Post by I Lam on Nov 12, 2015 4:33:14 GMT
Because comics provide faces and a visual aid, a lot of descriptions and movements can simply be understood through sight, and the point of view can change any time without much confusion. A comic is a very versatile way of storytelling, and with faces attached to each character, stories are all the more moving to the average reader (without being too taxing on their language department). And of course, details such as Gen's dancing and posture, as well as the clothing of the era, are easier (and more effective) shown than described.
The first volume of Barefoot Gen established the warped ethics and the daily struggles Gen's family had to deal with after years of ravaging war, giving us a chance to get acquainted with the Nakaoka family, grow fond of and empathize with them before the coming of the bomb that changed (or took) their lives. If like me, one went ahead and sampled one of the later volumes before coming upon the first volume, one might have the passing thought 'huh, the first volume is pretty peaceful and actually a little boring compared to what's to happen later'. And yet, this is exactly the extent of tragedy that the atom bomb caused--so full of despair and sadness was the aftermath that starving, begging children, villagers turning on one another, racial discrimination, corruption, and other types of human and societal ugliness began to seem hardly an issue. Thinking about it now, while the later volumes show a lot of suffering, loss, and struggling, it is the first volume (or rather, the character Daikichi Nakaoka) that's really filled to the brim with messages about ethics, war and societal issues and, above all, the meaninglessness of war. Nakazawa skillfully uses all of the first volume to show us what life during wartime was like for real, living people with aspirations and brightness in their eyes, and thanks to the graphic novel's visuals, no reader can so easily disengage from the events that unfold before their eyes as they can when reading a novel of only words. Reading about hungry children is one thing, but seeing them gleefully chow down on raw yams pulled freshly out of the ground as if they were the best thing in the world is many a times more heart wrenching; likewise, the scene where Gen offers Shinji the model boat as a last consolation before watching him die is something that had to be seen to really take in and absorb the terror, despair, shock, and pain of the situation.
Discussion: Given the enmity they were facing, do you think things would have turned around for the Nakaokas inside that village without the bomb?
The first volume of Barefoot Gen established the warped ethics and the daily struggles Gen's family had to deal with after years of ravaging war, giving us a chance to get acquainted with the Nakaoka family, grow fond of and empathize with them before the coming of the bomb that changed (or took) their lives. If like me, one went ahead and sampled one of the later volumes before coming upon the first volume, one might have the passing thought 'huh, the first volume is pretty peaceful and actually a little boring compared to what's to happen later'. And yet, this is exactly the extent of tragedy that the atom bomb caused--so full of despair and sadness was the aftermath that starving, begging children, villagers turning on one another, racial discrimination, corruption, and other types of human and societal ugliness began to seem hardly an issue. Thinking about it now, while the later volumes show a lot of suffering, loss, and struggling, it is the first volume (or rather, the character Daikichi Nakaoka) that's really filled to the brim with messages about ethics, war and societal issues and, above all, the meaninglessness of war. Nakazawa skillfully uses all of the first volume to show us what life during wartime was like for real, living people with aspirations and brightness in their eyes, and thanks to the graphic novel's visuals, no reader can so easily disengage from the events that unfold before their eyes as they can when reading a novel of only words. Reading about hungry children is one thing, but seeing them gleefully chow down on raw yams pulled freshly out of the ground as if they were the best thing in the world is many a times more heart wrenching; likewise, the scene where Gen offers Shinji the model boat as a last consolation before watching him die is something that had to be seen to really take in and absorb the terror, despair, shock, and pain of the situation.
Discussion: Given the enmity they were facing, do you think things would have turned around for the Nakaokas inside that village without the bomb?