Sunday, November 27, 2011

Sunday Blog Post

Here is the thread for the Sunday blog post regarding the first half of Jimmy Corrigan.

8 comments:

  1. Jimmy Corrigan is shaping up to be one of the more confusing books that I have ever read. From what I understand, JImmy daydreams quite frequently and recalls what happened in the past in some of these moments. I appreciated these moments because they allowed me to gain some insight to what Jimmy was thinking at any given moment in the book. There was a severe shift in mood later in the section that I read for this week, up until around 130 Jimmy seemed to be at a loss for words at spending time with him, that was the impression that I got, maybe he is very quiet but that is the impression that I got. There was a big change in moods because early in the book on pages 71 and 117 (by my count) there is a beaver that has a caption "Number 1 Dad" that shows that Jimmy appreciates his Dad caring for him with bacon or with taking care of him at the doctor's office. As soon as Jimmy's dad mentions that he thinks that JImmy was a mistake, his mood changes. this is a big change for the mood as I saw.

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  2. "Jimmy Corrigan," is definitely the hardest novel to follow when it came to following the story's plot. The novel is not a linear story but the narrative seems to go out of chronological order. I feel there is a lot going on in this novel, as if there is no exact starting or ending place to really focus on. I found most difficult about this reading was understanding the character within because there seemed to be stories within the story talking about multiple generations that all connect to Jimmy Corrigan. There seemed to be a grandpa, a dad, Jimmy Corrigan himself, and Jimmy's son. The mental aspect of their thinking/imagination/actions gave me the idea that there was some type of psychological dysfunction that ran in the family. Jimmy Corrigan frequently has these obscured dreams that I feel could possibly be related to how he is inside his on world due to his childhood experiences. On page 21, we see Jimmy going into a deep dream sequence, just after a conversation with Peggy (a girl he has a crush on),in which his father throws himself at Jimmy's feet saying how much he has missed him. With no contact from his father in a very long time, it as if he is seeing this as a sign of his dad feeling bad for missing out on his life. Or it could possibly mean the complete opposite in which the dream was a warning that things will go wrong when he visits his dad for Thanksgiving.

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  3. I had a lot of trouble following Jimmy Corrigan. Not only was the content all over the place, but it didn't follow the typical frame order of most comics. There were so many frames crammed onto each page and the story did not always go from left to right making it really hard to decide where to go next. This, along with Jimmy's constant daydreaming and memories that paralleled the actual story (or what I think is the main story, anyway) made this story almost plot-less which is a difficult concept to deal with. We get a good sense of Jimmy's messed up mind and depressing life through the story, but it doesn't feel like we're actually reading a story. Instead it feels like a bunch of clips about the same guy.
    Also, I wanted to comment on the violence in this book. It was pretty prevalent throughout but caught me off guard almost every time. Jimmy's mild demeanor made it extra shocking and it felt like it was always presented in a casual manner, making it even more disturbing.

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  4. What really stands out to me regarding Jimmy Corrigan is the distinction between its artwork and that of the previous material we've read. First, obviously the panel arrangement is much more complex and involving than we've previously seen. Second, the colors are rather bleak, and where are color is chosen, it does not shade or vary at all, allowing for a very "clean" look. However, this leads me to my third point, that the art in Jimmy Corrigan almost seems mechanical. McCloud spoke at length with respect to the impact of lines in comics, and we see a variation of line work in the Hulk and City of Glass (Illustrated), but in Corrigan, everything is very sleek, appearing as if it has been done with a computer, and making the work appear very lifeless and cold.

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  5. My impression of Jimmy Corrigan is that is just confusing in general. the plot line is hard to follow and the organization of the panels doesn't help much with the confusion. Jimmy often gets lost in his own head or dreams and the first couple time this happened i was extremely confused. it is sometimes hard to tell what is actually happening and what is in jimmys head until we are snapped back into the reality of jimmy and his dad just sitting in McDonald's. the story is extremely confusing but interesting nonetheless. it seems that things are just happening to jimmy rather then jimmy actually proactively doing things.

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  6. I was very confused with this book. I understood that in gist Jimmy Corrigan liked to make up an imaginary character to bid his time but never understood the division of when one story or the other story was being told.

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  7. After reading the first half of "Jimmy Corrigan", I felt as if the book is very confusing. The plot was not clear at all, and I felt that the sequence of events was not in proper order. I must add, though, that it was very interesting in terms of the storytelling techniques. Jimmy often daydreams and gets lost in his own thoughts. This is revealed through the use of flashback scenes, which definitely adds to the confusing plot. I also found it interesting that many of the pages don't include text. There are also several diagrams that are not easy to understand. For example, on page 39 (approximately) there is a small, yet complex, diagram on the bottom of the page. I am having a hard time figuring out what exactly it is meant to represent because there is not text to explain what it is. I feel as if the complexity of the techniques Ware uses to tell his story complicate the novel. Jimmy's imagination makes it hard to tell what is reality and what exists only in his mind.

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  8. When reading the first half of Jimmy Corrigan, I thought the book was quite interesting but confusing at the same time. This was something different than any other reading we have discussed in class. I do not think he follows McCloud's theories of comics because his framework is confusing and all over the place. It was difficult to grasp exactly what was trying to be portrayed in the story. The diagrams are difficult to follow and depict exactly what the story means. The one similarity that I have noticed throughout reading the novel that compares to Crumb's childhood is Corrigan's dysfunctional childhood through his experiences with his family, this becomes evident in his dreams about his father.

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