if shakespeare and Michaelangelo collaborated on a comic would that make it socially acceptable?
while reading joey's blog about people who look down on speculative fiction (actually i don't know any) it occurred to me that most people don't even read, period.
And those who do read and look down on certain genres (like speculative fiction) or storytelling mediums (like comic books) pretty much just parrot what society dictates to them is acceptable and have no true opinion of their own. Why are they discouraging fellow readers?
the graphic novel is a powerful medium requiring great effort on the artist's part to draw strange places and vehicles, capture period clothing or evoke an emotional "look" or "feel" to a story in 2D format. this is not easy to do and requires a lot of research and patience for one man. it is a disservice to them that they are not recognized for their efforts. there are of course, different genres to this medium. non comic book fans will recognize tom hanks' "road to perdition" and thora birch's "ghost world" as examples. the japanese have a manga for every topic. what i like about comics is that it is so much easier to control than a movie and one can still show the reader the writer/artist's specific vision. The great thing about pictures is, one can write a paragraph describing a circle but it is so much simpler to understand a drawing of it.
i consider movies to be the most powerful storytelling medium solely because sound can be played with it. (what's star wars without the imperial march?) Sound brings a lot to the storytelling table. But of course movies are more expensive and more complex to make. More things can go wrong and ultimately you have to limit what to show or say in it because you can't reduce a 1,000 page novel to a 2 hour movie. one can only hope to capture one or two points of genius in that novel the movie is adapting and still make the movie stand on its own.
the book format allows one to say the most. i have read many things i liked only as books. to convert them into movies would be to wash down a lot of worthwhile things that were written.
On the other hand, i know some stories i like only as movies, and i have read many things that can only be done in comics.
in short, each medium has its benefits and a true story connoisseur keeps an open mind and continually expands his horizons.
And those who do read and look down on certain genres (like speculative fiction) or storytelling mediums (like comic books) pretty much just parrot what society dictates to them is acceptable and have no true opinion of their own. Why are they discouraging fellow readers?
the graphic novel is a powerful medium requiring great effort on the artist's part to draw strange places and vehicles, capture period clothing or evoke an emotional "look" or "feel" to a story in 2D format. this is not easy to do and requires a lot of research and patience for one man. it is a disservice to them that they are not recognized for their efforts. there are of course, different genres to this medium. non comic book fans will recognize tom hanks' "road to perdition" and thora birch's "ghost world" as examples. the japanese have a manga for every topic. what i like about comics is that it is so much easier to control than a movie and one can still show the reader the writer/artist's specific vision. The great thing about pictures is, one can write a paragraph describing a circle but it is so much simpler to understand a drawing of it.
i consider movies to be the most powerful storytelling medium solely because sound can be played with it. (what's star wars without the imperial march?) Sound brings a lot to the storytelling table. But of course movies are more expensive and more complex to make. More things can go wrong and ultimately you have to limit what to show or say in it because you can't reduce a 1,000 page novel to a 2 hour movie. one can only hope to capture one or two points of genius in that novel the movie is adapting and still make the movie stand on its own.
the book format allows one to say the most. i have read many things i liked only as books. to convert them into movies would be to wash down a lot of worthwhile things that were written.
On the other hand, i know some stories i like only as movies, and i have read many things that can only be done in comics.
in short, each medium has its benefits and a true story connoisseur keeps an open mind and continually expands his horizons.
posted by Ryan at 4:24 PM
1 Comments:
Great post, Ryan. ;) You should really make your own blog, you know. I know that there are a lot of comic book collectors and writers (like Peter David) who have their own blogs.
As for people who don't read specfic, it's really about people who either read (a) Literature with a capital L or (b) popular fiction like "Davinco Code" or "Harry Potter" because everyone else is reading it.
But yeah, people should read more, dammit. I always raise a person's estimation in my mind if I find out that he/ she reads-- not just specfic but actually reads.
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