I really enjoyed watching the one video and reading the two sources we were assigned to review. In his TEDx, comic artist Scott McCloud talks about how comic books have evolved overtime and he describes the types of media that comics have been presented on. He states that comics use visual space to represent time and to shape narrative. Finally, McCloud provides ideas on how to present comics in the digital age; he suggests thinking of the computer’s monitor as a window or an infinite canvas, rather than a page. Furthermore, author Sarah McNicol writes about comics as well, mentioning that they are controversial and vulnerable to censorship. Comics, according to this article, are characterized by the presence of multiple messages; therefore, there is no single correct or absolute meaning that a reader may abstract from reading a comic book. McNicol writes about a specific comic book, “Persepolis”, which was banned from the 7th grade classrooms in Chicago’s public schools for using complex and distressing themes such as torture and addressing issues such as questioning authority. Instead of removing “Persepolis” from classrooms, educators should teach students the visual and textual literacy skills required to read comics without presenting a single political viewpoint. By offering a balance of different viewpoints, students can understand the variety of ways in which the story might be understood. The author agrees that providing professional development guidelines for teachers may be beneficial to support the teaching of the text, but she does not believe that it justifies the removal of a text from schools. Author Neil Gaiman would agree with McNicol because throughout his article he describes that intelligence comes from reading, being read to, and using your imagination. He glorifies the notion of libraries and explains that reading books is an obligation for all citizens because it teaches individuals how to navigate their everyday lives. He writes about the benefits of reading fiction novels, such as developing empathetic skills. Gaiman also addresses comic books by stating that comics have wrongfully been decried as fostering literacy. He believes that there is no such thing as a bad book or a bad author; therefore, it is imperative that adults give children access to books they find enjoyable and pleasurable.
Although I do not read comic books, I was able to connect my own experiences to the content covered in the two articles and the TEDx — especially Gaiman’s articles. As a child, I had an apparent love of reading; I would constantly ask my parents to drive me to the local public library on weekends. As I got older and entered middle school, I was given a list of required books to read during the summer and school year. Truthfully, I did not like reading those books, but I did not have much choice. Reading for school took up so much of my time that I was no longer able to read books on my own — ones that I intrinsically enjoyed reading. As Gaiman put it, “well-meaning adults can easily destroy a child’s love of reading” by giving them “worthy-but-dull books”. By assigning a multitude of school-related books, my middle school unintentionally decreased my initial love of reading. As a solution, teachers could have asked students to read a book of their own choosing in addition to reading the books that the teacher himself/herself assigns.
Questions:
- Question for the class: What are your thoughts on prohibiting children from reading books that they may find interesting, but are inappropriate? Do you think that reduces their intrinsic motivation to read books in the future?
- Question for the class: I had some difficulty interpreting Scott McCloud’s TEDx; how would you interpret the main point of his talk?
UWP 104D 