After Life
by Beth Dawson
http://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2014/oct/26/after-life-beth-dawsonobserver-graphic-short-story-prize-2014-runner-up
by Beth Dawson
http://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2014/oct/26/after-life-beth-dawsonobserver-graphic-short-story-prize-2014-runner-up
It seems surprising that the graphic novel always have such great power that can influence our feeling directly by presenting “a montage of both word and image” (Eisner, Will. 2008). And this kind of magic power is especially shown in the short graphic entry “After Life” drawn by Beth Dawson, which is the runner up work of the graphic short story prize for 2014.
During my first reading of this graphic novel, I couldn’t help but fall into the atmosphere created by the artist and felt like I could actually feel the sense of drowning in the sadness of losing loved. The twisted plot, the dream-like narrative mode, the dark color tone and the wispy brush-stroke all contribute a lot in conveying the story to readers and impose emotional effects on them.
At the beginning of my reading, I thought the words are the narrative of the heroine’s ghost. However, as the story unfolds, I realized that she just “felt like” she had died because of her lover’s death. Until the final scene, when the speech balloon showed the real storyteller, it hit me that it is the husband who had lost his honey but tried his best to remember her and couldn't help imaging what would be like if he had died and she was still living with sorrow. When I finally understood this, I was shocked by the sharp turning in the end and how deep and how touching this love is!
I soon realized that the dream-like narrative mode in first person and the avoidance of using speech balloon helps a lot to create the confusing so as to achieve the feeling of shock in the end. This kind of layout is really distinctive.
Throughout the graphic entry, you will found that only four colors are used. But they were chosen very carefully and brew a strong feeling of nostalgia because they make the pictures look like yellow old photos. They also passed the sense of sad, bleak and hopeless to the audience. Combine with the wispy brushwork, the paintings become very illusive and impressive.
So in a conclusion, when these devices of telling and drawing superimposed upon each other, they perfectly show a sad yet beautiful love story in an unexpected way and leave us deep thinking and touching.
Reference: Eisner, Will. Comics and Sequential Art. 2008. W.W. Norton & Company: New York.
LI Yijing
54017374
During my first reading of this graphic novel, I couldn’t help but fall into the atmosphere created by the artist and felt like I could actually feel the sense of drowning in the sadness of losing loved. The twisted plot, the dream-like narrative mode, the dark color tone and the wispy brush-stroke all contribute a lot in conveying the story to readers and impose emotional effects on them.
At the beginning of my reading, I thought the words are the narrative of the heroine’s ghost. However, as the story unfolds, I realized that she just “felt like” she had died because of her lover’s death. Until the final scene, when the speech balloon showed the real storyteller, it hit me that it is the husband who had lost his honey but tried his best to remember her and couldn't help imaging what would be like if he had died and she was still living with sorrow. When I finally understood this, I was shocked by the sharp turning in the end and how deep and how touching this love is!
I soon realized that the dream-like narrative mode in first person and the avoidance of using speech balloon helps a lot to create the confusing so as to achieve the feeling of shock in the end. This kind of layout is really distinctive.
Throughout the graphic entry, you will found that only four colors are used. But they were chosen very carefully and brew a strong feeling of nostalgia because they make the pictures look like yellow old photos. They also passed the sense of sad, bleak and hopeless to the audience. Combine with the wispy brushwork, the paintings become very illusive and impressive.
So in a conclusion, when these devices of telling and drawing superimposed upon each other, they perfectly show a sad yet beautiful love story in an unexpected way and leave us deep thinking and touching.
Reference: Eisner, Will. Comics and Sequential Art. 2008. W.W. Norton & Company: New York.
LI Yijing
54017374