Week Two:
According to Horricks (2004), how have perceptions of comics as a media changed?
Before I choose this ‘Popular Genre’ paper, I did not read any graphic novel or comics while I was in china. However, from the discovery about this Comics genre so far, I feel quite interesting about The Adventure about Tin tin`s comics, So I have download the ‘The Blue Tutor’s chapter of The Adventure of Tin tin. I found it is a quite attractive and claver comic to me. Also, rescored some history truth about china, this make me quite shocking and exciting. Which build me a confidence about the genre`s future. Because I remember while I was in china, Comics and graphic novel was forbidden in high school, because they were considered as waste of time for study.
I think this is the way most of new genre going through, as Horricks(2004) told us the perceptions of comics as a media have changed in New Zealand as well.However, not only NZ, but more or less the other countries as well. Because Horricks(2004) says In early 1950s there was a big influence concern in New Zealand about the comics on young people.
Later on, in second paragraph of this article Horricks(2004) again point out, things have changed. There are more and more people considered this genre is worth to discover in English and History department in Universities, such as, in America, Britain, Britain and New Zealand as well.
I like the way Horricks (2004) showing the ‘invisible art’ part in the article to describe as well, because this is the comprehensibly way to give reader a clear image in their head as well. The reader like me from another cultural aspect, because people have a differ understanding as well. Because I think the image is more helpful to build up the knowledge `s layout writer try to annotate to readers.
So, I think comics as a media will become more popular and acceptable in the future days for readers and also for discovery group like us doing, because I think this is a new type of media and full of knowledge to exploring. And somehow, which also can uses in education filed to help students understand things as well.

What does Baetons (2001) mean by ‘monstration’, ‘graphiation’ and the ‘graphiateur’’?
I agree the contribution that Neo-Walt have made for this question, because I have found the same answer, According to week two`s resources online Baetons(2001) have point out ‘monstration’ means where “the events are performed by the characters themselves in a situation in which the story seems to narrate itself, without any narrator’s intervention” the monstration was first uses by Andre Gaudreault while he was looking at film telling in films.
Also, from the reading online of this week, as Baetons(2001) `s definition for graphiation and graphiateur already clearly showed us, there it’s a relationship between graphiation and graphiateur. Graphiation works are produced or enunciated by graphiateur.

After I have looked the answer from Neo-Walt for this Week and also considered (Baetens, 2001) told us monstration it’s also a type of narration. The graphiation which it’s a non form from graphic, and the Marrion (Betate, 2001) have described that “graphiation” it’s the graphic and narrative enunciation of comics.
 

Reference List:
Horricks, D. (2004). The Perfect Planet: Comics, games and world-building. In Williams,
M. (Ed.), Writing at the Edge ofthe Universe. Christchurch: University of Canterbury Press.
Horricks, D.(2004). The Perfect Planet: Comics, games and world-building.
Baetons,J(2001). Revealing Traces: anew theory of graphic enunciation. In R., Varnum& C., Gibbons(Eds.), The Language of Comics: word and image(pp.145-155). Jackson: U Press of Mississippi.

