RESPONSE QUESTION: Discuss a passage in The Vision where the words are "interdependent" or "parallel" to the images in the frame. In other words, the words are not merely describing what the image is showing, and is adding another storyline, voice, or event that is not literally seen in the frame. How difficult was it to understanding what's going on here? Why do you think the comic does this? How does adding the multi-layered narrative benefit the story itself?
Thursday, May 14, 2020
For Friday: Blog Video #5 and The Vision
Okay, for our last day this week we're switching too a lesser-known hero (The Vision) and moving from DC comics to Marvel...I'll talk more about the difference between these two next week! So enjoy this comic, which is the most 'literary' in some ways, and also the most complex to follow, for reasons I hope to explain in today's video. So today I have a short video (16 min.) that discussed the word + image relationships in comics, and how words can change what we see (and what we believe)in an image.
RESPONSE QUESTION: Discuss a passage in The Vision where the words are "interdependent" or "parallel" to the images in the frame. In other words, the words are not merely describing what the image is showing, and is adding another storyline, voice, or event that is not literally seen in the frame. How difficult was it to understanding what's going on here? Why do you think the comic does this? How does adding the multi-layered narrative benefit the story itself?
RESPONSE QUESTION: Discuss a passage in The Vision where the words are "interdependent" or "parallel" to the images in the frame. In other words, the words are not merely describing what the image is showing, and is adding another storyline, voice, or event that is not literally seen in the frame. How difficult was it to understanding what's going on here? Why do you think the comic does this? How does adding the multi-layered narrative benefit the story itself?
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At the end of the novel, when Virginia is given her confession to the detective the text and images are interdependent but it veers off the original story so the reader has to slow down and really analyze everything being said. Then the reader must make the evaluation of what is really the truth. Is the novel presented as reliable information or have we only been seeing it through one person’s distorted perspective? This adds depth to the story and toys with the audience’s trust of believing what they have seen up to this point. It makes the story far more interesting and worth a second read. This also resolves the issue of Vison’s idea of the perfect family. At the beginning of the story he was trying to achieve the idea of the perfect American family: Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, and loyal canine companion. Yet as we see the family members dip into the unexpected roles : Virginia is becomes the Mama bear fiercely protecting her children, Vision is a workaholic, Vin struggles with self-identity and Viv experiences heart ache the audience sees a truer to life version of family. Virginia’s ultimate sacrifice proves that she had a better understanding of what family was all along. Through this action Vision has grown in this understanding as well. This ending makes Vision and his family far more relatable. By the end the reader perceives that Vision and his family had more in common with humans than anyone gave them credit for.
ReplyDeleteAh, this is a great scene--and it shows how comics can play with the traditional unreliable narrator to an even greater degree than your typical novel. That is, it can really add levels of doubt and suspicion if the images contradict the master narrative (or seem to). Yes, I agree--we come to sympathize with Vision's humanity by the end, since he learns to see his family not as programs but as flesh and blood (and he acknowledges his own flesh and blood).
DeleteThe passage I have chosen is in the first issue, where the floating vase is discussed. The first out of sequence text is about the couple that visits the Visions to welcome them to the neighborhood, and the revelation that they will die in flames. This is quite shocking and gives the reader a break in the otherwise dull preamble to what we preserve as a larger story about to unfold. This seems completely disconnected until the last few lines of the issue, when the vase that will be Norra’s final departing thought comes back into play, seemingly out of nowhere. However the symbolism of the floating vase always being empty and the contemplative voice asking what is the point in making a vase that will inevitably be empty makes the reader realize that this question is aimed more at the nature of humanity, or rather “synthe-somethings”, and the line that their “mission is meaningless”. This symbolism is particularly pointed in the scene where we see Virginia, who is thought to be contemplating her pre-loaded memories. She is seen in the foreground setting in the dark and over her shoulder we see the floating vase, shown in better lighting than she is.
ReplyDeleteThe purple box containing the passive voice dialog with its semi-narratory tone really adds to the sense of awkwardness and leads the story to take a back seat to the out-of-step prose that really shows how alien the mindset of the Visions actually is. For example, in the classroom scene, the fact that the purple dialog is defining what learning is to us while a student asks Vin if he is, in fact, “Normal” gives the reader an example of the parallel storyline. This whole issue is beautifully orchestrated. I feel it really sets the two intertwined narratives up very nicely...or is it kindly?
Yes, I love the vase, which becomes a great visual metaphor throughout the comic. That's such a great thing that comics can do, since a novel has to constantly push the theme in your face, but in a comic, it can just exist in the background, whether or not the characters comment upon it--as when we see the vase in better lighting than Virginia. Great reading here!
