Hello readers,

First of all, I will start out by saying how much I enjoyed reading everyone’s blog this week! Each classmate’s perspective offered new and unique insight on the material we have been introduced to in the past couple of weeks. The overarching themes of the blogs this week were the analysis of Joe Sacco’s perspective in “Safe Area Gorazde”, the differences between Sacco’s visual style and Marjane Satrapi’s visual style, thoughts on Joy Kogawa’s “Obasan”, and the key terms that we explored in our group presentations.

Andrea brought up some great points on Sacco’s role as a journalist in “Safe Area Gorazde”. She says that the role of journalist is “one of high power”, as our world is becoming more and more exposed to media coverage of international events. Andrea emphasizes the difference between Sacco and other journalists in that Sacco treats the people in Gorazde as human beings, rather than faceless victims that are simply there to serve as a source of saleable material. Similarly, Mariana brings forward Sacco’s “Silly Girls” chapter to show the representation of a  more human side to the characters, therefore giving them more relatability to the audience. Mariana says Sacco portrays Gorazde’s inhabitants in their “innermost human way”, distinguishing the pain and frustration in their expressions, but also acknowledging their innate humanness and ‘silliness’. I agree with Amy’s argument when she says it is “very easy to stereotype the average person in a war”, and Sacco’s use of ‘silly’ helps accentuate the humanness of the characters, rather than simply label them as “heroes, bystanders, or the enemy”. I think Naima sums up this conversation really nicely when she says that Sacco’s portrayal of the characters in “Safe Area Gorazde” shows that they are “capable of being silly, being relatable, and being human”.

Jackson compares and contrasts Sacco’s and Satrapi’s narrative styles. He says that although there are similarities in both texts, such as the use of black and white, and the author’s own presence in the narratives, Sacco’s realism and details of horrific events has a different effect than Satrapi’s minimalism. Also, he states that by not drawing his own eyes in “Safe Area Gorazde”, Sacco “eliminates revealing his own interpretation on subjects”. Instead, it allows his interviewees tell their own story, emphasizing the fact that everyone has their own ‘truth’. In Robert’s blog, he critiques Sacco’s vivid interpretations as being “misplaced”, as much of his representations are based on what he has heard, not witnessed. Both of these analyses raises some thought-provoking question on the varying degrees of authority between Satrapi and Sacco. It also makes me ponder the quotes we were shown in class about Sacco expressing his discomfort of having his take on Gorazde serve as the public’s final and ultimate impression.

Moving on to Obasan, Devon expressed her shocking realization of the horrific events that Japanese Canadians had to face following the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941. Like Devon, I also found it difficult to come to terms with some of the events in the book, as I grew up in Vancouver and am familiar with so many of the landmarks present in the novel. Devon draws on the failure of the British Columbia school system to educate students about these shameful events. Ben also discusses his shock with “Obasan”‘s sensitive content and ties this discussion with Marita Sturken’s article, and how cultural memory has the ability to be “selectively used”. I agree with Ben when he states that although “Obasan” is tough to read at times, it is important to remember Canada’s historical failures to ensure that they don’t happen again.

Lauren also talked about key terms that  we explored in class such as Farhat Shahad’s “interperetive community”, and Marita Sturken’s “technologies of memory” and connects them with her own experience of commemorating Remembrance Day. For instance, Lauren states that war memorials and poppies are technologies of memories that “facilitate the process of shared memory in a public realm”. Lauren highlights the evolution of memory from an individual’s remembering to a more collective scale. I think that all of the factors and key terms we explored contribute to one’s memory which is why, like Sacco alluded to, there is no such thing as “The Real Truth”.

Overall, I really appreciate our class’ ability to synthesize the knowledge we have gained throughout out ASTU classes in order to effectively analyze the text that we read. For instance, using the various terms we have learned and applying them to “Safe Area Gorazde” and “Obasan” helps us gain a deeper understanding behind the perspectives and motives of each narrative.

Thanks for reading!

Harnoor