Comics Literacy and Multimodal Pedagogy
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BECAUSE COMICS: COMICS LITERACY AND MULTIMODAL PEDAGOGY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Science By Shane Anthony Gomes In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major Program: Rhetoric, Writing and Culture June 2020 Fargo, North Dakota North Dakota State University Graduate School Title Because Comics: Comics Literacy and Multimodal Pedagogy By Shane Anthony Gomes The Supervisory Committee certifies that this disquisition complies with North Dakota State University’s regulations and meets the accepted standards for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: Emily Wicktor Chair Lisa Arnold Alison Graham-Bertolini Michael Strand Approved: July 10, 2020 Stephenson J. Beck Date Department Chair ABSTRACT How and what we teach in the post-secondary English classroom has tremendous power, both regarding individual students and larger contexts in which they function. As post-secondary instructors, our pedagogical approach to our subjects can impact our student’s abilities and experiences directly through interactions with texts, and also impact our specific institutions, our academic disciplines, and larger social structures. This project will propose what is best termed a disruptive pedagogy, founded in comics literacy, and a primary goal is to effect change in the classroom and therefore in our students’ later social and professional contexts. Increasingly, what we teach in English classrooms is moving towards a pedagogy of multimodality that reflects the contexts of our students outside of the classroom. Multimodal researchers Jennifer Rowsell and Eryn Decoste state that “To expand notions of composition, there is a need to not only introduce other modes such as visuals, sounds and interactive modes, but also develop frameworks, activities and lesson ideas to actually teach other modes of representation and expression” (246-247). Yet, as they mention, this isn’t always easy or even possible. But an additional issue is that multimodality can elide the discussion of narrative, one of the key affordances of the English classroom. Further, much emphasis in multimodal pedagogies is on technology, which access to the needed technology is not universal. Focusing education tactics in the context of internet enabled classrooms will necessarily leave some populations behind To address these two issues, this project works to propose a multimodal pedagogy that uses comics as an ideal narrative multimodal medium. By fitting comics into the framework of multimodal education in post-secondary classrooms, this dissertation demonstrates the potential of the medium. Therefore, the focus of this project is on building a multimodal pedagogy for iii comics. By focusing on the methods by which comics create, this dissertation proposes a formalized way to use them as a foundation of a pedagogy that builds student’s multimodal literacy. A standard for deploying these texts has yet to calcify, meaning that current research can impact multimodal teaching substantially in the future. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1: COMICS STUDIES AND COMICS IN THE CLASSROOM ............................... 1 What’s Wrong With How We Teach Comics ...................................................................... 5 What’s Wrong With Comics Studies ................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER 2: COMICS AND THE SPONSORSHIP OF MULTIMODAL LITERACY........... 26 Breaking Down Comics ..................................................................................................... 33 A Comics Perspective on Multimodal Instruction ............................................................. 39 Combining Comics and Multimodal Pedagogy ................................................................. 44 CHAPTER 3: COMICS, DISCOURSE, AND MULTIMODAL ASSESSMENT ...................... 57 CHAPTER 4: THE CRITICAL APPARATUS ............................................................................ 73 The Multiframe ................................................................................................................... 79 Styles of Discourse ............................................................................................................. 80 Iconic Solidarity ................................................................................................................. 88 The Word Balloon .............................................................................................................. 89 Intrapanel Multimodal Analysis and the Channels of Meaning ......................................... 90 The Auditory Channel of Meaning ....................................................................... 91 The Gestural Channel of Meaning ........................................................................ 94 The Spatial Channel of Meaning .......................................................................... 95 CHAPTER 5: THE COMICS ..................................................................................................... 100 Arkham Asylum ............................................................................................................... 101 Beautiful Darkness ........................................................................................................... 112 Maus ................................................................................................................................. 119 From Hell ......................................................................................................................... 128 v Days of Future Past .......................................................................................................... 134 CHAPTER 6: THE SYLLABUS ................................................................................................ 145 WORKS CITED ......................................................................................................................... 177 APPENDIX A: SYLLABUS FOR ENGL XXX, MULTIMODAL LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION ......................................................................................................................... 192 APPENDIX B: MAJOR ASSIGNMENT 1 ................................................................................ 199 APPENDIX C: ASSIGNMENTS FOR PRIMARY TEXT 1, ARKHAM ASYLUM (WEEK 6) 202 APPENDIX D: ASSIGNMENTS FOR PRIMARY TEXT 2, FROM HELL (WEEKS 7-8) ..... 204 APPENDIX E: ASSIGNMENTS FOR PRIMARY TEXT 3, MAUS (WEEKS 9-10)............... 205 APPENDIX F: ASSIGNMENTS FOR PRIMARY TEXT 4, BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS (WEEK 11) ................................................................................................................................. 207 APPENDIX G: ASSIGNMENTS FOR PRIMARY TEXT 5, UNCANNY X-MEN #141-142, DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (WEEKS 12-14) ............................................................. 209 APPENDIX H: MAJOR ASSIGNMENT 2 (WEEK 15) ........................................................... 213 APPENDIX I: FINAL PROJECT (WEEKS 16-17) ................................................................... 216 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Left: Man screams at God. Right: Superman fights a swamp monster.....................................11 2. Mismatched artwork and text.....................................................................................................43 3. XKCD 1749...............................................................................................................................61 4. A standard panel layout.............................................................................................................81 5. An aesthetic panel layout...........................................................................................................83 6. An aesthetic panel layout, example 2........................................................................................84 7. A narrative panel layout.............................................................................................................85 8. A formal panel layout................................................................................................................87 9. Transparent word balloons.........................................................................................................90 10. Visual representation of sound.................................................................................................93 11. Delirium’s words are heavily manipulated..............................................................................94 12. Manipulation of panel architecture..........................................................................................97 13. The Joker’s dialogue is rendered as a bloody scrawl.............................................................104 14. Batman is a dark shape among other dark shapes..................................................................105 15. Croc looms over Batman in the right-hand panel..................................................................107 16. Croc realizes Batman is returning to their battle...................................................................109