Corrigan, Sleepwalk + McCloud, White

I mainly want to discuss an observation I made with Jimmy Corrigan and the various art that appeared like amusement park flyers and posters. I believe that that art can also appear as a form of propaganda. Propaganda is used to presuade a viewer to a certain view point and try to make the viewer believe it through imagery. Proganada is usually only referred to as a tool for the government, but in reality propaganda can take many forms. What is the signifigance of the art styles in both Corrigan and Sleepwalk ? And what is the importance, and difference, of Corrigan having propaganda like art and Sleepwalk using black and white more modern art?

We have learned that both Corrigan and Sleepwalk try to portray a message about human nature, but they both do it in very different ways. White tells us that author's always have a message to portray in their work and they use the narration style and art to portray that message and McCloud tells us that art and panelling can be used to symbolize meanings and messages to express an author's viewpoint. Sleepwalk is in black and white and seems very orderly, and this style gives us a depressive outlook on the stories that are all tied together in the way that they all end in solitude. Sleepwalk's point is very straightfoward and gives us a variety of stories to express that message. Jimmy on the other-hand is very random in it's ability to jump from various periods in time and appearance. We see a lot of scenes where the character barely moves, but then we may jump to an entirely different area. Throughout the book though we see various images that appear like flyers or posters; such as the image in white and blue where Jimmy appears to be attacking someone. We see that he is attacking someone, but the way the image is setup we still see it is some kind of enjoyable or light-hearted poster, it even reads that it is a poster of an 'improvisatory romance'. This can be very effective in a propaganda way; because it is able to show us Jimmy's darkside and bad outlook on humanity, but at the same time leave us calm and relaxed at what we are seeing.

There are more examples of this in other scenes, such as the scene where we see Jimmy attacking his father with a mug when he really isn't. We see this scene and we know he is attacking him in it, but we also know that it isn't really happening except in his mind and that they are actually having a conversation about the fruit basket he brought. This scene gives us inside of Jimmy's darkside and yet we take it lightheartedly because the fact that both characters appear calm, the coloring is still very light and not dark to express a scene of evil or corruption, and also that Jimmy gives us the impression that he is shy and scared almost always. Of course I don't believe the author is trying to make it appear like attacking someone is a good thing, but perhaps to express that these thoughts do occur in a person's mind from time to time or perhaps that due to Jimmy's past it would almost seem right for him to think this way. There is another image where Jimmy's face is black and red, but the background around his head is bright blue, red, and has white stars. I believe that this image expresses the joy around Jimmy and tries to make him some kind of shining image, but since Jimmy is very darkly potrayed with the clouds may show how his world is truly dark, sad, and even angry; maybe expressing how he feels as an outcast.

McCloud would definently discuss this as a creative way for the author to express their message. It may not be an entirely clear message, but it can be interpreted as we see it. We can gain more then one message from Corrigan's work and interpret things differently, but as I stated before we can tell Sleepwalk's message pretty clearly which means that Sleepwalk's author wanted to get straight to the point and give us that very realistic look on human nature.

These are of course my opinions on these two story art styles, but what other messages can be interpreted from both of these works?

Perhaps we can say that there is a very psychological aspect of both of the stories and how the actions of others can have negative effects on our minds and lives. Maybe they want to express something of society as a whole. We must always ask what other things can the author have wanted to express.