The Sovereign Rights of All Men

This is a rant near and dear to my heart, asI’ve been ranting about it since I was old enough to know that the difference between men and women is vastly greater than the difference between boys and girls.  As Becky recently put it, “[E]qual rights means, you know, equal.  Not the girls get to stomp all over the boys for a while.”

I went through my undergrad at San Francisco State University, the student culture of which is a geyser of semieducated liberalism.  I won’t start in on the Spartican Youth Organization for now, though, since this has more to do with reading 19th century feminist literature (The Yellow Wallpaper, if you’re interested) and being forced by good manners to endure statements about how all men oppress (but especially the white ones) in all ways all the time.  To be truthful, I don’t believe that her husband caused her insanity.  Under the misguidance of 18th century science, he was doing the best he could to restore his wife to health and happiness, helping her out of post-partim depression.

Romance and Magical Realism in Graphic Literature, part 4

Continued

IV – Conclusion

In summation, the question of this work’s classification as either Romance or Magical Realism has been addressed.  The story contains elements of Romance, but the emotional element of the ending does not fall in line with the category’s norms.  Realism wins out against Romance, but an irreducible element of magic prevents this story from being simple Realism.  The Realism must be qualified as Magical.

It is worth noting that in no way do these definitions of Romance and Magical Realism conflict.  This story fit the criteria for Magical Realism far better than Romance, but not through anything mutually exclusive.  A work may possibly be both Romance and Magical Realism, if it is constructed carefully and the story ends satisfactorily.

Romance and Magical Realism in Graphic Literature, Part 3

Continued.

This is the point where I actually make an argument.

III – Difficulty in Definition

Despite the title of this section, I shall begin by examining Romance, the definition of which is more readily agreed upon by critics than that of Magical Realism.  I turn to Northrop Frye, who posits

“Romance in particular is, we say, ‘sensational’: it likes violent stimulus, and the sources of that stimulus soon become clear to the shuddering censor.  The central element of romance is a love story, and the exciting adventures are normally a foreplay leading up to a sexual union.”

Romance and Magical Realism in Graphic Literature, part 2

Continued

II – In Defense of the Medium

A question arises, obvious to many who have studied finer literatures than the text examined here: “Why should I care what happens in a Graphic Novel?”  This is a fair question, but only in its broader sense.  Every analysis of a literary work must by necessity begin with the question, “Why is this interesting?”  Most works speak for themselves in regards to this question.  Most readers do not stop to reflect on the value in analyzing most literature, due in great part to our culture’s evaluation of the written word.   History and science, for example, did not advance much during the Middle Ages because scholars merely accepted the writings of their ancestors as knowledge.  The thought process resembled, “Aristotle had written this down, and Aristotle is a father of thinking, thus this written word is unequivocally the truth.”

Best Movie Evar

Mr. Kenneth Brannagh will be directing Thor.  That is all.

Romance and Magical Realism in Graphic Literature

I – Introduction

Scholars have noticed a distinct upswing in works that can be categorized as Romance in the last few decades.  Many attribute this to Romance’s easy translation to the formats of film and television, while others claim that it is a natural moment in a cycle or pendulum that alternates between Romance and Realism.

Romance, though, has never fallen completely out of fashion.  Pulp fictions and penny dreadfuls have been popular amongst a literate middle class, ever since this middle class learned to read.  Does this mean that a literature aimed at a low-brow audience is entirely devoid of contemplative nutrition?  Not necessarily.  If we take penny dreadfuls’ descendants, Graphic Novels, as an example, we find a genre that has grown and matured.  Whereas the target audience for Graphic Literature forty or fifty years ago was the 7-13 age group, the modern target audience is the 18-35 age group.  Because the genre’s readership has grown, so has much of its writing (though it is difficult to say which is the chicken and which the egg, here).  This is no longer an industry of men who failed as artists and men who failed as writers.

Prospectus

I return, having laid waste to much of what has kept me occupied.

