My Feminism in Pictures

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My Feminism in Pictures

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One of my favorite novels in class was Persepolis. I enjoyed the graphic novel and the idea of reading a story in pictures. I read comics and cartoons; yet, I never read a graphic novel. Thus, in my last paper, I decided to do something different. I took a chance and decided to turn two scenes of Breast Giver into a graphic short story to determine which genre is better to convey a story: words or pictures. Even though I enjoyed turning the sentences and paragraphs of the story into pictures, I realized that pictures are not better than words, my initial claim. I concluded that words and graphics convey different meanings and appeal to the reader differently.

Then, after I submitted my paper, I realized that maybe the reason I had difficulty in expressing the short story in pictures was because I did not write the story. I was drawing Mahasweta Devi’s thoughts and ideas. The words and ideas were already on paper. I was not drawing my own thoughts. I do not know if I drew the story accurately because the author’s vision of the story in pictures is probably very different than mine. My graphic short story of Breast Giver could not be compared to other graphic novels and the graphic genre in general because those authors drew from their own mind. It was their own pictures and their own thoughts. Therefore, I decided to experiment with this idea of words and pictures further. Since last time my graphic short story was not my own, I drew my own graphic short story. Unlike my last paper, I am not claiming which genre is better. I am just noticing what each genre offers.

My story is about the change in my understanding of feminism before and after the Introduction to Critical Feminist Studies class. I show the reader my thoughts about feminism, and how others’ opinions affected my opinion on feminism, before this class. Then I show the moment in class when my opinion and views on feminism changed. I did not write my story before I drew it because I wanted to make sure I was not repeating the same experiment in my last paper. I only wrote down a few bullet points of the ideas I wanted the reader to grasp. I was thinking of the big picture. My four bullet points were:

1. Before how I heard negative things about feminism, my dad would always say it is important for women but then I would shake it off/ignore it because of the negative things 2. On essays/college apps would write about emphasis on women but would feel weird 3. In high school I didn’t take any feminism courses so it wasn’t that big but coming to college with classes and a department on feminism changed my view 4. In this class I heard the positive things and so much pride from the two visitors, makes me want to go back home and stand up for it.

 

I was thinking in images, boxes to be more precise. As I wrote down my bullet points I could see the memory linked to it. For example, I could remember one of my Dad’s friends saying something negative about feminists. When I was drawing my story, I would think of how I wanted to represent the idea. I would see the image in my mind and then just convert it onto paper.

My story begins with a scene of my friends and me at my high school. This box sets up the idea that I did not care about the feminist course at my school and that I never really thought of feminism. As I was drawing, I realized that it was important to have one or two scenes serve as a background to introduce the reader to the main idea. I would think of the image in my head but I always made sure to remind myself that the reader does not know everything I know. These boxes served as transitions between the main ideas. When writing a story, it’s easy to express the transition from one idea to another in one or two sentences; however, in graphic stories, it takes a couple of scenes to move from one idea to the other. One has to guide the reader, slowly, throughout the story because with pictures it is easier to get lost and not understand what is happening. With words, the story is being told to the reader in a straightforward manner, but with pictures the reader almost has to guess what is happening and put it back into the context of the story.

Also, I realized how annoyed I got with the transition boxes. I wanted to jump from one idea to the other, but the transition boxes took so much time because I had to make sure that they were introducing the next main idea. It slowed down the story. For example, when my boy friends were making fun of the fact that we, girls, go to an all girl school, I wanted to end that idea and move onto the next idea, college applications. However, I had to draw the rest of the night and the next morning before I could draw the college application scenes. With words, I could have ended that idea with a sentence and moved onto the next main idea. I find words more efficient for transitions.

