Week Two - Filip

Here are my answers to the questions posed throughout the course based on the notes I've compiled. I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I've enjoyed studying for them.


According to Horricks (2004), how have perceptions of comics as a media changed?

Distrust of comics, with campaigns made against them by concerned members of the public and politicians.
Curious that ‘in fact, some of the most active anti-comics crusaders were socialists and social liberals, shocked by the violence and jingoistic anti-Communism found in many American comics.’
It amazes me the conservatives were hating on the liberals and the liberals were hating on the conservative views and perhaps comics were something of a scapegoat?

Today comics are critically and publicly respected more. They are given formal reviews and awards. Academic courses exist. (Horricks 2004)



What does Baetons (2001) mean by ‘monstration’, ‘graphiation’ and the ‘graphiateur’?

Monstration – When the story is conveyed through suggestion; without drawing attention as per use of narration.

Graphiation – Stress on words or images

Graphiateur – Person creating the stresses

I found what Baetons says here quite poignant;
‘Graphiation is at its strongest in a drawing that is in the stage of a rough copy or sketch.’
Looking at some sketches by comic artist Bruce Timm, one can see how the sketches explore the manipulation of the character model.

http://www.comicvine.com/bruce-timm/26-7365/all-images/108-72298/timm1/105-474871/

In this case, the Graphiateur is Bruce Timm, the character’s variety of poses showing action and attitude are the graphiation. What gets across to the reader-spectator is the monstration, which is more apparent in a finished work which is generally given more direction than a sketch.

http://www.comicvine.com/bruce-timm/26-7365/all-images/108-72298/1987_harley_quinn_400/105-473202/

Here a story is suggested (quite suggestively so) between the characters present. It is up to the reader-spectator to interpret the green plant held above the head of one of the characters as mistletoe and to arrive at their own conclusion.

Images from
http://www.comicvine.com/bruce-timm/26-7365/
Retrieved 4/8/2010



What does Khordoc think the Asterix series does better than Herge’s Tintin?

Khordoc believes Asterix has better conveyance of sound, the use of speech bubbles in particular appeal to Khordoc’s value of deliberation. ‘The speech balloon in comics is effective as a “phonostyllistic element” because it is direct: there is no narrator acting as intermediary between the character’s “voice” and the reception of this “voice” by the reader.’

Sam wk8

Questions answered this week;

Research the number of films that have been adapted from Philip K. Dick novels or short stories. Which have generally been acclaimed as the most successful? Why?

According to McKee (2004), what relationship did Dicks ideas have to a) Christianity b) religion and philosophy in general?

BladeRunner is almost indisputably the most successful film to date of those adapted from the novels of Philip K. Dick (my personal favourite, with Minority Report coming a close second). Misunderstood when initially released, it has since built up a cult following, having been recognised as a darkly prophetic and masterful exercise in science fiction noir. Both visually distinctive and thematically strong, it acts as a cautionary tale against the potential pitfalls of an increasingly technology-dependent society, presenting dystopian visions of a future in which the lines between artificial and organic have blurred to produce nearly-human simulations that threaten mans well established precedent of dominion. What is more, some of the simulations have had memories programmed into them, out of which they’ve formed personalities, subsequent faculties of emotion and all the behavioural idiosyncrasies of a human being, thus making true differentiation extremely difficult.

As McKee observes (2004), coping with rapid technological advancement and its breach of our everyday lives is a recurring theme across Dicks body of work, and to this BladeRunner is no exception, warning as it does of the dehumanizing effects thereof while asking for a clearer definition of ‘human’ so to clarify this essence for which Dick begs preservation, before the eminent assimilation of our elusive ‘humanity’ into the hyper-efficiency of the automaton.

However, BladeRunner also muses on the ambiguity of memory itself, being but a collection of references to the past from which we construct our identities and subsequently, our realities. As the Replicants of BladeRunner hold completely doctored memories, Dick appears to be questioning the illusory nature of memory itself; can we reliably entrust to it the sense of our own reality?and like with the Replicants, how are we to check the authenticity of our memories to ensure they are not false or implanted?

All of this ties in with McKees reading of Dicks theosophical standpoint, and Dicks ideas about the manifestations of the ‘logos’ in the world around us (2004). If the logos as truth, as implacable, unobservable synthesis of subject and object in which the divine duality (like the Taoist yin/yang of the I Ching) is seen to be a dynamic and self sufficient unity, then the practical separation of past/present/future stands as a functional lie, and the purposes of memory are made redundant (in view of ultimate reality). That is, the ‘practical separation’ of experiencing time sequentially is a lie, because no such sequential borders of experience exist. Obviously, the human observer has adjusted to temporality to order what would otherwise be an overwhelming sensory input; or in other words, experiencing everything simultaneously. But Dick acknowledges that the illusion of separation or ‘suffering’ has its place, likening (or perhaps literally describing) human beings to synapses in the Brain of God (McKee, 2004), substantiating the ‘blueprints’ of creation by experiencing them microscopically.


