For this week, I read two manga: Ghost in the Shell and My Lesbian Experience. I was surprised about how truthful and open the author was with the work. There were a lot of emotions and feelings that were put into the manga that made it feel very real and open. I went into the manga somewhat expecting some unrealistic version of love between women, but it was actually a really realistic experience of someone that dealt a lot with mental health issues. Additionally, the simple style with the simple color scheme is very effective for the subject matter for this comic. If any more simple, it might not have been taken seriously, and if it were any more complex, I feel I would get to caught up in the art style. The addition of the color pink, rather than just doing a traditional black and white, kept a soft theme to the comic, even though the comic was not especially gentle. Finally, I think that it was an interesting story. Although the story is based on real life, I expected some sort of resolution by the end, which we somewhat got in the manner of how the author changed how she thought. However, the author went through the trouble of including an epilogue that showed that she has not really changed since her first sexual encounter. I think this made the story feel even more real, as it makes it feel more like life in that it does not necessarily have a happy ending.
I read American Born Chinese about two years ago for the Asian and Asian American Diaspora LMST Class, but I did not quite remember everything that happened, so I decided to read it again. While there are seemingly three story lines, they all merge into one at the end, which caught me off guard again the second time reading it. I definitely think this fits into the category of literary comics. Not only does it have great writing, it tells a compelling story that really makes the reader stop to think. While I cannot say that I relate to this story in the same way, I can see how this story could be relatable. I feel like this is an important novel that everyone should take a second and read. I also really enjoyed the pacing of this novel, both in the sense of the three stories coming together as one and in the panel by panel framing of the scenes. The writer understands well how to use blank panels and pages.
Comments
Post a Comment