What are some picture books, comics, graphic novels that break the mold? Some examples of intertextuality you’ve seen?
The Stinky Cheese Man!!! He addresses the audience directly, he turns the usual fairy tale takes on their head, and he tells a different, sillier message.
Discuss the way media in different countries and cultures influence one another. Examples: America vs. Britain, West vs. East, others you can think of?
Japanese manga affecting how we read comics in the US – and comics in the US affecting Japanese manga! Something that I think is especially interesting is the popularity of American “spaghetti westerns” in Eastern cultures which has led to a lot of samurai “spaghetti western” movies in Japan, and that in turn has inspired the shoujo manga genre in Japan. Or how like, Avatar the Last Airbender is inspired by Japanese anime!
Comics are for all ages. However, some believe that they can expose the younger readers to inappropriate material. What do you think?
Kids will probably eventually encounter inappropriate material no matter what we do! I think what matters is giving kids the tools to deal with encountering “inappropriate” material; this will help them continue to grow and change as people.
Think of a scene from your favorite picture book, comic book, or graphic novel. How would your interpretation of that scene change if the book didn’t have pictures? Didn’t have words?
My favorite picture book is Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm and one of the main spreads is about all of the cats that live at the farm — it could be just as effective without words, because it has an illustration of each cat, but if it was just the words without the pictures, it wouldn’t communicate each cat’s personality as well.
AND LAST…
Why might that Snowman image make someone “uncomfy”?
I just think the snowman is kind of scary! I know he is not supposed to be scary but why is he leaning over like that! why is his smile like that! I hate it! Thank you for listening.
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