Class Notes: Thursday, October 22
Began class with three presentations
1. Sean
Key points:
- Art and layout represent Jimmy's place in the world and how he feels he fits into the world.
- Thick borders enclose Jimmy.
- Text replaces objects in scene.
- Panels double in size when new characters enter, overwhelming Jimmy.
- Speech Bubbles come from outside the panel frame, intruding into Jimmy's comfortable lonely world much the way new characters do.
- Theme of alienation throughout novel. One example of this can be seen in the fade to black inside panels, showing Jimmy's sense of isolation.
- Jimmy demonstrates adverserial feelings toward human relations. He has a strong desire for familiarity.
- Art of novel provides the power of the story
- By keeping the faces of new characters hidden or keeping their faces from view, the focus stays on Jimmy throughout the novel. Makes it harder to form a relationship with them.
2. Laura
Key points:
- Superman symbolism and appearances throughout novel.
Three instances: Jimmy's interaction with people dressed as Superman, his dreams about Superman, and others calling him Superman.
- Superman appearances:
- Young Jimmy meets Superman and he sleeps with Jimmy's mom, but leaves Jimmy his mask.
- Adult Jimmy watches as Superman commits suicide.
- Dream Superman picks up Jimmy's house and smashes his son into pieces (possible indication of constant familial letdown for Jimmy)
- Imagines Superman after he's hit by the truck, but he fades away
- Hints of Superman: (Jimmy's sweater, Tammy's Superman-colored outfit)
-Jimmy as Superman, or a shadow of him, with everyone calling him Superman in his times of weakness.
- Superman represents lost father figure for Jimmy.
3. Cory
Key points:
- "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid and Most Depressed Man on Earth"
- Father figures and misconceptions
- Design, character, and story: All parallels
- James and Jimmy have different childhoods and outcomes, but probably handled them in a similiar way.
- Always only one parent figure:
- James: Callous father
- Jimmy: Overbearing mother
- Neither have a real father figure. Jimmy's attachment to Superman, a man in a costume, is probably the closest he has to one.
- Only glimpses of masculinity and manhood, sometimes from other characters.
- Sister Amy is an example of the possible strength Jimmy could have had if he had a father.
- Injured foot is symbol of improper raising/damaged childhood.
- Robot represents how Jimmy wishes to feel: unattached, unfeeling...
3 Presentations summarized that Jimmy Corrigan:
1) has a serious overreactive imagination and awkward personality, that stems from:
a) failed family life/missing father figure
b) being extremely uncomfortable and shell shocked when it comes to forming friendships, let alone a relationship with a woman
c) Jimmy's sad confession that he is horrified of being rejected/disliked, and thusly is stunted from developing socially.
Novelization of the Motion Picture based on the Graphic Novel
Outside we started with a short discussion and writing period about trying to convey the 2 page diagram where we realize that Amy and Jimmy really are related in written form, as if in a novel. Some people threw around ideas like stream of consciousness or messing with the form of the text by adding color and changing formatting, or following 'the Corrigan gene' through all its wonderfully dull incarnations. The conclusion we came to is that this is really one of those instances that is exclusive, or at least works better in, to an extreme degree, the comics medium. We ended our discussion by recapping the theme of difficulty in Jimmy Corrigan, for readers especially, and how diagrams like the 'family tree' serve a higher purpose than revelation.
In addition to discussing how 'family tree' diagrams in the comic could be written in a novel, we also touched on the idea of Jimmy Corrigan's appearance as a movie. This seemed to be more accepted by the class than Jimmy Corrigan becoming a standard novel, mostly for the appreciative value in the power of illustration. Film could follow the panels in short screen caps. One classmate offered the idea of following a gene to lead the audience to Jimmy and Amy's relation discovery. In conclusion, it was understood that Jimmy Corrigan's story only has power when visual. A novel, with just words, would be too mundane. Jimmy Corrigan the Smartest Kid on Earth, can only go from Graphic Novel, to Motion Picture. The novel is to be left out.
Comments (2)
Jessica T. said
at 10:49 pm on Oct 23, 2009
I added notes from the three presentations that began Thursday's class. Could especially use someone's additional notes for Laura's since I only had a few. :)
Jessica T. said
at 10:56 pm on Oct 23, 2009
Also, couldn't figure out how to link these notes to the front page like all the previous notes....can someone do that?
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