Week Three

How has fantasy as a genre been defined? Find at least five formative definitions in Attebery (1980)
When Attebery (1980) discusses the definition of fantasy, he refers to direct quotes by such authors as W R Irwin who says "an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility" is a primary feature of fantasy. When it comes to distinguishing fantasy from other genres Attebery (1980) sums it all up with his quote "By demanding a straight forward treatment of impossible characters, objects, or events, we can distinguish between fantasy and related genres.
Can the genre legitimately be defined by examples? How do English and American constructions of fantasy diverge, according to Attebery?
When Attebery (1980) discusses fantasy he mentions books such as Tolkien's "The lord of the Rings", C J Lewis's "Narnia" and Prelandra books, the Alice books and many more. Attebery (1980) mentions that there are many other works of lesser standing which could also fill many more shelves under the genre of fantasy. So while many examples comfortably fit under the genre of fantasy it may be easier to decide their suitability to the fantasy genre by applying quotes such as "founded upon the hard recognition that things are so in the world as it appears under the sun; on a recognition of fact but not a slavery to it"(Tolkien as sited in Attebery, 1980, p. 3). Another such quote which defines the fantasy genre is "Any narrative which includes as a significant part of it’s make up some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law- that is fantasy (Attebery, 1980, p. 3).
When discussing how English and American constructions of fantasy have diverged....I look forward to your answers as my own investigation has come up blank.
What are some archetypes (e.g. common character types) of fantasy fiction?
Wizards,goblins and dragons.
In what ways does Tax (2002) suggest Earthsea may still be relevant today?
Tax (2002) discusses how the Earthsea books paint a symbolic picture of where we are today because just like in the narratives males dominate when it comes to mature and authoritative leadership of any sort. Furthermore Tax (2002) mentions that the science fiction and heroic fantasy genre started out as man's domain however the continuing influx of women to this genre has not brought about any more psychological penetration in general.
Short Note: It is my understanding that we are not expected to answer all set the questions every week. (Please advise if i am wrong) just as we are not expected to read every reading?

The Week One

Hi, Dear Lecture and group members, Sorry about my late posting and being undisciplined from first week, I hope my answers contributing personal thoughts clear to our group`s members and welcome to discuss with me if you have different thinking with me.
1, do you think comics are a children's or adult genre/media?
I have never think Comics it’s designed for adults before I do this paper in university, I thought they suitable and worth to read for children. However, after I have done some research in library and read some articles online. I think comics are a kind of art form suitable for both children and adults, because I discovered comics’ genre holding illustrate skills, literary thoughts and also can inform people cultural differences as well while people reading. Also I think this is a classical art form to communicate with people ideas for three different types of leaner, such as visual leaner, auditory leaner and kinaesthetic learners as well. According to Farr(1991) saids “The Adenture of Tintin was aimed at all young people from age seven to seventy-seven”. Also, he saids each of their own finds different level of understanding and appreciation.
Also, I have found great websites which have variety of Comics for children and adults. There also have comics stores for people love reading comics. These all proves comics it’s quite popular for people from different age groups.
There it’s a link: http://www.comics.co.nz/ for bring you more information about comics.
Above all, I think comics it’s suitable for both children and adults group.
Reference List:
Farr, M.(1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the complete companion(pp.8-9).London:John Murray.
2, how and why are comics becoming more accepted as an art form?
Can/should they be regard as a literary genre?
I have not seen anyone provide any information for this question so far. So, I would like to put some standpoint on . In my point of view, different generation and terms of culture, people have their own way of remember society`s development. Comics it’s kind of art form to help people reflect their own feelings and communicate with people. Art form it’s an way of expression their own thoughts and ideas, I think the comics-Adventure of Tintin it’s a great prove did this quite successful.
Literary means concerned with or connected with writing, study, or appreciation of literature. If literary genre contains a part of comics for teaching while we doing presentation, which will give a great benefit to people who site in the back role and forgot their glasses during the day. However, I think it`s not.

Week 3

Note while you are reading A Wizard of Earthsea Le Guin’s depiction of race and gender. Is there anything surprising in this? Why?

I found it surprising that Le Guin, being a woman, chose stereotypical females for her female characters in “A Wizard of Earthsea” published in 1968. But perhaps this is not so surprising when one considers that Fantasy had been shaped by men such as John Ruskin who set the scene for the genre, one that “rejects the modern world for the small, quiet, green one that the peasants knew” (Attebery, 1980, p. 6) and George MacDonald, whose work was also published in the 1800s. These men lived in times which had specific expectations of women. It certainly was not that of ‘adventurer’.

If Le Guin wanted her female characters to be anything but stereotypical, I think she would have had to go against established Fantasy genre expectations, even in the 20th century, and I have to wonder if, as a new writer, her work would have been published if she had. Somehow, I don’t think so. Once she had the readership following, then she would have had more author authority to rid women of their stereotypes in her fantasy world. But this did not happen for about 40 years after “A Wizard from Earthsea” when her work, for example, “Tales from Earthsea” was published (Tax, 2002). Yet even the female character in this work finds an unhappy lot because she has ‘power’ which has been considered the domain of men only, and must face male prejudice as a result (Tax).

