Journal 3

In the comic strip, many visual elements come together with the text to create a complete story. First, the shading of the jews in the comic strip establishes the differential between the power of authority (non-shaded nazi leaders) and the helpless (the jewish people). As the reader, I do NOT like the use of a comic strip for this type of situation because it seems as if Spiegalman is treating this situation as a joking matter. Utilizing a comic strip to tell of what happened in WWII is not a good idea in my opinion. He uses a graphical form of a novel to try to belittle the severity of the situation that occurred, but I do not agree with his choice of media. This influences my perception of credibility on the author. The last line, “to go, it was no good. But not to go – it was also no good” is the line I remember most. The father is talking at this point, and it is back in the present. This is established by the use of “was” in the sentence. One benefit of using graphical writing is that it is easier to differentiate between who is talking and what time period your talking in. If there were no visuals here, I think the effect might be a little more dramatic. For me, I always seem to understand the severity of events more reading text and visualizing pictures in my head. These images interact with the text by graphically narrating what the father is saying. The purpose of these images to give a visual of what happen to the jews. An uneasy tone is established throughout the comic – the author seems unsure how to handle conveying the situation, and the reading even seems a tad bit detached.

Journal 2

The image above is from a travel booklet for Fort Lauderdale Beach, provided on behalf of the Broward.org visitors office.

This image appeals to me because the beach is somewhere that I have always been as long as I can remember. From as far back as I can remember, I recall weekends at the beach and snorkeling in the nearshore waters and reefs. The beach has become part of me; thus, I feel a natural connection to the picture.

Having said that, it is a bit awkward to see pictures like this on the internet and in travel brochure since I am native to the surroundings. If I had not had this "connection" with the beach, the effect of the picture would have been much more different. Perhaps I would feel more "attracted" to the picture for its beauty, rather than the memories it brings to me. Perhaps if I didn't live in Florida, I would not be familiar with the picture and it would not be interesting to me at all.

What if you could see the remainder of the beach? The trash on the sand is obviously omitted from the picture, but what if it was shown? What about people who are wearing clothes are too small? Would the people look past that?

The formatting of this picture follows that of a stereotypical travel ad - appealing to those who desire a traditional beach vacation. The image makes Fort Lauderdale look a lot better than it really is. The sailboats in the background are usually never as numerous on the oceanside as depicted in the picture. Furthermore, the beach looks A LOT cleaner than it is in person.