MKee describes Dick as “protean”(2004) in his rapid shifts from truth to truth, and from this it could be assumed that he held personal verification overall, the individual alone having exclusive access to his or her own logos.

Week 9

1. The details of Assessment 2 are now available. This is due on Friday week 14. For this assessment you can choose to write either a short work of fanfic and an accompying commentary, or choose one of the essay questions.

Note: If you choose the essay, try and maintain the same writing style as the blogs. In the past, many students on hearing the word 'essay', returned to writing in a secondary school type of essay prose (terrible). For most of you, your blogs are actually more academic and closer to a good literary type of scholarship.

2. There is a Thurs screening this week of two Buffy programmes - this is compulsory as usual and I will be taking a register of attendence. Again, this week the room will be WE230 (click here for a map) and the screening will start at 12.10 - don't be late.

Sam wk7

(sorry it's late, wk8's is but 24 hrs away)

Questions answered this week are;

According to Mountfort (2006), what role does the I Ching have as an organisational device in the structure of High Castle? How does the use of this device illuminate the character of the novels protagonists?


What does Dick (1995) himself theorise about the I Ching?

(and scantily)

What elements conform to the wider generic features of SF?

That Dick’s novel is in fact a message from an anciently revered Eastern deity is an intriguing idea, and as suggested by Dick himself begs the question; delusional grandeur or indeed communion with the divine? It is difficult to cast ‘The Man in the High Castle’ off as elaborate ruse or product of an insatiably egotistical self preening intellectual, especially in view of Dick’s own awareness of himself (decidedly self denigrating and tongue in cheek) his own self-confessed knowledge of potentially being perceived for his less than conventional narrative efforts, as ‘hack’.

Dick (1995) refers to (recommends?) the oracle as mental alleviation for schizophrenics everywhere, including himself in the latter group. And in view of this are we still to take High Castle’s divine prose (and Dicks subsequent messianic role) seriously? Is he discrediting himself, or depicting himself in more enigmatic brushstrokes, hoping to befuddle otherwise discerning readers with deliberate ambiguity?

(Having consulted the oracle for various reasons since I was about fourteen, I’m biased, and you’ll have to guess to what opinion).

Mountfort (200) cites the ‘cyber-textual’ function of Dicks oracular narrative structure. By cyber-textual is here meant that the structure is in no way merely a backdrop to an authors prose and populace, rather is “an integral part of the literary exchange”(Mountfort, 2006). What is more, Dick has constructed his own parallel ‘metaphysic’, an external reference to the narrative weaving in and out of the story in points of contact in which characters consult the I Ching, moral dilemmas for the characters acting as check-points for readers with which they might like to pick up their copy of the oracle and tap into Dicks ‘higher meaning of the Moment’ (or rather, the oracles meaning as Dick relinquishes agency and offers himself up to the ‘timeless cosmos’ as a mere instrument; purposes unknown!).

Furthermore, Mountfort (2006) observes character Julia Frink whose frequent consultations with the oracle are notably different from those of Dicks other protagonists. Unlike these, consulting in veins of affirmative action, Julia exclusively refers to the oracle when at a halting loss as to her ‘next move’. Coincidentally, it is Julia whose role eventually carries the most significance as the novel climaxes with her meeting Dicks alter-ego in High Castle, the novelist Abendsen. Together (along with a hovering Dick whose own desperate enquiry is barely concealed behind characters poised aquiver), they ask the oracle why it wanted to write a novel, what its specific aims were in doing so. With a toss of the yarrow stalks, they (and Dick) get ‘Inner Truth’, of ambiguous portent like most every other hexagram, having something to do with the dissemination of genius from the ‘superior man’ all the way to the outer-reaches of the collective. Being the only female consultant, we can conjecture that with Julia Dick is commenting on the correct approach to dealing with the oracle, namely assuming ‘yin’ or ‘receptive’ modes so as not to muffle divine indication with the internal babblings of the individual.

But then again, what with the general ambiguity of the text, who knows.

On a final note, Dicks ending suggests that not only has the oracle channelled the particulars of this world as fiction, but as a chronicle of an existing one selected from a multiplicity of alternate realities, gesturing towards the ‘many worlds’ postulate of quantum mechanics, thus moving High Castle from its speculative ‘what if’ premise to bonafide science fiction in its extrapolation of ‘high sciences’.

