New horizon of Narrative elements.

This is what I wrote to my friend Bernie who I often discuss

about theories of narratives in different mediums. I think it is an interesting thought

I came up with so I'll share it to you.
I have been studying a lot of films, comics, novels and musics during these past year especially these past few moths. This included comparison of different mediums like The Hobbit Film and Novel. I just came up with this interesting theory about the power to create the world and make believe in different elements.

Give Peter Jackson films(both trilogies) vs Tolkien novel(The Hobbit) which I have just read for example. 
Films are capable of telling story through sounds and moving images.
Gestalt between good acting and set design make imageries that make believe.
Novel, however, only have words and possibly some illustrations. Although, words(especially tolkien's writing) tend to carry the essence of author's self and intention very strongly. Words also tend to make each subject it describes much more significant and fascinatingly, they make audience sub-consciously imagine the world surrounding the subject without using any words.

Comics are different. Well crafted comics can integrate powerful/cinematic imageries with dialogues or narrations that help expresses what we do not see. Although it can only create illusion of movements and sounds.
Games are also different. Depends on it's craft, each can contain different range of narrative elements. Typical jrpg usually have fair amount of each elements. Some have written dialogues for words that are not majorly important to the main story but that helps create a sense of open-ended border to the world. Modern rpg such as The Last of Us and Assassin's Creed however, rely highly on cinematography, speeches and programmed sound effects.

When we see potential to create world in different way in each elements we see more possibilities to find gestalt in different degrees of integration. I believe that we can find a new horizon of each mediums from this wisdom. Give video games for example. Making more believable game doesn't always mean make it more film-like but we should find the right balance between uses of different narrative elements. Video games can also tell stories uniquely from films. I remember myself enjoyed reading dialogues from one of my childhood translated mmo. The translation sounds very unfinished almost as if npc were mumbling to themselves but from that shattered pieces of informations there were so much voids for audiences to fill their imaginations. I haven't play Dark Soul myself but my friend who's pretty critical about video games said that it was a brilliant idea whether it was intentional or unintentional to make npcs speake broken speech. It support the design that left a lot of things verbally unexplained and let players figure them out with pieces of shattered informations(a common Japanese aesthetic called 'Ma' or potential void). 

May be you could agree to the certain degrees from you experiences with Elder Scroll?
I know you enjoy reading myth and lore and I think those written words in books were powerful part of the game narrative, without actually visualizing it. People like me gets really excited to see old ruins or hint of ancient civilization or visual aid that trigger the curiosity, which lead me to reading in the end(I've been reading Tolkienpedia and Wookiepedia so much previously). Map might be one other good example.


Whether it's films, comic or novel or even music that has an album cover or side illustrations, I think they all have potential to become more convincing through the better marriage between different narrative elements.

WEEK 7 assignment : Art Spiegelman, Maus

On page 111 of the second book when Vladek said, ‘there! I’m starting to feel human again!’, I felt like every essences from the story, tragic, bitterness, happiness has been summed up into one sentence. All emotions I’ve felt from observing his mighty struggle started to crystalize into a kind of intuition. An experience reading Maus was worthwhile, I thought. And it was surely quite a depressing experience. Who wouldn’t have felt anything from learning about holocaust and the cruel nature of war. I face palmed several time while reading. I knew that the author didn’t have an intention to darken the story but it is already dark in it’s nature. And that I think is clever and what make this comic artistic after all. 

What I think was a genius in the craft of this comic book was the way the story has been told without unnecessarily over dramatizing it with film-like characters and elements. By telling a story as memories of the past, readers can be less detach to the tragedy and the story can be told as what they really are. Art Spiegelman as he portrayed himself in the comic take us another step back from an involvement with the war and more about how generations after felt about it. The way he symbolized characters into animals also reminded me of Scott McCloud theory. It was easier to feel involved with stylized characters than realistic human characters.

Portraying people from different factions into different kind of animals make audiences feel less judgmental toward specific idealism or nationality as there’s no real image of cruelty of human on human. This stylization also suggested that Nationalism and Racism played big part in the competition for resources during WW2. Personal background become an undeniable factor in the incident. It also reflected that in true nature, different kinds have an ability to live in harmony with one other(with of course unavoidable conflict from time to time)upon an exchange of profits and sometimes sympathy. Sometimes conflicts can also occurs among one own kind themselves due to ideal and resources. The true disaster starts with the idea that only one kind should exist without another, thus, bring an imbalance and chaos to the world. 

WEEK 6 assignment : Hytone / Mr.Natural

I was amused by reading Mr.Natural and Hytone because they managed to be somewhat deep and ridiculous at the same time. The art didn’t really held my attention very much but they were surely quite different from mainstream styles. Although, coincidentally or not, I’ve seen similar style of drawings and storytelling emerged else where and still publishing actively. In Thailand an experimental genre which the style and the story intend to be different from the popular genre has become quite well-known. One of the most notable publisher is Let’s Comic. The product of their approach surprisingly turn out quite similar to American underground comic. Drawing styles are unmistakably strange and doesn’t have any refined charm to them, instead they could be harsh for readers to digest. They also heavily depicted philosophical and intoxicated subjects. However, there are several subtle differences in societal circumstances that make them evolve differently.

While American underground comic strived to be rebellious against the national comic code and to be different from the mainstream produced in America, experimental approach in Thai’s comic industry tries to be different from foreign styles. Most Thai millennials tend to embrace manga style as they are highly influential all over the country, otherwise imitate Superhero style. Some comic community such as Let’s Comic and older artists tend to deny those mainstream and present themselves as different to the point where I thought they were trying too hard. Regardless to that they successfully create an iconic impact to the market. 