Examples of stereotyping of women in “The Wizard of Earthsea” include (with references from Le Guin, 1993; 1968):

Woman as temptress/deceiver: an example is when the daughter of the old Lord of Re Albi tries to charm information about sorcery out of Ged. The girl’s name is not given here. Later in the story we learn she is called Serret, the Lady of the Keep, who tries to deceive not only Ged a second time, but also her husband: “Softly she whispered, ‘You will be mightier than all men, a king among men. You will rule, and I will rule with you” (p. 112).

Woman as no threat: women are easily handled and no threat to men, even when conjured by magic. “I’ll call a woman’s spirit. You need not fear a woman” (p. 62).

Woman as witch/troublemaker/power-less: women as witches are generally meddling in magic of the lower order and not capable or responsible enough to know and handle the strong magic of men. Men only are allowed at the school on Roke to be initiated into the real art. With sorcery comes “glory and the riches and the great power over men” (p. 17), certainly not attainable by the stereotypical female. Ged’s aunt was a witch who “used her crafts to foolish and dubious ends . . . her lore was mere rubbish and humbug, nor did she know the true spells from the false” (p. 16-17). Ged’s aunt was “better at causing sickness, perhaps, than curing it” (p. 17). When Ged is put to the test by the doorkeeper at Roke, he could not get in because his aunt’s spell “was only a witch’s charm” (p. 40).

Yet another example is when Ged goes to heal Pechvarry’s son. A witchwoman has been looking after the ill child. She states: “Lord Wizard, I think this fever is the redfever” (p. 80). The child is seriously ill and she only thinks she knows what’s ailing him. The insinuation here is that if Ged had been called in sooner, he would have known and the boy may have lived. Moreover, a wizard can “shake the balance of the world” (p. 48) or have world power. Women cannot.

Woman as the stay-at-home domestic: throughout the story, the female is in the background doing the usual homely or housewifely duties. “Housewives row across the channel to take a cup of rushwash tea with the neighbour” (p. 76). Ah, yes, where would women be without their gossiping over tea? Yet, Ged has the perceived male traits of “wish for glory, the will to act” (p. 32). Generally, women provide Ged with food, for example, “the fisherman’s wife had given him two loaves of bread and a jar of water” (p. 125), and Yarrow, who prepares the food for Ged’s and her brother’s journey together: “Yarrow on her knees to see if the last batch of cakes baking on the hearth-bricks was getting brown”.

Woman must be beautiful/girlish to have value: a woman’s beauty is seen as important currency as is her youth. The young and beautiful Lady of O is married to an old man, yet she retains her girlishness: she “cried out with pleasure” (p. 54), and “asked childlike, of her stern husband” (p. 54). Women have long hair as a trademark of their femininity. Women’s ‘magic’ is their beauty which bewitches men: “the beauty of the Lady of the Keep confused his mind” (p. 107) and “for her sake all Enlad was laid waste, and the Hero-Mage of Havnor died, and the island Solea sank beneath the sea” (p. 54). In other words, a woman’s bewitching beauty (her only source of real power) is man’s undoing. The Lady of the Keep’s conniving has her husband stating: “And you are a fool, too, woman of Gont, thinking to trick both him [Ged] and me, and rule us both by your beauty” (p. 113).

Woman as unintelligent: woman lack the mental faculties of men. For example, Vetch speaking of Yarrow, “this is my sister, the youngest of us, prettier than I am as you see, but much less clever” (p. 144). What makes this comment worse is that Yarrow accepts his estimation of her. Her reaction: “decorously she bobbed her head and hid her eyes with her hands to show respect, as women did in the East Reach” (p. 145). She shows respect after being disrespected? And, now, the best for last, Yarrow’s self-disparagement: “I wish I could truly understand what you tell me. I am too stupid” (p. 151).

