Thursday, January 21, 2010

SCCTE Conference 2010

Adventures in Genre!: Challenging Texts with Graphic Novels

P. L. Thomas, EdD, Associate Professor of Education, Furman University

Friday, January 29, 2010: Session 1 (9:30-10:30)

Multi-genre units can be inviting literacy experiences for our students. Asking our students to challenge their assumptions about texts while exploring a wide range of texts is an ideal avenue to empowering our students as life-long readers. This session will explore anchoring multi-genre literature units with graphic novels—such as a unit on justice incorporating Batman: Year One, The Reader, nonfiction essays, and poetry.

Paul Auster, City of Glass


Paul Auster, City of Glass graphic novel adaptation by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli

See Great Graphic Novels for Teens (ALA)

Resources

Campbell, J. (1949). The hero with a thousand faces. New York: MJF Books.
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social forces
. New York: Routledge.
Eisner, W. (1985). Comics and sequential art. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press.
Eisner, W. (1996). Graphic storytelling. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press.
Gravett, P. (2005). Graphic novels: Everything you need to know. New York: Collins Design.
Kannenberg, Jr., G. (2008). 500 essential graphic novels: The ultimate guide. New York: Collins Design. Miller, F., & Mazzucchelli, D. (2007). Batman: Year one. New York: DC Comics.
McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels. New York: Harper Paperback.
McCloud, S. (2000). Reinventing comics: How imagination and technology are revolutionizing an art form. New York: Harper Paperback.
McCloud, S. (1994). Understanding comics: The invisible art. New York: Harper Paperback.
Moore, A., & Lloyd, D. (1989). V for vendetta. New York: Vertigo.
Moore, A., & Gibbons, D. (1986, 1987). Watchmen. New York: DC Comics.
Rhoades, S. (2008). Comic books: How the industry works. New York: Peter Lang USA.
———. (2008). A complete history of American comic books. New York: Peter Lang USA.
Thomas, P. L. (2009). Comics. In Boy culture: An encyclopedia. Eds. S. Steinberg & M. Kehler. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
White, M. D. (2009). Watchmen and philosophy: A Rorschach test. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
White, M. D., & Arp, R. (2008). Batman and philosophy: Dark knight of the soul. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Yang, G. (2008, January). Graphic novels in the classroom. Language Arts, 85(3), 185-192.

See Also:

Confronting the Text, Confronting the World (Peter Lang USA series)

• Barbara Kingsolver
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Margaret Atwood
• Ralph Ellison

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Multigenre/ Adaptation Unit

Science fiction has traditionally been viewed as a marginal genre, often portrayed as less than literary fiction. However, classics such as 1984 and Brave New World have been allowed in the canon and other modern classics such as Slaughterhouse Five have also been acknowledged as quality literature.

This multigenre unit focuses on sci-fi works growing from the novel I Am Legend, Richard Matheson. This sci-fi work from 1954 deals with post-apocalyptic and zombie-like creatures that are commonplace in popular films today. The novel has prompted a graphic novel adaptation, I Am Legend, as well as movie versions:
I Am Legend
from 2007 and The Omega Man from 1971.

This unit can challenge students to consider sci-fi conventions, horror conventions, and acts of adaptation to both graphic novel and films.

Kurt Vonnegut had a contentious relationship with the science fiction genre; see his "On Science Fiction" and his first essay, "Science Fiction," in Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons.

Also, see Margaret Atwood's excellent essay on Utopian and dystopian works, "Writing Utopia," in Writing with Intent.

Watchmen Unit

Watchmen is one of the most celebrated graphic novels of all time—even being recognized as a top novel among traditional literature. The graphic novle has been adapted as a film as well.

Watchmen and Philosophy is an excellent resource for both planning to teach a unit based on the graphic novel and for students considering the many complex issues raised in the work.

This graphic novel confronts and deconstructs "superhero" conventions as well as the paradox of watching those who watch over us in terms of justice.