Philosophical metaphor like spiritual journey into the toilet pipe full of crap and satire on meditation(From Mr.Natural) are something that can be expect in Let’s Comic, not to mention sexual theme, violence and attempt to question morality. I don’t have the answer whether this emerging genre is truly appropriate for general readers but it was significant for the growth of artists communities. Like American underground comic that allowed any artists to submit their works freely, Let’s Comic and several other independent Thai publishers have their own active online community which young artists or those who interest in publishing their work can freely participate. That aspect is good for developing industry and consumer values in the next generation. Although it is often a short lived landmark of the evolution it strongly inspires shift in paradigm.

WEEK 5 assignment : Will Eisner, Contract with God

Contract with God was an almost satisfying reading experience to me. In comparison to Superhero comic I read a week before, I’m more fond to the way humanity was portrayed in this graphic novel. Characters tend to express their mind and emotions more naturally in this series. Although, I still find transformation within characters a little too rush and could be more subtle overall, the work successfully convinced me that they have feelings and have grown to some degrees. 

What I appreciate the most in this work is the sense that the environmental world itself resonated emotions in harmony with characters. Small alleys and cityscape vibrated some kind of restlessness and bitter serenity just like life stories of characters living in it. Heavy rain in the first chapter for example did not portrayed as just a natural occurrent but part of the character’s being and his state of mind, so as the alleys and people of the place that seemed to shape each others. I think these places and people wonderfully expressed a strong sense of imperfection, weathered and unstoppable rhythm of time.

Beauty that I found in this work was clearly not in the perfectly decorated mind, their appearances or well refined world but in the ability to communicate subtle flaws that were always part of continuing spiritual journey. I think this is the charm of slices of life genre. They’re able to end in a manner which the story slowly depart from audience leaving continuing time for us to reflect upon. 

What I think would make the story more satisfying to me would be a sense of triumphant and self awareness. As the story went on, most characters tend to sink deeper into delusion than being elevated from it. This pattern is common in many chapters. I don’t think that the story should end happily or the suffering should be eliminated but as a reader I would like to depart from the story with more detached and elevated mind, which I could obtain from observing anomalies like elements of hope in a generally sorrowful plots. However, the fact that the story always remain true to the author’s world view is respectable. 

WEEK 4 assignment : Action Comics, DC superman, May NO. 400

From a foreign consumer perspective, specifically Thai perspective, Superhero genre is the icon and the definition of American comic culture. Little is known about comic in other genre produces in the States as the uniqueness of costumed hero was so striking that it overshadowed other genre, unless it is a television cartoon. I’ve seen many Superhero films but I hardly have any experience with classic Superhero comic. Part of the reason is because to me they seems difficult to sympathize. The impression I’ve had from reading classic Superman was that the emotion expressed through characters were quite stiff. It was already quite difficult to understand the mind of these super powered figures yet their cause of actions and life with special abilities doesn’t share many aspect that I can relate to. 

I read Superman in Action Comics that titled ‘My Son is he Man or Beast?’ and found myself more appealed to the down to earth character like Gregor who suffered from having special abilities more than Superman who is completely at ease with his power, not to mention his costume. I’m not certain if spirituality is something to be expect from Superhero genre but I rather appreciate Superhero stories and films that expose hero’s weaknesses sincerely and those stories that contains worthy opponents which is significant to the hero’s growth. Overall I found stories about human more appealing that superhuman. That’s why I found Superhero films that filled with well composed tragic more enjoyable. 

From what I understand, classic Superhero comic were written in the way in which every chapter is self contained and readers can start reading from any chapter. I think selling scenario ideas is a neat aspect that this genre did really well but I also think that it would be nice to have more psychology that tied deeply to these scenarios.

From my reading experience, Superhero comics that I read felt somewhat superficial. A good example would be the cover page itself where the character phrase were used as an advertisement intended title. It made me perceived the character as someone who doesn’t live their story but narrating their story. These opinions was of course came from my appreciation for depth in characters’ personalities.

WEEK 3 assignment : Winsor McCay, Little Nemo

I found Winsor McCay’s drawings quite aesthetically pleasing. While the volume of his line works has nice quality the proportion of his characters and perspectives has a strong sense of depth and motion, not to mention variations of scales and frame portions. Perhaps the reason I feel fond to his style more than other comic strips is because of the strong essence of contemporary cinematography and a fantasy theme portrayed in Slumberland. As a person who consumed a lot of more modern media like Manga and Web-comic, I do found early comic strips eccentric in a very interesting way and even more interesting to see those that integrated style similar to modern techniques. 

What’s even more interesting about Little Nemo is the structure of the storytelling I haven’t seen in a while. Every episode follow the same pattern. Nemo enter his dream world, get involve with an adventure and wake up at the end. Every chapter is a different story that ends in itself but together as a series they make the whole long adventure. This is something that I haven’t seen so often in modern media and I think it has to do with change in consumer behaviors and the way medias are being issue. As a non newspaper reader I’m sure that comic strip is still a thing but the form must have changed a lot from it’s early stage. I think people nowadays have much shorter attention to read long dialogues as video media has become much more popular. In most comic strips examples from class, amount of words used and shot angles are almost identical in most frames and I think because of my long experience of perceiving modern cinema with fast pace and intense camera move, I found early comic strips quite dull. 

I can’t truly tell what the next evolution of comic will be, although up to this point we can tell that each medias influence each others with there current forms. As a motion designer I know that there has been a popular attempt to develop graphical user control applications on virtual reality gear and that might be a next possible milestone for comic form of narrative in which audience interact with holographic virtual reality with simple animations instead of pages. 

microsoft hololens