Briefly, here are some of the male stereotypes and race stereotypes that I think exist in “The Wizard of Earthsea” (Le Guin, 1993; 1968):

Male stereotypes can be seen in Ged’s impetuousness as a boy; his desire for adventure; his ability to learn new information; in the fact that he can seek an education and follow his dream; his courage in the face of danger; the need to prove himself; that he is permitted to err and yet is not called ‘stupid’ when he mucks things up (even when another dies because of his actions); that he can leave his home village for adventure and follow a quest; and in the very act of him finishing what he started.

Stereotypes of race: Le Guin shows race through the colour of skin be it red-brown, black, pale white, pale skinned, black-brown, etc. But there is no white dominance here. The Archmage after Nemmerle is Gensher. “Gensher was black-skinned, and his look was black, under thick brows” (p. 67). Ged is red-brown, which goes against the traditional Western ideal of the hero figure. Slaves are common in the story, but don’t seem to be of any particular race. The aggressive Kargads are white with yellow hair who were “in lust of conquest”, but I think it would be a stretch to start making colonial comparisons.

One point of interest is that race is not only inferred on bipedal characters. Dragons are considered “an older race than man” (Le Guin, 1993; 1968, p. 88). So I think race is probably a designation of species rather than of bipedal characters.

The stereotypes, especially the female stereotypes, did not dampen my enjoyment of the piece until I came to Yarrow's comment about herself being too stupid. It seemed an odd thing to write and read artificially as if Le Guin was overly conscious of the expectations of the Fantasy world she had to create, or perhaps this stems from being overly eager to be published. She later revised her attitude to stereotyping (AUT PowerPoint Slides, Week 3).

What are some archetypes (e.g. common character types) of fantasy fiction?

Tax (2002) states that there are specific types of women in the fantasy genre: “absent beloved, evil witch, damsel in distress and girl warrior” (p. 13).

Week Four’s PowerPoint slides give a list of archetypes as named through Jungian psychology. With no question relevant to these in Week Four, I’ve incorporated some of them here. Among them, as I see them in “The Wizard of Earthsea” are:

Hero (Ged): “He or she is the person who transcends ego, but at first, the hero is all ego” (Peterson, 2010).

Wise Old Man (Ogion): “Guidance, knowledge, wisdom” (Cherry, 2010).

Trickster (Serret): “Deceiver, liar, trouble-maker” (Cherry, 2010).

Shadow (the shadow as released by Ged).

I would also add Door Keeper as in the wizard who tends to the door of the school on Roke. This, I think, is typical of Fantasy, where there is someone protecting the way and who has to be ‘got on side’ as it were, or dispensed with. Cherry (2010) refers to this character as the Gatekeeper.

How has fantasy as a genre been defined?

Fantasy is where the impossible in our world becomes possible in worlds created by authors and where characters, beings, things and happenings unnatural in our world exist and occur (Attebery, 1980). As Attebery states, the Fantasy genre is “any narrative which include as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law” (p. 3).

Examples other worldliness in Le Guin's “The Wizard of Earthsea” include:

1) the otak a little creature Ged befriends; 2) Earthsea, a created world which is shown in map form at the beginning of the work;

3) magic throughout the work, including magewind which is called upon to fill the sails of boats and spells to change form, binding spells, and others;

4) the dangerous spirit caught in the stone Terrenon;

5) the doorway to the school at Roke which is made from the ivory tooth of a dragon;

6) the wizard’s staff which is a symbol of his power and a conduit of it.

Given the above, I agree with Attebery (1980) who states that Fantasy “needs consistency. Reader and writer are committed to maintaining the illusion for the entire course of the fiction” (p.3). This is where Le Guin’s skill in Fantasy writing becomes apparent. She not only creates the illusion in the first place, but untiringly maintains the illusion. I think this consistency goes a long way in creating ‘realism’ in her Fantasy world. Without it, the reader would start spotting the inconsistencies and so the illusion would be lost. This would put the reader’s focus on the author and not on the work as the author lost credibility with the reader.

“The Wizard of Earthsea” is an example of High Fantasy where the imagined other world is self-contained and there is a map to show the world (PowerPoint Slides WK 3).

