Friday Re-Cap for Maneaters, Vol.1

NOTE: Don't forget about the Paper #1 assignment, which is two posts down. It's due in-class on Monday! So it's homework for this weekend. Don't work too hard on it, and use your previous responses for inspiration and ideas. 

WORD + IMAGE TRANSITIONS

* I opened the class by discussing how words change pictures, especially since pictures can tell a story without words. So when we looked at a simple Peanuts comic without words, and then added the words back in, we got a drastically different story. That's because well-chosen words can help us see aspects of an image that we didn't previously see, or even change the image entirely. 

* There are three complex word + image transition that Scott McCloud introduces in his book, Understanding Comics (1993):

1. Additive: where either words or pictures add something significant to the story;

2. Parallel: where words and pictures seem to go off in different directions, though it all makes sense in the context of the story;

3. Interdependent: where words and images go hand in hand to tell the story, each one pulling equal weight.  Eliminating one would change the meaning entirely. 

We then added words to series of blank Spider Man panels to change a fairly boring story into very humorous or irreverent ones. Each students' example made the story infinitely more interesting! 

THE STYLE OF MANEATERS

* Unlike Scarlet Witch, the style here is consistent throughout and suggests, as someone said, a "friendly" YA comic or something more similar to "Dove" from Superman: American Alien. It's full of bright colors which makes it seem like a stereotypical "girl's comic," and yet the story itself is quite dark at times, and always satirical. So the style helps us 'see' the satire and the overall humor of the piece. 

* This is also the only comic to use mixed media: actual photos and other documents alongside the comic. This gives it a surreal quality and underlines the essential humor of the piece. You almost don't know where the propaganda ends and the story begins. Indeed, the fourth chapter/comic is a fake magazine entitled "Cat Fight," which is aimed at boys who are terrified of girls--even their sisters! None of this would make any sense outside of a comic book, where the styles are easily seen and immediately signal a change in tone and purpose. 

* Look, too, for all the "interdependent," "parallel," and "additive" elements in Maneaters. A lot of the pictures gain new purpose (and often, silliness) when the words are added. Sometimes, for example, the words are talking about one thing and the pictures are showing us something else (as when the cat kills its entire family early on in the book). 

THE METAPHOR

* We had a very long discussion about the term, "the personal is political," since for women, every choice they make (or is made for them) has political implications. Also, their bodies are often regulated by laws made by men, which helps us understand the dystopian metaphor of children who are forced to eradicate their periods for the good of society. Their bodies become products of the state, and entire families live in mortal terror of their pre-teen daughters. 

* Also, remember why cats are such a useful metaphor here: because we often relate girls to cats, as in cat fight, pussy, kitten's got claws, and so forth. Women are often seen synonymous with cats in society because they are supposedly mercurial, aloof, unpredictable, and hard to read (see the "tell-tail signs" section of Cat Fight). Also, the word "pussy" has a triple meaning: a cat, slang for the vagina, and slang for an effeminate man. So in our society, being termed a female body part is the worst of all possible insults. 

* It's also fun the point out the idea that men live in fear of women, and are scared of being eaten alive by then, or jumped in the night. This is a satirical inversion of the real world, where women often live in fear of walking home at night because of predatory men. 

* We ended class by discussing whether or not female superheroes have gained equality over the years, and looked at some examples from Wonder Woman to a recent cover of Spider Woman (which you can see below). You be the judge: is sexism a thing of the past?