Jacqueline Simpson, Weblog Entry #1
In the reading from July fourth, Messaris (1998) implies that interpreting visual cues and how we make meaning from them is essential in order to critically examine the world around us and, more specifically, the types of images we are presented with by media and popular culture. The act of viewing is not passive, yet visual literacy necessitates an awareness of how, exactly, we interact with visual space. Where “explicit relational indicators” are not present, Messaris implies that students (or all viewers) will not be able to critically assess the images and their responses to them. Alternatively, Frey and Fisher (2004) posit that students are able to make meaning from images that they are presented with, often critically interpreting them without explicit awareness or specific prompts to lead their thinking in response to an image. Without the explicit relational indicators that Messaris has identified, Frey and Fisher observe that students are able to create their own meaning and—as shown by students’ responses to images as writing prompts—they were presenting a critical analysis informed almost entirely by their own experiences and the knowledge they were already bringing into the classroom. In this sense, images support text as much as text supports image.
The positive outcome that Frey and Fisher identified from their study is that popular media allowed students to find a way into classroom literacy by inspiring interest and sparking imagination. Aside from developing writing techniques (largely creative writing techniques—the article does not suggest how or if popular media such as graphic novels and the internet could foster the development of formal writing, although it does suggest that comic books such as an adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis can draw students into challenging works of literature), Frey and Fisher noted that students were also becoming “more knowledgeable consumers of ideas and information” (p. 24). By creating the links between words, image, and meaning for themselves, students were interacting with both text and image in a way that was “authentic,” as it brought their own ideas and experiences into examination through the construction of their narratives. While tradition forms of literacy were taught, they were not done so through remedial exercises. As a result, students were engaged in the writing process, and perhaps were more creative in their experimentations with both narrative and language.
The barriers identified by Frey and Fisher—that the content of graphic novels often barred them from the classroom, that there are issues of access—are likely familiar to anyone who has tried to bring forms of media that are not privileged forms or canonical (in the case of written text) into the classroom, and this problem would remain familiar despite research to suggest that students become more engaged when they are interacting with “real world” (rather than “school”) texts. The problem is as much administrative as it is logistical, although simple picture prompts could easily be brought into any classroom. A problem in accessing more texts or resources that engage multiple literacies is that findings such as “students were more engaged” are not quantitative, and traditional methods of teaching writing and reading prevail based on a notion that it produces the desired results (despite quantitative research to the contrary). I think that there is a shift towards recognizing the role visual literacy (as well as other forms of literacy) can play in a traditional classroom setting, and in most cases (by my observation) activities like the ones described in the article are used more frequently than remedial drilling of content. Still, the barriers remain.
1 response so far ↓
domlee87 // Jul 4th 2013 at 7:50 pm
Dominic Lee Weblog Entry #1 – Using Graphic Novels, Anime, and the Internet in an Urban High School
This isn’t really a response to Jacqueline’s reponse actually. I thought howeever that the board would be a lot less cluttered if we kept our responses in the same thread. Let me know if I should be keeping them separate. WARNING, half of this response is a rant and as such, this post is quite long.
Upon seeing the title of the article, I was quite interested in learning what methods of approach the authors used in employing different types of visual texts in the classroom. Especially considering that we are living in a location in Canada where there is an extremely high population of Asian students, being able to employ graphic novels and anime/internet into the classroom seemed like a daring yet sensible step in capturing the interest of our young students. It was not to be. What began as an interesting and pertinent topic, as the title of the article might have suggested, unfortunately fell quite flat through its narrow focus and lack of depth in the subject matter.
Considering Frey and Fisher seemed to acknowledge that there was a considerable difference between the visual modes of graphic novels and anime/manga, their analysis of the latter was alarmingly weak and insincere considering they decided to put the term in their title. Disregarding the fact that very little mention is even given to the Japanese works, even their “Manga Primer” is off in its introduction for western audiences.
I realize that this article came out nine years ago in 2004 and back then there may have been a less widespread awareness of what manga and anime really was but at no point was the industry dominated by stories of mechs (Gundams). Were Gundams a popular genre that had a vast following around the world? Yes. However, to say that manga is focused around mechs would be as erroneous as saying that western reading is dominated by smut vampire fiction.
While Frey and Fisher apparently understood that there was more to manga than romance stories for girls and action pieces for boys, they completely air-balled in terms of recognizing what was becoming available to western shores through professional and amateur translations and why it might have become a breakthrough in western education. That is, that anime is written by Asian writers and artists and as such, their work would naturally be a gateway into exploring eastern practices, cultural norms, and values.
However, since all of this was unceremoniously glossed over and lumped together with western graphic novels in the title, I will end my rant on the authors’ decision to include it in the title and then completely ignore it.
Moving onto graphic novels, it is now well understood that there is definitely some value in bringing them into the classroom and examining their properties and exploring the ways that they help us to understand and absorb literature. Frey and Fisher acknowledge that one must be selective in what they bring into the classroom as there are some graphic novels that are, to be punfully delightful, quite graphic, but that is not a problem exclusive only to graphic novels as it exists in all literature of all forms whether they are traditional novels, movies, television shows, or magazines.
However, there is a reason as to why each of these is a different form of literature. They all help enhance a person’s understanding and appreciation for literature in a different way. Just like how the acting, directing, cinematography, sound, visual/sound effects, camera effects, lighting, set pieces, costume and makeup cannot be overlooked in their contributions towards a successful movie and its impact, to analyze a graphic novel without spending time to discuss and learn the significance of panels, choice of artistic composition, point of view/bias, emphasis, symbols, and color schemes if there are any, would not be doing the literary work justice. For the authors’ purpose of trying to elicit writing that brought out personal experiences and emotions through visual tone and mood, they needn’t have turned to graphic novels at all and could have just as easily done the activity via showing the class a silent film, photograph, or painting.
Teachers should most definitely explore ways to bring a variety of visual texts into the classroom in order to give students different perspectives and exposure to some of the same issues that they may be studying through traditional texts such as novel studies, short stories, and poetry. However, as we acknowledge that each of these forms of writing have distinct properties that make them unique and meaningful to study, we should not rob our students of learning opportunities by utilizing other modes of literature in ways that are insincere and shallow.
You must log in to post a comment.