 |
| Comic trade paperback, 80 pages Published 2008 (content: 1993-97) Acquired June 2011 Previously read March and July 2011 Reread March 2012 |
by Daniel Clowes
This is my third time reading this book in twelve months. I'm kind of tired of it now-- not that it's bad, but there are very few books I would enjoy reading three times in a year that aren't written by George Eliot. I did, however, have a higher appreciation for some segments that I have in the past, thanks to an exercise where I went through noting all of the panel transitions' McCloudian types, which let me see what techniques Clowes uses and thus what effects he is creating with greater detail.
For example, in one chapter where there are a lot of "subject-to-subject transitions," I realized that this is because the chapter is all about Enid and Rebecca watching people, and so there are a number of panels where we see people from their perspective. Realizing this made more potent a bit I'd previously never gotten, where a creepy guy leans out of his window and passes judgment on everyone he sees. He's Enid and Rebecca, years later if they keep on doing what they're doing. But in a world filled with terrible things and terrible people (or worse, mundane things and mundane people), what choice do they have but to pass judgment on what they see? It's do that or become mundane themselves.
For example, in one chapter where there are a lot of "subject-to-subject transitions," I realized that this is because the chapter is all about Enid and Rebecca watching people, and so there are a number of panels where we see people from their perspective. Realizing this made more potent a bit I'd previously never gotten, where a creepy guy leans out of his window and passes judgment on everyone he sees. He's Enid and Rebecca, years later if they keep on doing what they're doing. But in a world filled with terrible things and terrible people (or worse, mundane things and mundane people), what choice do they have but to pass judgment on what they see? It's do that or become mundane themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment