Graphic+Analysis



The graphic novel that will be analyzed in this essay is titled “Orange,” and is written by Benjamin (full name not mentioned). This graphic novel is very powerful in nature and contains many implications that are relevant in today’s tumultuous society. The story takes place in what is considered as “contemporary China” and revolves itself around the troubles of a 15 year old girl who does not have a positive outlook on life. In fact there are various occasions in the novel where she attempts to commit suicide and this is central to the plot of the novel.

On one of these instances where she is contemplating suicide, she meets an older man who is inebriated, however has learned to develop some sort of affection. As time goes by she gets to know the man more and more and she begins to develop stronger feelings for him. Their relationship was not sexual at all, but through the eyes of the teenager, the relationship was all she needed to sustain and motivate herself to live another day in her troubled life. The novel is dark in nature and therefore, all the techniques used by the author seem to tilt towards the darker side. These will be expounded on later on in this analysis. This essay will look at the various features of the graphic novel, including but not limited to its ideas, forms, idioms and structure.

When one looks at the book Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, one gains insight into how to analyze graphic novels as a work of art and how to determine whether or not the author has utilized powerful images or techniques to bring forth his/her message that he/she is attempting to convey. In the first chapter itself of Understanding Comics, the author mentions that he believes that comic books are for the semi-erudite people seeking entertainment that does not require profound thinking. While he is critical of comic books that he experienced as a child, he feels that these novels should not conform to the stereotypical features that are found in other comic books. A graphic novel can be a powerful work of both art and literature if used correctly. I feel that the graphic novel “Orange” effectively conveys the message that the author wishes to carry across. Looking at the surface, one sees that the graphic novel tackles various issues that are prominent in teenagers of today’s world, and the author does whatever possible he can with the art and the development of character to depict these issues. One needs to flip a few pages and see that the graphic novel is dark in nature:

“ I suffer a lot, but actually, my suffering is laughable, because everything in life, even pain is all a lie” – Pg 47 “ In this fake world, I’ve got a lot of fake best friends” – Pg 47 In order to better analyze comics such as “Orange”, one needs understand the difference between hot media and cold media. Hot forms of media allow little room for interpretation on part of the reader/viewer whereas cold media allows much room for the reader’s own interpretation of the piece. This comic book, “Orange”, is somewhat a mixture of both. “Orange” is set in the sense that the characters are fixed along with the setting and plot, but there is still an element of invisible art. Central to this idea is the concept of closure.

Closure is the process through which the reader makes connections between what happened in the previous scenes and the succeeding scenes. In the novel, “Orange”, there is evident invisible art: or art that doesn’t exist but which the reader is able to conceive given the events that happened in the panels that do exist. On page 28 for instance, the reader is shown how the lover of the protagonist is heavily drinking and through the series of panels, it serves to show that he was completely under the influence. However, between one panel to the next wherein in one he is sitting down unfazed and in the second panel he just falls down flat on his back has an element of invisible art in it. The reader can conceive what happened in the missing panel that should’ve been illustrated but is just as solid in the mind of the reader.

It is an almost well-known fact (at least for the critiques of the comic world) that the vocabulary used in Japanese novels is different from those used in American ones. American graphic novels are less intense in nature and the reason for that is the fact that the language used is mild not very strong. Japanese comic books are almost always more aggressive in nature and one of the reasons for this is the fact that the language used in aggressive. “Orange” is a perfect example of such a comic. “Orange”, as explained above, has several dark themes. Therefore, it would make little sense for the language to be flowery if there is to be computability between the language and the theme of the novel. Given the dark nature of the theme, the language used too, is extremely dark- full of expletives and adult-like in nature. For instance, on Page 32, the protagonist mentions,

“What is that Bullshit” and on Page 40, when Orange finds out that her lover smokes Dubaos, she exclaims in indignation, “Fuck! I can’t believe it! Dubaos! Are you broke or something?”

The book “Orange” spans 107 pages and is not divided in any categories or chapters. Rather is a continuation of one chapter and that chapter sees the plot through from the beginning to the end. The structure of the book is such that the book starts off at a certain time and date and the events that happen in the beginning are connected with the rest of the book through the anachronistic usage of time. The author goes on to explain the events through putting the reader in perspective of what happened five months earlier and builds on that. The book starts off at the end while the middle discusses how the book got to that point. The end on the other hand, resembles the beginning as the end was what the plot was building towards. I believe that this structure is pertinent and very effective for the meaning that the author wishes to convey. The book is structured in such a way that is suitable for the dark theme prevalent.

It is very important to consider the frame of the graphic novel while placing it in a bigger context. The frame of this graphic novel is self-explanatory in nature: the frame of any comic serves to place the concept of time, place and position of characters and events in any comic. The way the frame is in this book conveys the message in a very effective manner. The camera angle that is put into effect in this comic is varied to suit the purpose of the message. For instance, whenever the protagonist or her lover said or thought something dark, the camera would angle completely towards the face of the character depicting the seriousness/maliciousness of their thought. Whenever there was an action event, the entire scene would be capture thereby giving the whole scope of the event. This is a very effective technique as it either focuses on the character or the scene depending on what needs to be emphasized. The lighting effects used in the book have been selected given the nature of the graphic novel. The majority of the novel is a bluish-green mixture that is almost as if taken from the memory of the person: not lucid but not completely forgotten. Whenever any action takes place, the page is completely colored illuminating and showing all the action in clear, vivid imagery. This is pertinent to the theme of the book which is a dark one. The distance that can be seen in the book is plausible and most of the novel is quasi-real in the sense that one can identify with the space and distance that is consistent with reality. Some parts of the novel as explained above are done in close-up shots whereas the rest are from a distance. Facial expressions which are central in conveying the mood of the comic have been very well illustrated during parts that require emotion on the part of the character. The facial expressions are grim in nature depicting the seriousness of the scenario that takes place. The level of detail that can be found in this novel is a varied one: there are parts that are extremely well detailed and there are parts that are lesser detailed. Whenever casual conversation takes place (most of the time), the level of detail is low, but when an important event such as the climax occurs, the level of detail is very realistic. In Orange, as the focus is on the life of the protagonist and her lover, there is not really a relationship between the background and foreground characters. The hostile feelings that Orange has towards the world would make more sense if the author distanced the protagonist from other characters showing her lack of trust in the world.

Comic books are important as a medium of transmitting information due to their flexibility of interpretation. The message gets delivered and at the same time, there is virtual imagination that takes place in the mind of the reader instead of fixed images that one sees in movies, internet etc.

McCloud, Scott. “//Understanding Comics The Invisible Art//.” New York: Harper Perennial, 1993. Benjamin. “//Orange//”. TOKYOPOP Inc. Manga. Pg 28, 30, 32, 47, 107
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