of the story. The traveler finds himself at awoken from a dream in an unfriendly town, where he his treated as an outsider. The tensions of the comic unravel, as the traveler is forced to wait for 5 hours searching for relief from the sweltering heat, surrounded by black dusty shadows. The viewer is given the perspective of an outsider, as we follow the travelers movements in the town, we are witness to his bizarre dream, his sights and focus. This is shown in the last panels of his dream, as he is awakening, we see the close up view of the cockeyed bus driver, with his black rimmed glasses and pimpled nose. Replicating this comic with live photographs would be impossible, as the richness of symbolism and the overall visual metaphor of black on white is solely confined to the genre of the comic. The opening dream sequence conveys several implications without words, figures drawn in black and white, images of conception, birth, death, pain, love and conflict. As the traveler wanders around the town, you can taste the dust and the stagnant sleep saliva caked in his mouth drawn into his wrinkled and scowling facial features. The hardened chiseled features of the characters are peppered with beads of sweat, and dirty marks amplify the unfriendliness of the town, sweltering in the heat of tension. The way that the townspeople themselves are very ugly, disgusting looking characters. There are three silent, shady kids waiting by the soda machine, all identical with their baseball cap brims held over their little beady white eyes watch the traveler with 
malice. Their expressions are portrayed in their silent presence with empty word balloons, depicting confusion, secrecy and implied intentions. The dirty hick-looking patrons at the bar are drawn with slit eyes and snickering expressions. Their clothes are littered with symbols of modern consumerism, and iconic American capitalism. The text in the balloon of the man who calls himself the "American" calls out to the traveler is presented in Spanish with slanted text. His matted unkempt hair and short stature contradicts his claimed identity as he follows the traveler. The traveler himself close up appears barely human, suggesting a perspective that some of the townspeople have adopted for him, perhaps as a sub-human. McCloud's theory of iconic association seems vague here, the characters and world that have been created in "North Americans" is so distorted and abstract that the viewer has a great difficulty actively associating with the comic. However through this detachment the ugly nature of racism, exclusion and xenophobia that is found in North America is amplified through the vulgar and disgusting images burning in the animated heat and sweat. For the traveler, the resistance and animosity of the people is symbolized with his search for a drink, something to quench his thirst for equality of treatment and safety. He is not wanted here, for reasons of hatred that are unknown, secretly implied, in a world as simple as black and white. It is only through a cartoon that the message and tensions of human distinction between groups, races, nationalities can be portrayed as simple as black and white.  The animated film is no more then a moving cartoon, just as a regular film is no more then a sequence of multiple still photographs. There are many parallels that can be drawn between animated films and comics. Like the comic, the moving animated film also draws familiar bonds between the viewer and the film through a balanced blend of realism and comic detachment that is difficult, if not impossible to accomplish in real life film. In Grave of the Fireflies this method of viewer association is emphasized by the use of detailed realistic settings and backgrounds that accompany the story. But much like in "North Americans", the faces of the characters themselves remain very cartoon-like, creating the comfortable gap between the viewer and the film through conscious detachment. The combination of both the realistic plot and backgrounds with the cherubic faces of the characters, the film takes on a new meaning. So realistic are the plot and the dialogue in the film that real life actors could easily replace the characters and still follow the same story line. And as the story progresses, Seita and Setsuko become more and more human. The entire film is a flashback, seen through the eyes of ghosts, who are invisible to the living, as the viewer is invisible to the spirits of Setsuko and Seita. As the audience, we detach ourselves from the story affirming the fact that it is a film, an animated one, and more so, a foreign one. Yet in the course of the movie we are ensnared by the simple imagery and shockingly believable plot, we forget that we are spectators to a recollection an historic era, a ghostly recollection, a cartoon child's face, cries, and emotions. The iconic nature of the characters creates a staggering contradictory response of the detachment involved with viewing a cartoon. The facial features of both Setsuko and Seita are very cartoon-ish, yet their movements and actions and dialogue are strikingly real and believable. This is especially demonstrated when focused on Setsuko, when she is undressing herself at the beach, she stumbles excitedly, breathing shortly, and she hurriedly folds her clothes on the sand and runs to her brother waiting in the 
surf. Her body language and gestures captured in great detail combined with her simplistic, iconic face create a vessel in which the true emotion and realism of the story are projected out to the viewer. In the scene in which Setsuko is giving the fireflies a proper burial in the ground, a frightening parallel universe is established between the fireflies falling in a pile in the ground, just like her mother was thrown onto a mass pile of corpses earlier. Setsuko scoops the dead fireflies up in her hand and puts them into the hole, there is a shot of Seita's shocked face, and then a scene with their mother's bandaged, maggot-ridden corpse helplessly tossed on top of a pile of bodies. This use of aspect to aspect panel construction applied to comics is used in the animated film in a way irreplaceable by conventional film. The iconic simplicity of the cartoon adds to the horrible realism of the memory, as Seita realizes his sister knowledge of their mother's fate. Seita's tears stream down his cheeks like water as he grabs Setsuko in his arms, invoking a very real response of Setsuko that he is hugging her "too hard". The emotions and feelings invoked by this scene could only be expressed in this power and intensity by use of animation. Although the viewer may argue that he or she may have much difficulty in associating with the cartoon characters in both Grave of the Fireflies and "North Americans", it is through this conscious attempt at detachment that in reality draws the viewer closer to association with the cartoon. As being a very egocentric, visual species, we have trouble associating with objects that do not visually appear as us. Yet through this clear contradiction of visual representation that the union of perspective through iconic representation is amplified, making the comic and animated film a unique and powerful medium of expressive art. |