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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 27, 2024 16:10:27 GMT
About a quarter of the way through the book at this point, and one thing I've tried to start doing is to look at the faces of the people depicted in this graphic memoir. What I've noticed, almost entirely, is that they seem to be blank and expressionless! Everyone just seems to be going about their business-- at least on the surface.
Has anyone noticed anything unusual or interesting about the way these characters are drawn? Maybe can provide a page number if there's something we should all look at...
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Post by garrison on Jul 30, 2024 16:25:39 GMT
I love how intentional artits are with things like this. I'm sure there were not many smiles going around during this time but that can't be all there is to it. Maybe Okubo is intentionally or unontentionally letting her feelings seep through to the other characters on the page. Through learning about the holocaust and other things of this nature, I've heard it is far better to blend in to the crowd rather than sticking out in any way. Maybe showing blantant emotions became to noticable and being a part of the crowd meant showing none at all.
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Post by dcomeaux on Jul 30, 2024 23:46:34 GMT
I love how intentional artits are with things like this. I'm sure there were not many smiles going around during this time but that can't be all there is to it. Maybe Okubo is intentionally or unontentionally letting her feelings seep through to the other characters on the page. Through learning about the holocaust and other things of this nature, I've heard it is far better to blend in to the crowd rather than sticking out in any way. Maybe showing blantant emotions became to noticable and being a part of the crowd meant showing none at all. As I was reading I was keeping this thread in mind. I hadn't really come up with anything about why everyone was so expressionless in every single sketch. But now with this comment, I suppose that does make much more sense. I have read several texts on the holocaust and also another on the internment camps we see in this text. Standing out could have caused more attention to fall on you and therefore it could mean disaster. I am glad that you pointed out that this could be intentional in that aspect because I would not have thought of it that way. |
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 31, 2024 3:29:18 GMT
Well, and the secondary article for this week suggested that part of the expressionless faces was both intentional and cultural. The argument basically goes that the Japanese were culturally trained to "save face" and not show emotion, etc. etc. But yes, I agree Garrison that they probably didn't want to have any reason for the American authorities to take note of anyone in particular. If you look too sad or happy about something, you might be detained and sent to the "bad" camp.
But there's also another layer on this, and that's the fact that this book is drawn, and not photographed. Makes us wonder if Okubo was trying to be as realistic as possible (is this really what their faces were like?). Or is she drawing them this way for a specific purpose? I wonder if she's trying to show something specific to her audience...
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Post by dcomeaux on Aug 1, 2024 2:09:02 GMT
Well, and the secondary article for this week suggested that part of the expressionless faces was both intentional and cultural. The argument basically goes that the Japanese were culturally trained to "save face" and not show emotion, etc. etc. But yes, I agree Garrison that they probably didn't want to have any reason for the American authorities to take note of anyone in particular. If you look too sad or happy about something, you might be detained and sent to the "bad" camp. But there's also another layer on this, and that's the fact that this book is drawn, and not photographed. Makes us wonder if Okubo was trying to be as realistic as possible (is this really what their faces were like?). Or is she drawing them this way for a specific purpose? I wonder if she's trying to show something specific to her audience... I think that it could possibly be a little but of both. I am sure that most of them were not happy and therefore would have been "expressionless" or unhappy therefore that would be her being realistic. I can also see how she might draw them this way to drive home the fact that these were not great times for the internees, making it drawn that way for a specific purpose. So maybe it is a little bit of both? |
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Post by Rylee Wenzel on Aug 1, 2024 2:34:21 GMT
I think that is why this being a graphic novel is so important. The artist was obviously very intentional with what they chose to depict with their artwork. I think I agree with everyone's analyses here. Their expressions could have been both intentional and cultural. Not wanting to show too much emotion could have been a way for them to protect themselves in this camp. But also, it could have been how she viewed everyone else there as well. Maybe they weren't so emotionless on the outside but she viewed them that way.
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