I've been posting a lot lately and I'm sure that as soon as the semester kicks into full swing, I'll be backing off, but I did want to share this tidbit.
For part of my degree, I have to do an independent study and I've chosen to work with my Native American Lit professor from last semester. He is super interested and invested in getting visual narratives and rhetoric up and running here at NAU. In fact, Art Spiegelman will be here at the end of the month and yesterday, the professor and some colleagues of mine hosted the first of four graphic novel work shops that will be held throughout the course of the semester. Our workshops focus on how to integrate visual narratives into composition and literary classrooms.
Anyhoo, my independent study, a course that I put together, will consist of me reading a graphic novel and watching a film a week. The course is called "Women and Minority Representations in Visual Narratives." I'm super stoked because I'm concentrating on laying a foundation for myself so that I can get into a Ph.D. program specializing in visual rhetoric.
I've got all the graphic novels laid out for the course, but if you have any films dealing with women and minorities you feel are specifically interesting, please feel free to suggest them.
Last bit, I just finished "Same Difference and Other Stories" by Derek Kirk Kim today. Awesome. He has a very different style than other graphic novel authors I've read.
9 comments:
Wow! That sounds so amazing! I am immensely jealous. What are some of the graphic novels you will be reading?
Malena; Lust, Caution; and Osama come to mind immediately. Malena is about an Italian woman during WWII and the Mussolini regime; Lust, Caution is at the revolution in China; Osama is about an Afghan girl who is disguised as a boy by her widowed mother in order to allow her work for more money to feed their starving family. Sex warning for the first two.
The only one that I could suggest right now is "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi--I think I've mentioned it before, but if you haven't read it it's pretty intriguing. They made a movie about it and it's in the same art style as the illustrations in the book. Check it out!
You sound really excited about school and that's cool.
What is your Graphic Novel list? I'm curious!
I was going to leave a long, long comment with my book list, but I just made a new post to avoid confusion.
Thanks for all of the comments!
Oh, and Mark, how did you find my blog? It appears that you are a professional, of some sort, in the editing world.
Since reading your list and realizing that your focus isn't merely film specifically about women, I thought of a few more: Trois Couleurs (Red is my favorite), À la folie...pas du tout , Belle du Jour*, 8 femmes* (French). Almost any Ingmar Bergman (Swedish) film, but particularly interesting (to me): All These Women (read how the director characterizes his own film), Cries and Whispers*, and Wild Strawberries. Some people find his films strange and emotionally draining, but I think you'll rally. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and Eat Drink Man Woman (Chinese). Volver and Pan's Labyrinth (Spanish) are excellent to examine. The Way Home (Korean). Dark Blue World (Czech) is fabulous. Towelhead and Real Women Have Curves* examine multi-culture heritage and the dichotomy many first generation American young women feel in finding their way through its challenges. (I haven't seen Towelhead so I can't comment on how good or bad it was.) Nowhere in Africa is a quasi-diaspora examination of German Jews who anticipate the coming of Nazi Germany and go to Kenya (German). Pauline & Paulette (Austrian). Baran* (Persian) is directed by Majid Majidi. He's one of my top three favorite film directors. Offside* (Persian) film examining athletic woman, women's rights to participate in public events, and being a woman in general in Iranian culture. (Read up on the difference between the uses of those two--Persian and Iranian--and why). Pane e Tulipani* (Italian). 13 Months of Sunshine is an incredible Ethiopian film about being African in the US but I'm not sure it's out on dvd yet. Hotel Rwanda is American--you've seen it, right? That's all I have for now. Since you are trying different books, I encourage you to try these films. Some are cult classics, some are foreign film classics, some older and some newer; I can't help but think they will expand your already very broad mind, as well as coalesce with the GNs you're reading.
*specifically examines women or being female or issues of femininity.
Wow. That is full of cool. I am super excited for you and hope it all goes well. I peeked at your reading list ahead and I've seen a couple of those titles at the local book store - I just might have to check them out.
I seriously wish I could take one of your classes.
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