DeleteIn chapter two of The Vision, Viv is out of school because she is "ill". That makes Vin really upset because they depend off of each other. They also have "lunch" together every day and now Vin has no one at lunch. Viv's chemistry partner comes up to Vin and asks where she is at and if he can have her phone number. Vin doesn't respond, and the chemistry partner says something inappropriate about Synthezoids. Vin obviously gets furious and grabs him by the throat and lifts him up in the air. In the top frame, the purple boxes (the narrator) aren't talking about the situation that is going on currently. The purple boxes are talking about the differences between humans and Synthezoids. The purple boxes represent the narrator of this story and sometimes that gets confusing. There are times when the narrator isn't talking about what is going on in that frame and instead is talking about a past memory or thought. I feel like happens because whatever the narrator says whether is happened in the past or is going to happen, it is important and wants the reader to know that.
ReplyDeleteYes, great reading here...the narrator is like Vision, a creature who is never really in the present moment, but always letting the program run while he does a diagnostic elsewhere. Or maybe this is a defense mechanism for escaping the uncomfortable situations and emotions which arise in human society? Vision denies his humanity throughout, and the narration tries to do the same...until it can't!
DeleteCallie Farley: In the comic The Vision, from even the first page of the first volume I was a little taken back because of that other narrative that is essentially narrating the story. I thought that this was really cool because it helped readers understand the context. I also enjoyed it because most of the time, people don't actually say what they feel and with a comic you can kind of lose that connection to the characters that you might have in a traditional novel. The background narration helps us connect with the characters on a bit of a deeper level than if we didn't have it. These back ground narrations also add some humor to the story as well as briefing over things that aren't necessarily important to the overall story. They reminded me of Jay Kristoff's Nevernight trilogy where he includes a bunch of footnotes that break the 4th wall and add humor to the story.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting connection; do you feel like this narration breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the reader? Or is it merely like an aside in a play, with the narrator basically talking to themselves? Is there a sense that this parallel structure is taking the story apart? Or is it simply unaware that anyone is watching, so we're getting a very unguarded (and thus more reliable) narrator?
DeleteThe passage I have chosen is the part about the wundagore everbloom. It starts with Visions wife one the phone trying to call Vision, the narrative starts talking about the flower, and goes in to telling the story about Agatha and Wanda. We then transition into seeing a woman and her cat tasting the everbloom, all while the narrative is telling this story about fake ones and how people eat them. It continues on to tell about how Agatha and Wanda are the only ones who know how to truly see time through these magic flowers, all while we still see this woman and her cat fighting and the woman eventually kills the cat. Reading this I was extremely confused until the end of it, we were also transitions between this story and the Vision trying to save his daughter. I didn't understand why the woman and the cat were there, I kept on thinking "maybe Agatha is the woman and the cat is Wanda", then I would read more and think "no it can't be they are both humans". I finally realized when that part of the story was over that the woman and the cat were just another way of telling the story in a different time. It was super interesting to read and think about. I think the comic does this to help tell the story in a different form, I think they really wanted to test the reader. I do think it adding this multi-layer benefits the story, it makes it entertaining and makes you think.
ReplyDeleteYes, this comics is at once more literary and more allusive to other comics. It helps to know a little bit about the Vision's origin, his relationship with Scarlet Witch, and his history with the Avengers. THe comic tries to fill in the gaps, but does so in a very dense way, which can become overwhelming to the first-time reader. But this also makes the story more literary, since like most great literature, we always see the story before we starting reading...because life doesn't begin on page 1. There was a life before this story, and a good novel constantly takes us backwards as well as forward. So this comic has to use a parallel structure to show us that the past is still 'present' in Vision's life. Even his family is a way of negating his past and trying to establish a new identity apart from the Avengers and his marriage to the Scarlet Witch.
DeleteOn page 67 we see a woman who just killed her cat who turned into a panther. This scene is interdependent. The pictures and the text both show and explain what is going on in this section. This scene is a bit hard to understand. She eats the flower from the cats stomach because it must be first eaten from hunger than from murder. The reader would not understand what is going on if the pictures or the next were not included. I believe this woman was wanting to be able to see what was going to happen in the future. When she ate the flower from the cats stomach she saw the blood of many different heroes and other people covering the vision`s. This is adding another story line because she had not been mentioned previously to this moment. I believe this was inserted into the story to add another layer to the bad things that were to come later in the comic.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's at once showing us Vision's past that bleeds into the present, and also is a kind of in-reference for those who know earlier comics in the Marvel universe. We can't possible read them all, since Vision's story goes back way into the 60's, so a little recap is necessary. But it's not different with real people, who are shaped by their pasts and their actions are tied to previous actions. This moment helps us see that, so we realize that this isn't a story we can read without context.