Week 8

The most successful films which have been based on novels by Philip K Dick are:

• Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep)
• A Scanner Darkly (A Scanner Darkly)
• Total Recall (We can remember it for you wholesale)
• Minority Report (The Minority Report)
• Next (The Golden Man) and
• Paycheck (Paycheck)

These films have been successful due to the depth of Philip. K. Dick’s character illustrations which have been translated onto the big screen. His characters are less like aliens and more like humans who act and think like we do. His plots are universal and generally revolve around what it is to be human living in a world that is sometimes unrecognizable. The fundamental elements of his stories are ageless, and his works translate into film in ways those of other best-selling authors don't." Dretzka. G (2003). As in the movie Blade Runner, the main character becomes entangled in trying to understand the concerns which are raised by the film: what it is to be human and the value of life. Paycheck is similar in this regard; the main character loses two years of his life for what he thinks will be a massive paycheck, only to wake up to find he has asked for trinkets instead. Why and for what purpose? These are the questions that make these films so popular. Philip. K .Dick’s novel insight into the way humans act and react as they do and how this affects past, present and future.

Many of Philip. K. Dick’s novels included references to religion and philosophy, such as Christianity, Taoism, Gnosticism, Zen and the I Ching. For example the novel The Man in the High Castle is centred around the characters relying on the I Ching to help them decide the path that they should take. As McKnee (2004) states; ‘The novel is deeply rooted of religion and philosophy, specifically dealing with the Chinese divination text the I Ching and the related Taoist concepts of yin and yang’. However, Philip. K. Dick primarily referred to Christian concepts in the bulk of his novels as Mcknee (2004) states; ‘...Christ is absolutely central throughout all of his religious speculations’.

Reference: Dretzka. G (2003) Hearst Communications Inc.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/12/27/DDGDD3U5BB1.DTL#ixzz0zjrg9xZa

Week 7

Speculative fiction is a term used to describe works of literature that are highly imaginative and based in an alternate reality. Speculative fiction encompasses mainly science fiction, fantasy and horror.

The Man in High Castle is a work of speculative fiction as it could be said to encompass all these sub genres. When reading the book we are made to feel that there is always some evil lurking in the background and that all the decisions made will still lead to the same path and there is therefore no way of escaping from fate. As described by Gioia, T (n.d) “...this is a novel that seems as much a dream
or a vision, and when we finally encounter the “Man in the High Castle” in the closing pages, it is hard to suppress the suspicion that we have met the dreamer in person, and that it is Philip K. Dick himself.” This book attracts the reader by making us feel like we are watching all these events take place in some sort of warped parallel universe that the author himself has lived in, and therefore we may have a chance of seeing one day.

Brown identifies central themes and concerns of the novel as being ideas such as the belief in other worlds, action and reaction and the perceptions of reality. As Brown (2001) states; ‘Dick suggests that the world presented in The Man in the High Castle is but an illusion, that other, better worlds might exist’. This suggestion is central to the science fiction genre, as is the link to alternate realities. Science fiction allows us to look into a different world or maybe even the future of our own and link this to the reality of how we are living now.

Week 6

The underlying theamatics of Princess Monokoke are the role of the women in society and also their shaping of destiny. The battle that humans wage on nature due to their desire for power and their greed is also a very prominent theme in the film.

According to Napier (2005), the film 'defamiliarises' it's historical setting by first of all being a movie of a war against nature which is waged by the Lady Eboshi and her army which consists of women and lepers. As Napier (2005) states 'The film demailiarises two important icons of Japanese culture, the myth of the feminine as long-suffering and supportive and the myth of the Japanese as living in harmony with nature.' In the film not only are the women independant but also fierce in battle. As shown by the character of San who alone comes into the village of Tartara to fight with Lady Eboshi, we can see her courage and determination in trying to protect her people and her forest.

The historical setting of the film is also 'defamiliarised' as Lady Eboshi's army uses guns and not swords. The main protaganists in the film are women and what makes the film more interesting is the male character of Ashitaka who is torn between the two women trying to do what's right not only for the forest but also the people of the Tartara.

With reference to Cavallaro (2006) their are many things that make the film Princess Monokoke' to be generally accepted as a great work of Anime. As Cavallaro (2006) states 'One of the principal reasons behind the films tremendous popularity in it's homeland is undoubtedly Japan's fascination with legend, mythology and folklore, and its population's ongoing devotion to the earliest collection of traditional tales'. In my opinion the films popularity in the west could also be a curiosity to Japan's mythology and folklore but also due the themes in the film which can be considered universal.

The film caters to both children and adults due to it's use of 'shoujo' and also the issues of politics and culture which are inherent in the film. Miyazaki's characters are also extremely well developed, in particular in the case of San. As a viewer there is a sense of feeling sorry for her as she has grown up essentially an orphan, but also a sort of horror in how she has embraced living like a wolf. Lady Eboshi is also well developed as not only a fierce warrior but a business woman. "Lady Eboshi is a primary example of a very strong and complex character in this story". Although her main motivation in waging war is greed, her army and village workers consists of women whom she saved from the brothels, and lepers who had been rejected by society.

Miyazaki's use of animation is also very powerful as I don't believe the the killing of the forest god could have been as graphic if done in a live action movie. As Cavallaro asserts 'Monokoke serves as a powerful - and, in its category, quite unique - reminder of the powers inherent in animation, which no other form of cinema may mimic, let alone equal'.