Osamu Tezuka Buddha and Chynna Clugston Scooter Girl

I read some volumes and discussed Buddha, a manga by Osamu Tezuka, with my brother. I could not find all the volumes of this manga series and knowing my brother he read them, he can give me a quick summary of the rest. We also talked about the characters and how the religion buddhism is represented throughout the series. How they include Siddharta, which is known the be the iconic buddha. He though is not really a big part in the series for that the is a newborn. The main characters seem to be the pariah Tatta, the brahmin Naradatta, the slave Chapra, and his mother. We do not actually learn her name in the series. The story focuses on their journey more then Siddharta's. Mostly Chapra's goal is to rise up from his slave caste, even though it is forbidden. The book is full of characters with interesting personalities and morality's. For example our heroes may be good. But some will kill if they feel it is needed. The General who adopts Chapra is shown to be a horrible person at times, but is also shown as a loving father who accepts Chapra, even when he learns that he is a slave. The book is very well written with a lot of drama as well as a bit of humor. The humor me and my brother both agree that it is kinda corny, so some jokes seemed not so funny. Also just to through out there is that the series to me seems like it has a lot of 80's lingo as well, making it out of date to know days. The art in the series is very clean and uses black and white correct, making it still readable even with the heavy use of black in some areas. Many little details in the clothing, characters, background and more. It is a great read that I had fun rereading.

Another quick manga I read was Scooter Girl by Chynna Clugston. This was a disappointment. Everything about it kinda was a disappointment. The art in some panels was good, but other then that the manga was bad. Super cheesy plot line, predictable, and not humorous one bit. I had to really get myself to finish it and not slam my laptop shut and walk away. It was basically a typical story of a guy trying to get a girl, like cat and mouse. The only slight twist was that bad things start to happen to the main character, the boy, and believes the girl is a curse. For example his scooter gets ruined over, his dad becomes bankrupt, and all his friends start to hate him. Even though it had this twist I kinda did not think it helped, I thought it was actually out of place in this concept. I remember reading some of Chynna Clugston's Blue Monday work and that was a whole a lot better then Scooter Girl. Maybe going into this reading I had higher hopes and that made me more disappointed in the end. Overall I would not recommend this reading.

Stereotyping, March, and Exit Wounds

Before I get into the readings of this weeks, I wanted to touch on stereotyping. My view is that 99 percent of the time I do not realize stereotyping is happening in films, books, games, and etc. This is because I grew up seeing it thousands of times so my brain is register to think that it is normal. Though I do not agree with stereotyping. Being a woman I hate seeing a woman that is super skinny with a big butt and big breasts. Majority of woman are not shaped like that or presented as eye candy for men. Me being a woman I am more effect on stereotyping for women then African American stereotyping. Though how I feel about how women are stereotyping is probably the same way they feel about stereotyping. Its accepted in the world right now, but if the envelope is pushed to much I could see things going bad.

Now on to the reading for week eight. March by John Lewis is a book that will challenge you, that will make you think, and that will hopefully leave you a bit better after you've read it. This is a book that everyone should read, and then reread again. And then pass on to others to read. This is a part of history that we should not let die, remember, and honor those that created it.

Congressman John Lewis is an iconic figure within the Civil Rights movement, and the last surviving member of the “big six leadership.” He rose from being the son of sharecropper, to marching with Martin Luther King, and to the halls of Congress. This first book in a planned trilogy covers John Lewis’s youth in rural Alabama, his first meeting with Martin Luther King, the birth of the Nashville Student movement, and the battle for desegregation on the steps of City Hall. And it comes to an end all to quickly. I finished the book saying "but, but...I want more! I need the rest of the story now!" And that's such a great way to leave readers, clamoring for the next part of the story. It’s a powerful and moving story to see a firsthand account of the triumphs and sorrows of being involved in this time period in history.One of the problem that I normally see with autobiographical stories, is that they often try to give the reader to much information or even sometimes not enough information. They forget that we aren’t all familiar with the history of an individual. But this book doesn’t suffer any such problem. We move expertly between past and present, as John Lewis gives a tour to children from his district and explains his past. It’s a great way to set up the story. And more importantly you don’t ever feel like you’re missing out on something.

Nate Powell’s artwork is absolutely gorgeous. It’s done in his typical grace/style of capturing the human form oh so perfectly and it seems like this time he’s gone even further in his use of shading to give us the beauty of all different types of skin tones, each character’s is unique. His artwork is perfectly suited for this story capturing the range and intensity of emotions--the sorrow, the joy, and the fear that sends chills down your spine. That intensity, that feeling of life that he captures in their faces really makes them come alive.

You can’t help but feel moved by this story and you can’t walk away unchanged. The combination of story and art works perfectly in capturing this event and this time period. I’m predicting this book will be one of the best graphic novels of the year, perhaps even one of the best books of the year. I started recommending it to my faculty as soon as I heard about it. And one that I can’t wait for them to teach from. I defiantly recommend the book for someone to read, ten out of ten.

Exit wounds by Rutu Modan was another read I did for this weeks comics. Now this comic is one comic that I was kinda like meh with. Nothing really empowering and nothing really memorable about it. I am not bashing about on it, it was a good book, but compared to what I have read in this class it is probably on the bottom of the list. What happens in the comic is that a taxi driver in Tel Aviv is confronted with a mystery involving the potential death of his estranged father. In the process he gets to know a young woman who is the daughter of wealth.

Something that I did really enjoy about the comic were the illustrations. Modan's illustrations are crisp, and clean, with bright, stark color work. The characters are well fleshed out and absolutely imperfect. In some ways the story feels inevitable. In other ways it takes some unexpected turns. The character of the father comes to life in a somewhat surprising way. I would not really recommend this book, I would recommend reading the March over Exit Wounds.

Barefoot Gen

While watching the film Barefoot Gen in class, was like being on an emotional rollercoaster. I went through so many emotions, like joy, anger, and most the time sadness. I would not think this film would make me feel all of those emotions, for that anime style movies never really touch my heart like that. Yes, going in to this film I was not excited. One being that it was in the style of anime, not my cup of tea. Secondly, it contained subtitles during it, making it hard for me to follow along while also trying to read all the words being presented on the screen. 

The subject of the movie shocked me also, taking the view of a suffering family during the war and bombing at Hiroshima is different. Sure I have seen many movies based off that time and era, but never the way Mori Masaki did it. Since being born and raised in America, I was going in being on the American side, but I saw myself crossing over the the other side. I felt bad that innocent people were attacked and lost loved ones during that time. Even in the movie the father never wanted the war and thought it was stupid that the people started it. I really enjoyed how Masaki made me change sides during the movie and made me understand how even citizens of Hiroshima felt about the war. 

Now lets get to the art, since I am an art student. No again as I stated before anime style is not my cup of tea, though I liked how it was handled in this situation. How the characters a bubbly and playful, so when their upset you become upset. I think the film had a simplify style during the film, but had enough detail to understand what the object, place, and person Masaki was trying to represent. Now it does get graphic when the bomb hits and the after effect. How the boys slowly burn, fall apart, melt, and basically rot. How children in the river die because they can't swim. Walking burn victims down the streets. Also how the artist shows breasts a lot during the film, I know that really it is not a really big deal, but growing up in a Catholic home it is for me.

Overall, I would recommend this film.