Browsing by Subject "Graphic novels"
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Item Culture, theory, and graphic fiction(Texas Tech University, 1999-08) Williams, JeffThis chapter is divided into two main sections, the first of which offers a review of the literature within comics scholarship. Within this review key issues are discussed and their relationship to the dissertation. The review is followed by an introduction to dissertation, its structure and the overall goal ofthe project. A brief discussion ofthe nature and origin of combining words and pictures acts as a segue into the major concerns of comics scholarship. Early Australian pictographs, Mayan paintings, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Japanese scrolls, and other combinations of pictures and words have embellished human communication and story telling long before the printing press. With the advent of the printing press, combining words and pictures (e.g., illustrated books and political cartoons) continued this tradition. Some comics scholars (e.g., Scott McCloud and James Steranko) recognize these pre-printing press examples as a type of proto-comics. Sol Davidson includes Upper Paleolithic art parietal (Davidson 2-9) and Lancelot Hogben traces an equally early origin for comics and visual communication (Hogben). These assertions appear to stretch the definition ofthe medium and look more like an attempt at giving comics an ancient and reputable past as opposed to providing a true understanding of the medium and its beginnings, a point echoed by Wolfgang Fuchs Fuchs 8). David Kunzle's histories offer a more serious and inteUigent approach. His examples and analysis of early types of "comics" begin with 15th Century broadsheets (Kunzle, History ofthe Comic Strip 12,16), and Roger Sabin also traces the earUest history of comics to the broadsheets Sabin, Adult 11).Item "A dame to kill for" or "a slut-- worth dying for" : women in the noir of Frank Miller(2011-05) Lamfers, Jordan Scott; Bremen, Brian A.; Kornhaber, DonnaThe depictions of women in film noir and neo-noir have long been objects of interest for feminist scholars. In this report, I extend this scholarship to examine Frank Miller's Sin city graphic novel series as a version of neo-noir that is both intimately connected to noir tradition and innovative in its approach, specifically in terms of his representation of women. Miller depicts his female characters in a variety of ways that reflect both the positive and negative imagery of women in classic noir and neo-noir; in doing so, he creates a new and complex vision of women in noir. This report uses three different characterizations of women in film noir--the spider woman, the femme moderne, and the angel--to explore the ways in which Miller's female characters can be understood to simultaneously uphold and challenge these conventions.Item Motivating reluctant readers through graphic novels: An action research project(2008-08) Schwertner, Afton M.; Watson, Patricia; Saldana, Rene; Furgerson, Paige; Price, Margaret A.After witnessing the struggles of reluctant readers, I sought to put into action a research project to make a positive change in the motivation of reluctant readers. In my Action Research project I identified the problem of low reading and Literature Circle discussion motivation. From there my planned action was to incorporate graphic novels into student-led Literature Circles and independent reading time. In class I referred to this as the graphic novel unit study. I closely monitored the behaviors and attitudes of the two student participant groups through questionnaires, observations, conferences, reading logs, and classroom library check out forms over a five week period. When the graphic novel unit study concluded, I analyzed my data and concluded that graphic novels have a positive affect on reading and Literature Circle motivation and interest. I then reflected on my Action Research project thus far and made planned improvements in order to continue the Action Research cycle of reflective teaching.