Blog 8

Blog 8 03-10-2010

Light of Thy Countenance: Literature or Not?

Alan Moore’s Light of Thy Countenance is a work of art, not just for its graphics, but also for its literary nuances. Some may not consider it a work of literature because it has pictures and carries preconceived notion that “comics” are not worthy of being called literature. However, if it is read closely, it is like reading a traditional novel. What a graphic novel can offer depends on the content. In this case, the graphics in Light of Thy Countenance enhance the narration of the story because the diction already makes it vivid. It can also offer an easier time catching when the point of view changes. Repeated images, such as the character Maureen Cooper, and themes such as “TV as a God” appear within the graphic novel literally as images. While many graphic novels are purely for entertainment, and do not use very many literary elements, this graphic novel should be considered literature because it incorporates these various literary devices.

Traditional novels incorporate many literary devices to present their work of art. Light of Thy Countenance is not so different. It has images, motifs, themes relating to present-day problems, and changes in point of view.

In the beginning, we zoom in on a single lady named Maureen Cooper, but then we zoom out and find out she, Maureen, is not the topic of interest. In fact, it is the actress that plays her, Carol Livesey, but we zoom out change point of view again, and eventually an omnipresent being is actually narrating the story. If the graphics were not there, catching the change in point of view might have been trickier, but nonetheless, we do realize, with or without the graphics, that element is there, and it makes the story more interesting.

When we realize an omnipresent being is doing the narrating, he talks as if he knows everything. Since television plays a major part in our lives, and a major theme in this graphic novel, he talks as if the world revolves around him like a god. He mocks people for “praising” television instead of praising a real god. The image of Maureen appears again and he mocks people for knowing more about Maureen’s life instead of their own. He mocks people again for having television take over their lives, and, for example, having husbands or boyfriends imagine hot TV stars instead of seeing what’s in front of them. These are a few examples of the use of literary devices in Moore’s graphic novel. Whether or not the graphics are there, this is a piece of literature worthy for anybody to study from.

Blog 7

Blog 7 03-04-10

Blade Runner Response

In the movie Blade Runner, we see a group of androids called Replicants who were made to be intellectually and physically similar (if not superior) to humans. After a revolt, they were declared illegal on Earth. In this sense, they were out casted by society, just as Frankenstein’s creature was, except they were out casted by law.

Four Nexus-6 Replicants, named Roy, Leon, Zhora, and Pris, escape to Earth to try and find the secret to living longer because they only have a four-year life span, just as the robots from R.U.R. tried to do. Roy searches for his creator, Tyrell, to find this secret. Roy killed Tyrell because Tyrell did not have the power to make him live longer, just as the scientists of R.U.R. were killed by their creations to become human and to live longer.

In the short time that they had, the Replicants developed memories and responses to those memories, like the creature did as he observed his neighboring cottagers. As Rick Deckard “retires” the female escapee Replicants, the male ones become enraged by their deaths, showing that they care for one another. One Replicant, named Rachel, thinks she is really is human, due to Tyrell’s, experiments. As Deckard told Rachel that her memories are implants, she tears up because she believes her memories are real. Although she may not be technically human, by saving him from Leon’s killing blow, she shows how human she is and how much she cares for Deckard. Similarly, as the creature felt bad for stealing, he shows that he cares by doing the cottager’s chores and not stealing food. Another comparison of caring would be Robot Primus and Robot Helena’s relationship at the end, where they were protecting one another from certain death by dissection.

Roy asked to be forgiven by Tyrell because he has done “questionable things,” but Tyrell dismissed him because Tyrell was proud of what Roy did. This is comparable to Victor’s dismissing of the creature although he dismissed the creature for the opposite reasons. We see a similar idea of an irresponsible creator, where they either hated the creation so much that they wanted nothing to do with it or were too blind by their pride to actually care.

Although it was Deckard’s job to retire the Replicants, Roy saved him from falling off a building although Deckard was trying to kill him. Roy probably did this because he valued life so much. He lived in fear of dying and becoming someone’s slave. Perhaps, to him, becoming a slave was the same as dying in that one loses their soul, their personality, one of the many roots of what is considered human. Once he dies, the memories that he had and valued will disappear and fade into history, and he will be no more. He wanted to live on, to be someone, to be himself, to be human.

(I feel that my blog seems too summary-like and observational. Only paragraphs 2, 3, 5 relate to my essay.)