The Revolution Will Be Visualized . . . and Communicated
Whenever I wander into a bookstore, which happens to occur quite frequently, I seek out the comics, the graphic novels, and the manga sections immediately. And although I might be there to see what is new, I often find myself taking time to talk to the many young readers scattered in those particular aisles.
“Ah, good choice, loved reading that one,” my ever-so-talkative self will venture.
I am usually met with something like, “Pretty good. Yeah., but [blank] is better, though.”
“The reader knows what she [or he] likes!” I will compliment.
“It’s not reading.”
My figurative-superhero-cape “Whooooosh-ing!” out from behind me, I say, “Why do you think that?”
“That’s what my teacher said. It’s just pictures.”
Without fail, everywhere I go, young readers say that their teachers, and sometimes even their parents, are telling them that to read comics, graphic novels, and / or manga is in fact not to read at all.
To read, or not to read, people seem to be wondering about these image-dominant genres.
But that is exactly the question! Let me explain.
As a professor of literacy, it is completely startling to me that there are many, many, many people who actually believe that reading comics, graphic novels, and manga is not reading. Those of us who love these image-dominant genres know differently. In fact, even modern research tells us differently. In Literacy in the New Media Age, Gunther Kress (2003) explains that we are quite literally living through the greatest communications revolution of all time. Our current situation is even more significant than the 15th-century invention of the printing press, and instead of seeing one invention as the motivating cause, today’s communication revolution sees all of the innovations of image and screen as the motivating cause. Kress writes, “The world told is a different world to the world shown.” This sentence is music to my ears. To me, it is a symphony of redemption, one that responds to those things we used to call “Comics Codes” and the voices that still today sound a lot like the Fredric Werthams of the world.
But come on, Katie! It’s just one sentence. How can we base such excitement on one sentence?
In short, since I come from the world of literacy education, I wish to write this Op-Ed as an invitational bridge between the world of education and the world of comics, graphic novels, and manga. And although there have been small inroads between our two worlds already, there is much current need for us to have better communication, for I believe that when the world of education walks hand-in-hand with the comics, graphic novels, and manga, we will form a united alliance that can finally put the misunderstandings about image-dominant genres to bed.
So I offer the worlds of comics, graphic novels, and manga the invitation to share with us in the world of education two of the most fundamental understandings about modern reading:
1. We are living during the greatest communication revolution of all time, and, as a result, we need to redefine what it means to read.
2. Because of this communication revolution, print-text literacies and image literacies now share the stage. They have costarring roles in the greatest story ever to be told about reading.
Or, as Albert Camus said so well: “A novel is never anything but a philosophy put into images.”—Dr. Katie Monnin
Dr. Katie Monnin is an assistant professor of literacy at the University of North Florida.
Great article, Katie. I've spent several years phasing comics into the classroom (very slowly), but fortunately, at my high school, the old attitudes that reading comics isn't reading has faded away. A civics teacher here thinks he will use a graphic adaptation of the U.S. Constitution, and more teachers here are considering bringing graphica into the classroom.
Keep up the good fight. There are more of us in the trenches than ever before.
Good work here, Katie. Some of those inroads haven't been all that small, and others are growing wider by the day. John could probably speak more to that than I could, though. :)
Torsten, it might not be that the singers are off (there is quite a bit of research suggesting comics can help ESL populations develop literacy and language skills), but that, to date, there are still many would-be listeners who just don't want to tune in.
Sounds like Katie and others are willing to build some bridges, though, so hats off to those efforts!
ED390277 - The Comic Book as Course Book: Why and How
"This paper describes how comic books are used as instructional materials in an intensive English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) course and discusses the rationale for using them."
(I found 162 journal articles and documents when searching "comic books" in the ERIC database. The choir is singing, but the pianist and congregation are a bit off.)
I agree wholeheartedly! I buy graphic novels for my library and I just can’t stand it when a parent tells their child to go get a “real” book. I can’t help but ask myself, "What would they say if they knew how much X-Men dealt with the discrimination?"
Also, I recommend graphic novels and manga to teachers and parents dealing with kids who don’t like reading, or just plain refuse to read. And it’s no surprise to me when they come back in and tell me it worked.
Katie, it was a great surprise to see your column posted here on GNR. It's a truly amazing moment in our literary culture as we make this shift to a new kind of literacy. I honestly believe that many readers are surprised when they see high level academics such as your self, endorsing the use of comics and graphic novels as reading.
Keep singing and the choir will soon catch up!
Cheers!
John