Yet another revised research topic idea
Oct. 27th, 2009 04:59 pm
I saw my supervisor yesterday. After considering that the research paper and the work should support each other, and that the works I am creating have both a biographical and a documentary/non-fiction basis, I have formulated a new proposal (compare with the last idea):
The unhidden Eye.
An examination of what graphic novels and sequential art of a biographical, non-fiction, and documentary nature, reveal about their creators and their intended audience.
There are actually quite a number of biographical sources of from which I can draw from, such as Madison Clell’s Cuckoo, which examines her struggles with Dissociative Identity Disorder; Epileptic by David B which examines his brother’s battles with epilepsy and the effect this had on their family; Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor; Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (about growing up in post-revolutionary Iran); and Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Speigleman which examines his father’s experiences of the Holocaust as a Polish Jew (but in “funny animal” format). In non-fiction / documentary format there are Scott Mcloud’s books on comics: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, and Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form (both of which are in the art form that they describe and discuss). There may be others which a proper lit search will reveal.
In fact, a literature search for this topic might include discussions about biographical and autobiographic writing and storytelling, examinations of the medium and its limitations, and the nature of creative works, their creators and their audience. And I think that might be a much juicier topic to study and research.