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Sunday, March 27, 2005
Locas, pages 246 to 542
Again, there's a lot going on in these pages... You could base your comments upon one story ("Vida Loca: The Death of Speedy Ortiz", "In the Valley of the Polar Bears", and "Wigwam Bam" are obvious candidates for this treatment), or you could look for some way to tie the readings together thematically... I leave it to you.
One aspect of these stories that fascinates me is the way that Jaime Hernadez manages to keep the spotlight upon Maggie & Hopey's relationship--even when these two characters go months & years without seeing each other. One of the reasons I chose this book was because I think it shows, in both subtle and obvious ways, how "constructed" our notions of "normalcy" are... Penny, Daffy and--perhaps most strikingly--Ray's conviction that these two are "meant for each other" really work upon your mind (or my mind anyway!)... Terry's schemes against the "incest twins" also reinforce this effect. I don't see how you can possibly read Locas without absorbing their assumptions, at least to a certain extent... Which is not to say that the book doesn't ever question this article of faith. In fact, I think that, once it has you on board, it goes in the opposite direction--testing your loyalty to the very idea of "meant for eachotherness"...and raising the possibility that even our deepest yearnings are, to a larger degree than is generally supposed, created by the expectations of those around us! It's easier to see this in Locas than in a "heteronormative" narrative (which doesn't have to work very hard to convince us what's "normal"), because, in this case, the normalized/naturalized relationship is between two women... and the process (building us up and bringing us down!) happens before our eyes.
posted by goodkingwenceslaus, March 27, 2005 15:33 :: link:: comments (23)
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Locas, pages 7 to 245
Well--this is a big chunk of reading, and I'm sure, when you get here, you'll be scratching your heads trying to figure out what aspect of the story you ought to be commenting on... Locas--unlike the self-contained superhero epics that we've been reading--is character-driven, rather than plot driven... Everything that happens, basically, happens in order to flesh out Maggie and Hopey's relationship.
There are at least a couple of fine pieces about this book out there on the net--and I'll be linking to them once we're further along--but, for right now, I guess I'd like to hear your reactions to these two characters. How would you describe their relationship? Their social environment? Their stances toward the world in general?
I think that's the place to start.
see you on Tuesday!
Dave
posted by goodkingwenceslaus, March 19, 2005 20:29 :: link:: comments (31)
Friday, March 11, 2005
The Dark Knight Returns #1-4:
Best writing available on this book? Hands down--just perform a search for the title at Peiratikos.
Steven Berg (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and Rose Curtin set themselves up for business at the intersection between Batman's quests for a "good death" and a "good life"--with, in each case, extremely profitable results!
You really haven't read this book until you've read what they have to say about it. I'm serious. I'm not going to excerpt because it's all good.
But you certainly don't have to stop there!
There's a good entry (which attempts to parse the desire for justice from the death-wish that Miller entwines it with throughout the book) at Comic Book Politics.
Dave Intermittent takes a look at the OPERATIC nature of the story (and might also convince you to check out Sin City)
J.W. Hastings presents an argument in favour of Dark Knight's superiority to Watchmen as an experience of the sublime.
And, while I don't agree with J.W.'s interpretive approach at all--I do share his conclusion that this book cuts much closer to the heart of the kinds of questions that ought to concern us in an "intro. to americal radical thought" course. My own sublimity-centered take is here.
As I mentioned in my e-mail, comments will be due on Thursday this week. But I'll see you all Tuesday for our discussion of Fight Club and the first two books of DKR.
Enjoy the rest of the break!
And don't be shy to comment early and often! (on both the film and the comic)
Dave
posted by goodkingwenceslaus, March 11, 2005 17:33 :: link::
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