As I have spent much of my time writing some critical essays, I shall post them as they become available.

Here is the prospectus for a piece on Magical Realism and Romance in Moon Knight.

Part of the interest in Magical Realism is the difficulty in its definition.  If we take Wendy Faris’ definition of the term, then the genre expands to include many more texts, some of which had been previously categorized in a different manner.  Many of these newly re-shelved texts sit elsewhere under the traditional heading, “Romance.”  Because of the ambiguity regarding these two headings and the intersection of their genres, I shall refer to each as a “category” to avoid confusion.

In this paper, I shall discuss the intersection Romance and Magical Realism.  Methods of analysis shall include comparisons of each category’s contrast against Realism and exploration and clarification of the definitions of these categories, referring primarily to Northrop Frye and Wendy Faris.

The primary text I shall analyze in this light will be the graphic novel series Moon Knight, paying special attention to the story arcs “The Bottom” and “God and Country.”  Here I will use my observations on Magical Realism and Romance to analyze the plot and the characters of this text.  I hope to be able to place this work squarely into one of those categories, but I expect to find that Magical Realism merely sits in the middle of a Lanserian spectrum running from Romance to Realism.

Cattle Call

A friend needs Bawdy Ladies for a production of Rigoletto.  No singing necessary, just bawdiness.  It’s in San Francisco. It’s very last-minute.  I’ll just cut-and-paste what you need.

Friday, April 3  7:00 - 9:00 p.m.   (women:  8 - 9 p.m.)

   (7:00 - 8:00 pg. 110-132  Abduction ... The Curse Changes to Truth;  8:00 - 9:00 pg. 12-16  Rigoletto Jests with Ceprano)

Saturday, April 4  11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.   (women:  11 a.m. - 1 p.m.)

   (11:00 - 11:45 pg. 17-38  Marullo's Big News and Monterone's Curse;  11:45 - 1:00  Run Act I;  1:00 - 1:30 break;   1:30 - 2:00 pg. 138-157  We brought a lady to you ...;   2:00 - 3:00 pg. 158-173  Poor Little Rigoletto)

Thursday, April 9  6:30 - 9:00 p.m.  (women:  6:30 - 9 p.m.)

   (Run Act I)

Friday, April 10  6:30 - 9:00 p.m.  (no women)

   (Run Act II)

Saturday, April 11  11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.  (women:  11 a.m. - ca. 1 p.m.)

   (Run Show)

Technical Rehearsals, The Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason  

Monday, April 13  7:30 - 11:00  Sitzprobe  (no women)

Tuesday, April 14  6:30 - 11:00  Tech. Rehearsal  (women:  6:30 to end of Act I)

Wednesday, April 15  6:30 - 11:00  Dress Rehearsal  (women:  6:30 - end of Act I)

Performances, The Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason  (Call times TBD)

Friday, April 17  7:30 p.m.

Sunday (matinée), April 19  2:00 p.m.

Friday, April 24  7:30 p.m.

Sunday (matinée), April 26  2:00 p.m.

If you do have someone who is interested please have them call or email me directly.  AS you can see, they are called for rehearsal this evening.

Sincerely,

Chip Grant

415-999-9965

Side Quests, Part 4

Almost done.

Side Quests, Part 3

Continued.

Can you tell that I’m busy, but I still want to keep this thing going, for some reason?

Oh, and a forgotten plot point: Captain Earth is vulnerable to just about anything from offworld, so we went to the moon and got a ton of rocks.

Yeah.

Wait until I tell you about the time we stole a pyramid and made it into a starship. Well, okay. We only stole part of the pyramid. The whole thing was too heavy, even with the Mason and the Matternaught (he could screw with the weight of objects) all hopped up on MGH or Kick or something similar that Lady Brassboots (Becky) cooked up in her meth steampunk lab.

Another minor detail that I left out is that the Mason is one of those very few Superheroes with Beards.  When Mori’s done with his illustration, I’ll see if he’ll let me put it up here.