Low Fantasy occurs in the real world but may have links with another world (PowerPoint Slides WK 3). Example: The Indian in the Cupboard series (1980).

Find at least five formative definitions in Attebery (1980).

The development of Fantasy has drawn on a number of elements:

• Oral Marchen of peasants was the earliest form which at times borrowed from the epic and myth (Attebery, 1980).
  
  
• The Grimm brothers instigated the next development by putting the oral stories into written form, so making these stories acceptable to other classes within society (Attebery, 1980).
  
  
• Novel writers developed their own stories as the written form of Marchen did not do the oral tales justice – this commenced with the German Romantics, so creating the “literary fairy tale” (Attebery, 1980, p. 5) and also included the English author John Ruskin whose work incorporates a more sophisticated environment that is integral to the story, and where the story incorporates the author’s viewpoint rather than being bound to the peasant viewpoint or carrying a moral as did Marchen (Attebery, 1980).

In “The Wizard of Earthsea” the environment is quite sophisticated and incorporates the peasant setting. We are given descriptions of villages, for example, Ten Alders, and the surrounding countryside. Le Guin goes to a great deal of trouble to let us know the places around about when Ged is travelling by boat. The descriptive pieces, however, don’t overshadow the characters.

• George MacDonald developed the literary fairy tale by incorporating legend which gave his stories a new type of realism where characters were faced with perils and challenges (Attebery, 1980).

In “The Wizard of Earthsea”, the hero faces life-threatening events such as when he let loose the shadow which nearly killed him. He faces danger again when he chases the shadow and damages his boat. His challenge is to overcome his fear, confront the shadow and defeat it.

• Medieval influence came into the development of Fantasy through William Morris who “invented a storytelling language to match his imaginary worlds” (Attebery, 1980, p. 7) and C.S. Lewis who incorporated the psychology of Jung into his work (Attebery) (see above – archetypes).

Le Guin in “The Wizard of Earthsea” uses a special rhythm and language for her narrative which helps to create ‘the other’ world. Examples of this language include “No weapon-hurt had come to the boy” (he was not injured by the weapon. – p. 22); a healall (a physician/doctor/healer – p. 23); Sunreturn (morning – p. 27); drouth (drought – p. 57); and carven shelves (carved shelves – p. 145).

References

Attebery, B. (1980). Locating fantasy. In The fantasy tradition in American Literature: from Irving to Le Guinn (pp. 2-9). Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1980.

Cherry, K. (2010). Archetypes: Jung’s archetypes. Retrieved August 5, 2010, from http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/tp/archetypes.htm

Le Guin, U. (1993; 1968). A Wizard of Earthsea. In The Earthsea Quartet (pp. 13-167). London: Penguin.

Peterson, D. (2010). The archetypes of the hero’s journey. Retrieved August 5, 2010, from http://adulted.about.com/od/howtos/a/archetypes.htm

Tax, M. (Jan 28, 2002). Year of Harry Potter, Enter the Dragon. In The Nation.

Also: AUT: PowerPoint Slides Week 3 and Week 4 from Critical Reader, obtained from Blackboard.

week 1

Hi, everyone!

First, sorry for my late blog for week one. And this is my answer to two questions of week one!!

Do you think comics are a children's or adult genre/media?
I think both. If you said comics are a children’s genre, why a lot writers of them are adults? If you said it just for adults, the vivid picture and interesting story can also attract the attention of the children.
So in my words, the comics show us a real world, the adults has seen the story with the reality of the true life, and the children has seen the external phenomenon from the view of children themselves. This is interplay between the two kinds of readers. And this is comics’ fascination.


How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin's appeal to adults?
Hergé said, Tintin was a story “aimed at all young people aged from seven to seventy-seven.”(Farr ,1991).
In Farr (1991), Farr thought Tintin appeal to adults from two points:
First, from the children reader to the adult reader, the understanding of this work has changed. In another word, a child who saw Tintin in his young age, as he grew up, some thing happened on him, the attitude of the life has changed. When he married, became a father, and told the Tintin story to his child. The view of the appreciation will become wider. So Tintin’s story like an encyclopedia, make different ages of readers find the wealth of their age.
Second, some of Tintin’s adventure stories involved in different levels. This is also Farr’s mind, which appeal to the adults. ‘’the adult will additionally find political satire and parody, puns and prescience’’ (Farr, 1991). For an adult who underwent the rise and fall, you must find some useful advice in Tintin. Every time you read it, every time you learned more!


reference:
Farr, M. (1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp.8-9). London: John Murray.


