Title of Thesis Or Dissertation, Worded
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE INTERRELATION OF ETHNICITY, ICONICITY, AND FORM IN AMERICAN COMICS by KOM KUNYOSYING A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of English and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2011 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Kom Kunyosying Title: The Interrelation of Ethnicity, Iconicity, and Form in American Comics This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of English by: Daniel Wojcik Chairperson Dr. Priscilla P. Ovalle Member Dr. Benjamin D. Saunders Member Dr. Doug Blandy Outside Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded September 2011 ii © 2011 Kom Kunyosying iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Kom Kunyosying Doctor of Philosophy Department of English September 2011 Title: The Interrelation of Ethnicity, Iconicity, and Form in American Comics Approved: _______________________________________________ Daniel Wojcik This dissertation analyzes issues of race, ethnicity, and identity in American comics and visual culture, and identifies important areas for alternative means to cultural authority located at the intersections of verbal and visual representation. The symbolic qualities that communicate ethnicity and give ethnicity meaning in American culture are illuminated in new ways when studied within the context of the highly symbolic medium of comics. Creators of comics are able to utilize iconic qualities, among other unique formal qualities of the medium, to construct new visual narratives around ethnicity and identity, which require new and multidisciplinary perspectives for comprehending their communicative complexity. This dissertation synthesizes cultural and critical analysis in combination with formal analysis in an effort to further advance the understanding of comics and their social implications in regard to race and ethnic identity. Much like film scholars in the 1960s, comics scholars in the United States currently are in the process of establishing a core of methodological and theoretical approaches, including Lacanian theories of the image, the comic mapping of symbolic order, the recognition of self in undetailed faces, comics closure, and the implications of the comics gutter. Drawing upon these ideas and additional perspectives offered by iv scholars of film and literary studies, such as the relationship between ethnicity and the symbolic, the scopophilic gaze, and filmic suture, I analyze the following visual texts: Henry Kiyama’s The Four Immigrants Manga, Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese, and Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles. The dissertation also performs a multimedia analysis of the current ascendency of geek culture, its relationship to the comics medium, and the geek protagonist as an expression of simulated ethnicity. Ultimately, the unique insights offered by the study of comics concerning principles of ethnic iconicity and identity have far reaching implications for scholars of visual and verbal culture in other mediums as well. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Kom Kunyosying GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene West Virginia University, Morgantown Shepherd University, Shepherdstown , West Virginia DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, English, 2011, University of Oregon Master of Arts, English, 2002, West Virginia University Bachelor of Science, Economics, 1999, Shepherd University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Contemporary American Literature Comics and New Media Ethnic Studies and Literatures Popular and Vernacular Cultures PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon, 2003-2009 Graduate Instructor, West Virginia University 2000-2002 Graduate Research Fellow, Regional Research Inst., West Virginia University 1999-2000 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Sarah Harkness Kirby Award, University of Oregon, Spring 2004 English Department Graduate Research Award, University of Oregon, 2003-04 Southern Regional Educational Board Fellowship, West Virginia University, 2002-2003 Distinguished Senior in Economics, Shepherd University, 1999 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I feel very fortunate to have worked with all of the scholars on my committee and the multidisciplinary approach that I embrace in this dissertation would have been impossible without them. I wish to thank Professor Daniel Wojcik for his generous mentorship and support in writing this dissertation. Professor Ben Saunders also has encouraged my research interests from the start, and through his work on superheroes in comics, he has made the University of Oregon an important hub within the discipline of comics studies. Professor Priscilla Ovalle has helped me think about issues of race and ethnic identity in new ways, creating a vibrant and stimulating environment for media scholars at our university. Professor Doug Blandy, always generous with his time, has helped me to better understand how art scholars study images. Also, I wish to thank Carter Soles, Raphael Raphael, Jeong Chang, Russell Meeuf, Stephen Rust, Frederik Køhlert, Erin Young, Kelly Sultzbach, Brendan Culleton, Emily West Afanador, and Sarah Sandri for the dynamic intellectual environment, support, and friendship they have provided me over the years. I thank Carter in particular for collaboratively originating the theory of geek melodrama with me and for continuing to be a valued and trusted collaborator. This investigation was supported in part by generous research and travel assistance provided by the University of Oregon’s Department of English. My graduate work has also benefitted from funding and mentorship from the Southern Regional Education Board. I am especially grateful for my parents. My mother brought me classics, primers, and comics alike, and modeled the joys of teaching and scholarship. My father’s life’s vii work was the study of images and their implications. He taught me the importance of looking carefully. viii For Udom and Suda Kunyosying ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION: ETHNICITY, VISUALITY, AND CULTURE: IMPLICATIONS OF A GRAPHIC MEDIUM ........................................................ 1 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 13 II. CLOSURE, SUTURE, AND FORM IN HENRY KIYAMA’S THE FOUR IMMIGRANTS MANGA .......................................................................................... 14 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 55 III. THE INTERRELATION OF ETHNICITY AND FORM IN GENE YANG’S AMERICAN BORN CHINESE ............................................................................... 56 Notes ..................................................................................................................... 77 IV. THEORIZING ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION IN FILM AND COMICS: VIOLENCE AND SUTURE IN ANNA DEAVERE SMITH’S TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES ...................................................................................................... 78 Notes ..................................................................................................................... 114 V. POSTMODERN GEEKDOM AS SIMULATED ETHNICITY: A CROSS MEDIA ANALYSIS OF FORM, THE TROPES OF GEEK CULTURE AND THE RISE OF THE GEEK PROTAGONIST ............................................ 115 Notes ..................................................................................................................... 169 VI. CONCLUSION: THOUGHTS ON COMICS AND VISUAL COMMUNICATION ............................................................................................ 172 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 177 REFERENCES CITED ............................................................................................... 178 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.1. Reinventing Comics, Scott McCloud ............................................................... 6 1.2. American Sign Language gesture for “Chinese,” according to Signing Saavy: Your Sign Language Resource ........................................................................ 9 2.1. Final two panels from The Four Immigrants Manga, Henry Kiyama ............ 16 2.2. “Types – Men,” How to Create Cartoons, Frank Greene, 1941 ..................... 19 2.3. Panel from Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud ...................................... 20 2.4. McCloud’s theories about readers’ ability to identify with the generic comic book face, Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud......................................... 26 2.5. “Every act committed to paper by the comics artist is aided and abetted by a silent accomplice,” Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud ......................... 35 2.6. “Schoolboys,” Four Immigrants Manga, Henry Kiyama ............................... 39 2.7. “Something as simple and as basic – as a cartoon,” Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud ................................................................................................ 40 2.8. “Turlock Incident,” Four Immigrants Manga, Henry Kiyama ....................... 41 2.9. “Schoolboys,” Four Immigrants Manga, Kiyama. .......................................... 45 2.10.