How to Read a Graphic Novel (B2-C1/v837)

Introduction

Dartmouth College Associate Professor of English, Michael Chaney, presents a survey of contemporary graphic novels.

Script

Michael Chaney: Hello, hello. So most people upon learning that I study graphic novels, which is the highfalutin term for comic books – a graphic novel is really just a comic book that takes itself seriously. Most people upon learning that and maybe stifling some ridicule or laughter, may not realize that comic books have grown up.

In comic books it is my argument that we have unique opportunities for seeing the social and by that I mean the way that comic books often depict a single figure in proximate relationship to depictions of community. But before we get to anything so romantic and abstruse and grandiose as that most people want to know about the movies.

Hey wasn’t that one film “From Hell” originally a graphic novel? It was. Wasn’t that one movie “A History of Violence” originally a graphic novel? Yes. Yes again. It was.

It turns out that there are a lot of movies that take graphic novels as their templates. And some of us who know comics and graphic novels quite well are sometimes a bit disappointed when we see that even those scenes in the films that are the most poignant to see are taken directly from the comic book on which they’re based.

Leads us to ask: Why is it that so many films these days are based on comics? I think one answer has to be that comics provide incredible opportunities for identification. We heard a talk earlier that suggested that the human brain is ideally trained to recognize mind in faces.

Comic books love to give us the doll face and imbue the doll face with mind because we don’t just have images we also have words and the words are usually accorded to some kind of mind activity.

However, another reason is a practical one. The problems that anyone might encounter in telling a story pictorially have already been solved in the graphic novel.

Quiz

1. Michael Chaney defines a graphic novel as

a novel with pictures
an experimental art form
a comic book that takes itself seriously

2. Many people find Einstein’s theory of Relativity

abstract
obtuse
abstruse

3. Chaney suggests that many films are based on comic books because

comic books provide a template for how to tell a story with pictures
because they are well known and therefore sure to make a lot of money at the box office
many established film makers also love comics

4. Scot McCloud’s book “Understanding Comics” attempts to

analyze more than 100 graphic novels
compare comics to classic literature and high art
explain why comics are meaningful

5. McCloud suggests that

abstract drawings of people are more persuasive in comic form than realistic depictions
abstract images in comics are confusing to readers
abstract images should only be used when depicting landscapes and other background images

Discussion

Do you like reading graphic novels (or BD)?
Graphic novels are particularly popular among many adults in France, Belgium, Japan and the U.S.. Can you think of any particular reasons why this form of art and entertainment might be particularly popular in these cultures?
Do you believe that graphic novels should be considered an art form on par with music, novels, and film?

Resources

Video script and vocabulary