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October 15, 2005
Comic Analysis -- Did we have to blog this?
** I didn't think that Ellen wanted us to blog our analyses but I saw other people did, so I just decided to add mine too.
This comic called Lola by Steve Dickenson and Tood Clark is definitely interdependent. The words cannot function with out the pictures and vise versa. A visual representation as well as a dialogue of what is actually occurring is essential. In the scenes shown, it seems as though a father is talking to his family about a family budget. It is known that these shapes in the panels are people because of the way they stand and are positioned. Also, certain features like a nose, mouth, arms, eyes, and hair can all been easily seen, indicating that the objects in the panels are actually people. The sex of each of these characters can be determined by the clothes they wear, the length of their hair. It seems as though the man standing head of the household because he is standing up and dressed in business clothes. The black strip on his shirt looks like a tie while the collar near his neck illustrates that his outfit would be worn at an office, somewhere that forced him to dress formally. In addition, when he is standing, he is higher up in the panel, showing his dominance or strength over the group of people underneath him, sitting at the table. The woman across from him seems to be his wife. She has exactly the same square nose as the man possibly signifying that she is related to him in some way. As previously mentioned, it is obvious that she is a woman, through her shape, clothes, and hair. The little boy in the picture sits next to the mother and the grandparent. He has square classes and freckles. He does not look like he is the child of the woman and man in the comic, yet, he is sitting next to the woman, so automatically, I am inclined to believe that he is her son. He is also drawn with square glasses. It is known that this object on the front of his face are glasses because they are covering his eyes. The shape of his glasses are square. This shape is repeated through out this one panel, specifically in the nose of both the mother and father. This could suggest that the boy is actually the son because he shares a common characteristic with two of the other people in the panel. Lastly, the person to the far left in the first panel also possesses glasses but seems to be much older than the little boy. The age of this woman can be determined by her colorless hair and the overall weary face. Her glasses also show that her eye sight is failing. These characteristics all indicate that this person could be a senior citizen or maybe a grandparent because sometimes families might invite older relatives to live with them, if they cannot take care of themselves. Also, if you know the history behind this cartoon, this older woman is always added. This character’s name is Lola.
The supposed mother, son, and grandparent are all seated. The curved line with enclosing two or three lines, behind the people, indicates that these people are sitting down on chairs. Also, the difference in height between the three people in the bottom of the panel and the man is drastic, furthering solidifying the fact that these people are seated. The shape, in front of the family, also shows reaffirms the fact that the family is seated. This square or rectangular shape is a table. It is intriguing that this table is square because the woman, man, and boy all have a square shape incorporated into their figure, so possibly, this table could be further proof that this table is theirs and the room that they are in is in this man and woman’s house.
The father of the family begins the comic by waving his finger in a serious manner to the rest of the family in the panel. The author of the comic includes zip ribbons to show this movement around this one particular finger. Even the father’s eyebrow is tilted slightly, expressing his concern for the “family budget”, as noted in the word bubble. Then, there is a panel transition which can be considered both a “moment to moment” transition as well as an “action to action” transition. The reader realizes that time has passed, but also, that the man has picked up a pie chart. When the man shows this pie chart, his eyebrows wrinkle to express his anger and distress. Zip ribbons are again utilized to show the movement of the pie chart from side to side. This movement emphasizes a certain importance in the chart. With the addition of a new object in the comic, a different type of panel is used to dramatize the man. He is not contained in any panel, but rather he is free-floating. This could suggest that all his frustrations with his family cannot be restricted to just one enclosed area.
Basically, the comic is portrayed through one symbol, a pie chart. The humor of the comic all centers around the family’s misinterpretation of the graph. The pie chart is supposed to be a representation of the amount of money each person spends in the household, but instead, the family sees it as a pizza. One of the family members then says, “let’s order pizza!” The little boy stretches out his arms for the pizza, while the woman and the grandparent both raise their arms showing that they agree with the pizza. While this is happening, the father is discouraged and displeased. His eyes almost sink back into his head and he is not showing any anger with his eye brows, but more of a tired and confused emotion. His ending words, “I give up” give the sense of defeat, and also, his bubble line is squiggly and not direct and straight like a line, indicating that he is puzzled.
In the end, at the top of the comic, specifically, on the top of both the first and last panels, there is some black. In the first panel, the color black is defined and dense and shows a great contrast between the white. This indicates that what the father is trying to say is black and white. The concept is simple: the family budget needs to be addressed and then modified. In the ending panel, it can be sent that the dense area of black at the top is no longer dense and solid, but rather is made up of many brush strokes that have no form. The father’s conversation is no longer black and white. The family has completely disrupted the purpose of his meeting.
This comic is definitely a representation of how just one simple symbol can be viewed so many different ways. -Christina
Link attached.http://www.comics.com/comics/lola/archive/lola-20051012.html
Sorry this is so long!
Posted by lcisgancarz at October 15, 2005 09:33 PM