Sorry again!!!

Week 2

Week 2
What does Baetons (2001) mean by‘monstration’, ‘graphiation’ and the ‘graphiateur’’?

According to Baetens (2001), “Gaudreaults proposes to call the narrative instance of a film the ‘image-narrator’ or ‘great image-maker’, and to analyze the specific narrative situation of movies as the hierarchal combination of several types of narration or, as he calls it, ‘monstration’.” (pp.148)
Graphiation is graphic and narrative enunciation of the comics, and ‘graphiateur’ is the agent responsible for it. Therefore, ‘graphiation’ is a person who creates ‘graphiation’.

Compare the relationship between images and words differ in Hergé (1933) and Spiegelman’s (2004) works.

I don’t really know about comics before this paper. Actually, I like film or cartoon more than comics. However, through this paper, I have a new understanding to comics.
As Baetens (2001) said Philippe Marion (1993) analysis published the elements of comics. “Those elements belong to three different domains: that of the images, that of the captions, and that of the marks which are neither directly part of the image nor part of the captions, such as for instance the form of the balloons or that of the panel frames.” (pp. 145) Therefore, in a comic, the relationship between images and words can take a large impact to comic. Different comics have different relationships between images and words. This is a visual theme to describe the story.
In my opinion, the relationship between images and words in Herge (1933) is more traditional. The images and panel frames are very simple and clean. However, the relationship between images and words in Spiegelman (2004) is more tangly and modern. I think that different between these two prove the progress of modern comics.

Reference
Baetons, J(2001). Revealing Traces: a new theory of graphic enunciation. In R., Varnum & C., Gibbons (Eds.), The Language of Comics: word and image (pp. 145-155). Jackson: U Press of Mississippi.

Week 1

Week 1
Do you think comics are a children's or adult genre/media?

Comics are a kind of popular genres. I don’t think comics are just a children’s or adult genre. Like another genre, fantasy. It not just belongs to children or adult. Anyone different comic has its own audience group. It base on the topic of comics. However, when an adult and a child read a same comic, they will have different reviews.
“The adventures of Tintin” is a good example. This comics suit both children and adults. Just like the author of Tintin said “Tintin was aimed at all young people aged from seven to seventy-seven.” In fact the appeal has proved much wider (Farr, 1991).

Reference
Farr, M. (1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp.8-9). London: John Murray.

How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin’s appeal to adults?

Tintin is a famous comic in the world. This comic has deeply history background. Tintin has a big appeal to both children and adults. When children read this comic, they will focus on the story. However, after they growing to a adult and read it again. Their understanding and appreciation will get a high level.
As Farr (1991) said “The child will be gripped by the excitement of Tintin, the comedy, even farce. The adult will additionally find political satire and parody, Puns and prescience” (pp. 9).

Reference
Farr, M. (1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp.8-9). London: John Murray.

According to the second Farr extract (p.50-59), how did Hergé research China for The Blue Lotus?

The Blue Lotus is one of The Adventures of Tintin. This story’s background is in China. Herge is very interesting about Chinese history and culture. He want to do a deep research about China in The Blue Lotus.
According to the second Farr extract (p. 50-59), Herge met Chang Chong-chen in the spring of 1934. “Long discussions followed which gave Herge a true of China that went far beyond what the newspaper cuttings he continued to accumulate could suggest. A lifelong fascination with China was awakened by Chiang.”(p.51) Chang told him a lot, taught him a lot and show him a real China that he never known. Herge said “It was at the time of The Blue Lotus that I discovered a new world.”(p.51)

Reference
Farr, M. (1991). The Blue Lotus. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp.50-59). London: John Murray.