the pictures

Okay, so like I mentioned in the last post, I no longer think that the pictures in Fun Home are useless. I’m not even really sure why I did in the first place. I think I just had a lot of trouble interpreting her writing style. But now I see how much the pictures reflect the tone – the depressing, lethargic tone – of the subject matter and Alison as a character are conveying. An obvious example is the color scheme she uses – pretty much monotone, watered-down, dull shades of gray. It’s certainly not upbeat, but it adds something that just black and white couldn’t achieve, either. Also, like Dan was saying in class, the expressions on the faces of all the characters are pretty much half-asleep and/or stoic through most of the story, which 1) helps create the tone I was talking about, and 2) makes the times when their expressions change all that more startling, like on page 47 when she talks about her and her brother laughing the first time they see each other after their father has died. And then there’s the fact that some of the text doesn’t reveal what’s being shown in the pictures (page 214), so without both you don’t understand fully what she’s referencing. So, now that I’ve heard a different perspective on it, I appreciate it more. But it still wasn’t my favorite piece. The style is, again, a bit hard to get used to. Though, I don’t think it’s a book that is intended to make the reader feel comfortable.

Oh, and I got the new graphic novel by Terry Brooks today. It’s called “Dark Wraith of Shannara,” and it's Brooks' first graphic novel, adapted by Robert Place Napton and illustrated by Edwin David (I'm not familiar with them, but maybe someone in class is) – for anyone familiar with Brooks’ Shannara fiction series, this is a new story that follows Jair Ohmsford and Garet Jax from The Wishsong of Shannara. I’m super excited to start reading it!!