DeleteThe first few frame that I came across where the words were definitely interdependent to the image was when Nora and George was leaving the Visions' house after introducing themselves. There are two different frames where the pictures tell us they are walking down the street having a conversation. However, the words are telling us that one of the Visions will burn their house down and kill them. It is also telling us what will be the last thing that each of them think before they die. That was far from what was actually taking place within the frames. If the words were not there I would never have guessed anything out of the ordinary stroll was taking place. I feel like the comic does this here to set a tone between the two families for the rest of the story. It adds to the narrative by making the reader initially question each future interaction as to what direction it goes. It makes one wonder if it will be a climax within the story, leaving one on edge and eager to read further to see.
ReplyDeleteYes, I love this scene...I love when books let us know that there is a past and a future that is going on at the same time as our story. After all, if you're telling this story you must know what happens, and by starting at the beginning, you are profoundly shaped by what eventually happens. Comics can easily show us the past and slip in the future (or the present) without being intrusive. A simple word or two can change how we read a seemingly innocent image like this one. It's amazing how simple it is, and how effective!
DeleteMayra Munoz: At the end of the first chapter the Grim Reaper breaks into the Vision’s house, stabs Viv and hurts Vin, when Virginia hits him and he falls to the ground Vin is calling to his mother and they are all observing the Grim Reaper on the floor while another story line comes up explaining why the floating water vases of Zenn-La are always empty, this has nothing to do with the images in the frame, but, is Virginia comparing herself to the floating vases of Zenn-La???.......
ReplyDeleteI truly think that the comic does this to awaken our creativity and to help us see beyond the words. When the story mentions that Nora’s last thought would be about the water vase of Zenn-La and why it was empty, I couldn’t help but wonder why, when at the end those interdependent words appeared, they answered my question, but at the same time it allowed for more questions to form in my head.
I’m telling you, I’m hooked!!
Yes, this is a very confusing scene, since most readers don't even know who the Grim Reaper is, or how he's connected to Vision (and why he wants revenge on him). So this moment makes it even more complex, though it lets us know that the past shapes everything that happens in the present, and that Virginia, who Vision ultimately sees as a program, is aware and full of conscience...and this deed will not wash off of her hands so easily (like Lady Macbeth!).
DeleteJordyn Moore: In the vision I found a passage where Virginia was retelling her version of what happened with the Grim Reaper to be parallel to the images in the frames. Virginia is telling a tweaked story of what happened to the Reaper to Vision and in the images we see something like a flashback of what she is explaining (even though what she is explaining isn’t completely true). For me reading the Vision was harder to understand than the previous books we have read. I am not sure if the writers made the book so layered to make it stand out from the crowd so to speak, or if they just wanted something totally different but, personally for me there is too much going on. In saying this, even though it wasn’t my favorite style of comic, having a multi-layered story does have benefits. One way that the Vision has a multi-layered story benefits itself by adding more depth for the reader to engage into.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I love this passage...since we know what really happened, and then we see the images that contradict her story--two totally different accounts existing side by side. This book is more literary in its sense of storytelling, since unlike the other two, it seems to be saying, "how DO you tell a story when you can't really trust anyone, and no one is even sure of the truth themselves?" I think this is probably much more true to life, and similar to how we experience events and make sense of them. WHich is probably why we try to avoid it in literature--it's too complex and relatable!
DeleteThe text and words are interdependent when Virginia opens her mailbox and finds the phone with the recording of her crime. The plot would advance in a meaningful way without the text - we see her open her mailbox, find the box, open it, see the device, and watch the damning recording - but the words add depth. This scene, and others of its same type later on, give us a way into Virginia's personality. It shows her willingness to compartmentalize and to deny the truth of what is happening to her family, but those traits are how we see her tremendous strength of will. It is clear to the reader that there is no way these "unusual stresses" are going to just "crumble to dust", but the point is not for the text to be "right", the point is for it to give the frames depth of meaning, casting Virginia a noble but doomed figure.
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a great reading--it makes Virginia more complex, but also more human--not just a 'robot wife.' It helps us understand why she commits more violent acts and finds herself emeshed in crimes and a guilty conscience. She's trying to protect her family like any mother would, and she acts in very relatable ways...ways which could easily be ignored if we didn't have her inner thoughts running parallel to the rest of the story. She's like Lady Macbeth if we had more monologues from her before she goes mad!
DeleteBrittany Davis - The Vision is FULL of these scenes where the picture is not what is happening currently. My favorite instance of this is where Virginia is explaining to Vision what happened when the Grim Reaper came to their house. While Virginia WAS protecting her family she knew that Vision would think that she went too far in killing the Grim Reaper in the way that she did. So instead of telling him exactly what happened she changes her story. While she is recounting her story you see her version of the story being displayed. It is a little harder to understand what is going on, it requires a little more thought than the other two but I like that aspect of it. While Batman and Superman were fun to read, The Vision made me reflect more.
ReplyDelete