On the other hand, I felt I had a unique power with pictures. I could show multiple things happening at the same time. In the scene with my family in the car, I was able to show that my parents and I were talking about important things while my siblings were fighting. I could show serious and humorous things simultaneously. With words, it would have been described in a sequence, which does not have the same effect as seeing it happen at the same time. This also applies to the scene at the party when I am asking one of the adults a question. Three different conversations are occurring at the same time. They are not being described in a sequence. In addition to multiple conversations, I was able to show my thoughts while I was speaking in scenes. For example, on page two in boxes two and three, I was thinking of one thing and then saying something else. Again, the reader can see this happening at the same time instead of reading it in a sequence. This effect makes it more real.

Also, with pictures I could represent one scene with one image and know that the reader will most probably understand it, hopefully. For example, on the third page in the sixth box, I drew a mailbox which conveys to the reader that I sent my applications. Even though I wrote that I finished the applications, showing a mailbox signals to the reader that they are finished and sent. On the last page, I portray Ingrid and Tamarinda as superheroes. This shows the reader that I thought of them as heroes. They are two women who I look up to and that I am in awe of because of their ability to be confident in their feminism. I was able to express my feelings about them in one image. Yet, this power in the graphic genre can be detrimental as well because my image of a superhero may be different than another’s image of a superhero. I assume authors of graphic novels have to rely on stereotypical images so the reader will understand what is happening.

Another power with pictures is that I can express time. On the third page, boxes four and five show me thinking about two different things, and because they are drawn out in two boxes it shows that I spent time thinking about these things. Whereas, on page four, box three, I showed my first year of college in one box. Even though I tell the reader that my first year went by fast, the picture further emphasizes it because I show the span of that year in one box, and the reader quickly continues onto the next box, which begins with my sophomore year. I believe that by splitting that box into three mini boxes, it lets the reader know that she does not have to spend much time on them. Even though I did not consider the size of the boxes as I was drawing my story, I realized afterwards that the size of the box can affect its level of importance. With smaller boxes the reader can read through it faster. In bigger boxes, the reader has to slow down and comprehend everything that is happening inside it. It forces the reader to spend more time.

At the end, I had difficulty in finishing the story. After the image of Tamarinda and Ingrid as superheroes, I felt like I had represented my ideas but I did not know how to end it. I thought of the last day of class and decided to end it with the dinner table. However, I feel like I abruptly stop the story. After I drew the dinner table, I thought, “how would I have ended the story if it were in words?” I would have finished describing how amazed I was of Tamarinda and Ingrid, and said something like, “The course continued into winter, and on the last day of classes we each gave a presentation of what we learned in that course. Laura brought in a dinner table representing our class in general, and with that I want to thank…” It sounds better in words, but my picture is just too abrupt. A couple of transition boxes would have been more helpful. I find it harder to end stories with pictures because each box has its own little story. There can always be more boxes. The story can continue.

I realized that with pictures, the story is jerky. The reader sees a box and understands the scene in that box. Then they move onto the next box. The reader has to stop, understand what is happening in that box, fit that understanding into the context of the story, and then move onto the next box. With words, the story is continuous. Each sentence is connected to the previous sentence. Sentences are in paragraphs and paragraphs make the story or essay. They build on each other. With pictures, I feel the boxes come together but each box has its own idea and purpose.

After the dilemma of finishing the story, I realized I wanted my story in color. One of the reasons was because I wanted to differentiate the characters from one another. All the faces looked similar in black and white. The story also looked monotonous and boring to me, and everything blended together. I mentioned in my last paper that I felt color emphasized detail, and I still believe that. When I think of my feminism, I see it as being colorful. Different colors represent different tones. Feminism is different in every culture and viewed differently by people.

The experience of drawing my own story versus drawing another’s story is very different. Converting another’s story into pictures is difficult. It reminded me of the importance of words. I truly felt there was more freedom in words then pictures after I finished drawing Breast Giver. With Breast Giver, I read the paragraphs and thought what image would fit the description. However, when drawing my own story, I did not feel the constraint of words. I could draw directly from my mind and I was able to think in images. Even after both these experiences, I still believe in the revelation I had after my last paper that words are great for detailed descriptions and catering to more senses, and pictures are good for getting one’s exact message and vision across to the reader.
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