Kari Amruta Patil What is a graphic novel

Kari Amruta Patil

What is a graphic novel? The term itself is contested—seen as elitist, as opposed to comics Multi-media: the visual and the literary

Emerging forms Boom in graphic fiction and non-fiction in India in recent years (growing domestic readership) Globalization of the publishing industry (obstacles —obtaining some texts for this module!) Digitalisation, technologies of publishing Intensification of visual culture due to social media and technological innovation Pramod K. Nayar: graphic novels—a major shift from Indian Writing in English (IWE)

The global graphic narrative Art Spiegelman, Maus Joe Sacco, Palestine Alison Bechdel, Fun Home Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis Japanese manga Superhero comics, war comics, comics for children, for boys

The graphic tradition in India Amar Chitra Katha comics (production house like Marvel comics) founded in 1967; over 400 titles; sold over 90 m copies in 20 languages (epics, folklore, fables, mythology, history) Tradition of political cartoons to satirise politicians, the wealthy, etc. Use of humour through images and pithy, condensed statements

“The common man”

Amar Chitra Katha

Time and space Mainstream comics: use the grid or the strip structure Compressed in the frames—historical trajectory (leaps and gaps); long term history condensed in a single panel Single moment, but also part of a sequence Contradictions brought to the fore Reading and perceiving

“It was wonderful for me to see the possibilities that this medium could offer in terms of storytelling. ”

The city “Soon we must mutate—thick skins and resilient lungs—to survive this new reality” (13) “people who travel this route every day stop smelling the sewer over the years. People who lives here become oblivious to the smell in a matter of days” (41)

boatman “As a boatman, you learn to row clean through the darkest water” (31)

Gustav Klimt “Interesting that my postal address in smog city sounds like a pit stop in a fairytale where gold trees with silver boughs bear pomegranates with real ruby seeds. Floors of marble, ceilings of brocade. Place where twelve dancing princesses dance through the night…” (16)

A Time and a Place

Masaan (2015)

Independent film Indo-French production The new Bombay film—the director had previously assisted on off-beat but popular films such as Gangs of Wasseypur Won major awards at the Cannes Film festival, but also won major national awards

Contemporary India Multiple, co-existing temporalities Unsettles the tradition/modernity binary; time of the present coexists with the past and the future At least three distinct temporal frames—that coded as traditional/ancient; the nationalist/developmentalist; the liberalised, new media/technology No obvious allusion to the nation—life lived in the locality: clothes, accents

The frame of tradition The film’s location in Benares/Varanasi An ancient city on the banks of the river Ganga considered holy by Hindus—to be cremated there is to attain salvation. Symbol of India as a spiritual nation— 1960 s counter-culture played a part (Ravi Shankar) Iconic image—the ghats Enduring caste system—the Brahmins, the Doms, the doomed love of Deepak’s Honour and shame

changes The film re-presents Banaras, drawing upon earlier associations and representations A series of beautifully shot, highly aestheticised scenes—the night scenes of the burning funeral pyres Traditional occupations and life on the ghats—under threat (the students who come to interview Prof Mishra) The Sanskrit professor who runs a kiosk; Deepak’s family (doms: traditional occupation of burning the bodies, after the rituals had been performed)—new aspirations for Deepak to get a job as a civil engineer; old priests given to alcoholism; commercialisation Domestic tourism to pilgrimage destinations Falling in love across the caste divide Father-daughter relationship

Time of development Bridges, factories, transportation system Civil engineering—building the nation Engineering colleges/polytechnics, jobs in the railways Employment as the route to modernity Modern police force and corruption (feudal notions of shame, honour) poetry -------- Reservations for dalits—Deepak won’t need to bribe Computerisation of the railways, govt offices

Technological time Mobile phones on the ghats Romance mediated by Facebook; Devi and Piyush meet at a computer centre Kitsch of globalization—the stuffed teddy bear, the heart-shaped eraser Pizza on the ghats with Szechuan sauce (forms of eating) New forms of surveillance—the sex scandal filmed by the police, but also by locals

Co-existence of the different temporal frames The scene of the Durga puja celebrations https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=zpf 8 hrb. T 2 d 0 (tu kisi rail si guzarti hai) (traditional festival; magic show from the 1970 s; music by Indian Ocean, a contemporary band that fuses classical and contemporary forms; fax machines; internet cafes; Facebook messages; desires taking off) Decay, renewal: same modernity