An outstanding support for reading and understanding the graphic novel is The Annotated Watchmen, online.

V for Vendetta Unit

One of the most well-received graphic novels of all time is V for Vendetta; like Watchmen, this graphic novel was made into a film (although not without controversy).

To prepare to teach or for students studying the work, two outstanding resources include The V for Vendetta Shrine and a site including annotations for the graphic novel.

Students can explore adaptations, especially concerning the controversy surrounding the making of the film.

Further, this is a sophisticated work of satire aimed at British politics and society—although it rises above that direct satire to raise issues about all politics, social norms, celebrity, and morality.

Batman Unit

One of the longest surviving comics and superheroes is Batman, who has experienced a renaissance because of a numbers of fine films based on the character.

The primary graphic novels for studying Batman and the mythology surrounding him include the following:

Batman: Year One

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again


Two of the more recent and highly acclaimed film versions are Batman Begins and The Dark Knight

An outstanding resource for preparing to teach or studying the Batman myth is Batman and Philosophy.

A unit focusing on Batman can explore a numbers of topics, including:

• The search for identity and the duplicity of identity (as in the masking of the hero).

• Morality and ethics in the pursuit of Self and Justice.

• The embodiments of good and evil.

• Social and individual corruption—the basic nature of humans.

Fahrenheit 451

One of the science fiction classics that has been accepted into the larger literature canon is Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury.

Students may find a unit that begins with this article in Slate regarding the graphic novel version of the Bradbury classic—graphic adaptation.

The Salon article has a definite low opinion of graphic novels and comics. This piece could serve as a starting point for student analyzing and evaluating both the novel and the graphic novel. Further, students could consider this film version of the work.

City of Glass, Paul Auster

Paul Auster's novel, City of Glass
, and the graphic adaptation are an excellent pairing for a unit on genres.

This text pairing is valuable since Auster's work is often considered a postmodern or experimental appraoch to genres themselves. His novel is both within and against the conventions of detective fiction, and the graphic novel, of course, adds to the experimental nature of his work.

This unit may include Edgar Alan Poe's detective works to offer students a sense of the history of the genre within American literature; as noted on PoeStories.com: "Poe invented the detective story with tales like 'Murders in the Rue Morgue' and 'The Purloined Letter.' Sherlock Holmes and other fictional detectives would later be based on the characters that Poe created."

Justice Unit

A powerful unit of study for students involves justice, and social justice. Several works of different genres can anchor a unit on justice, including:

Batman: Year One

Daredevil


The Reader
[novel]

The Reader
[film]

The Trial
, Kafka

References

Here are important works related to reading, teaching, and reconsidering comics and graphic novels; I will add as I find new sources.

Campbell, J. (1949). The hero with a thousand faces. New York: MJF Books.

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social forces. New York: Routledge.

Eisner, W. (1985). Comics and sequential art. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press.

Eisner, W. (1996). Graphic storytelling. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press.

Miller, F., & Mazzucchelli, D. (2007). Batman: Year one. New York: DC Comics.

McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels. New York: Harper Paperback.

McCloud, S. (2000). Reinventing comics: How imagination and technology are revolutionizing an art form. New York: Harper Paperback.

McCloud, S. (1994). Understanding comics: The invisible art. New York: Harper Paperback.

Moore, A., & Lloyd, D. (1989). V for vendetta. New York: Vertigo.

Moore, A., & Gibbons, D. (1986, 1987). Watchmen. New York: DC Comics.

Rhoades, S. (2008). Comic books: How the industry works. New York: Peter Lang USA.

Thomas, P. L. (2009). Comics. In Boy culture: An encyclopedia. Eds. S. Steinberg & M. Kehler. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

White, M. D. (2009). Watchmen and philosophy: A Rorschach test. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

White, M. D., & Arp, R. (2008). Batman and philosophy: Dark knight of the soul. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.