Course Recap for January 30

Tan's The Arrival
Today you took a quiz at the beginning of class. I then asked for some of your initial impressions about Tan's The Arrival. I talked a bit about the hybrid nature of Tan's text and the difference between comics and picture books. We then tried to "read" the first few pages of Tan's text out loud. I emphasized the importance of both narrative and image in picture books, and in order to underscore the significance of image, I gave a short presentation on Molly Bang (a visual theorist). You can access that presentation HERE. I handed out a packet of information on visual interpretation, including Bang's principles and Scott McCloud's visual transition types. You can access that handout HERE and HERE. After the presentation we talked about McCloud's theories, and I introduced the terms "embedded narrative" and "normative center." I then asked you to break into small groups to work on a writing exercise. You can access that exercise HERE. I then asked each group to present on one of the questions. We spent time discussing Tan's work using Bang, McCloud, embedded narra
tive, and normative center.


Homework

• Read Tan's "The Accidental Graphic Novelist"
• Bring The Arrival and "The Accidental Graphic Novelist" to class on Tuesday
• Review the discussion leaders' questions (we will work with these on Tuesday)