Tuesday, September 16, 2008

comic strip/little dad


With no visuals, Spiegelman’s comic strip would have been harder to understand. It would be able problem recognizing who is speaking or who is saying what. It seems as if the shaded characters are the masses. In other words, these are the ordinary people. I wouldn’t say they are middle class individuals, rather working class elderly. The characters not shaded look to be the middle class group of younger individuals. Evidently, all of them are Jews.

The images parallels with the text in the sense that the characters speaking have their own voices but the father is still the individual telling the story. In addition, the bubbles the illustrator used to enclose the text goes hand in hand with the dark gloomy theme of the comic. In each scene, there are more shaded areas than there are bright areas. This is symbolic to the time of the tragic events that the father is speaking about.

The visuals serve as the father’s flashback. As he is telling the story, the illustrator gives us visuals of what is happening. I conclude that the father is one of the characters who speak of fleeing. He could not possibly be one of the shaded characters who I assume to be all elderly. I do not assume him to be any of the generals either.

It is ironic that the father is the individual riding the bike while the son is smoking a cigarette. This all goes back to the shaded elderly characters and not shaded young characters. Based on the shaded characters reactions, the elderly were to be disposed of when they are sent to the stadium. The father gives the impression that he is afraid of getting old in fear of suffering the same fate that was to be of the elders in his flashback. He utilizes the bike as a means of remaining young.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Fresh Prince


A family of sophisticated individuals with the men dressing in a suits and ties and the woman dressing in sophisticated dresses. Then there's the individual in the front wearing Jordan sweat clothes and a huge chain. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is my fovorite television show. The picture distinctively present the difference between Will and the rest of the family. Will is a young kid who most obviously grew up in an urban community. His image in this picture suits the stereotype for the way urban individuals tend to dress. On the other hand, it is evident that Will's family is from a suburban community.
If the show was to be turned into a book, it would very well be just as power ful as the television series. The concept of the show itself is very powerful. For a young urban kid from the streets of west Philedelphia to come to a rich neighborhood and fit in is not an easy task. Will was accustomed to jeans, loud music, and tilted hats. However, throughout the seasons of the sitcom, we begin to see how the family has influenced Will and how Will influenced the family.
As a book, The Fresh Prince would most likely win some awards. Although it would not be as explicit, I think it would be a book in the calibur of Anderson's Code of the Streets. To me, it would go down as one of the greatest written books in history, depending on the author. However, I doubt that the book would be as funny as the television show. Written words can't reenact the hysterical comedy of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.