The following are projects I've completed in my coursework for the Ph.D. related to comics in some manner.
I. AMPLIFICATION THROUGH SIMPLIFICATION: RHETORIC INVADES THE FUNNY PAGES
Link to PowerPoint Presentation (Given at TTU's TCR Conference - May, 2007)
Editorial cartoonists have a long-standing tradition of merging social satire with political commentary. In this case, the pen is truly mightier than the sword. This study is an examination of a unique form of visual rhetoric: the editorial cartoon. And to explore this issue, we seek to understand the following:
1. Are editorial cartoons a form of rhetoric?
2. If so, what makes editorial cartoons rhetorically significant?
3. What impact do editorial cartoons have on audiences and public discourse?
To answers these questions, a thorough examination of the editorial cartoon – both in academic scholarship and in more generic mediated forms – reveals comics scholarship is a new and untapped area of research. Marrying the two provides the basis to understand how and why editorial cartoons impact public discourse. After a reflective discussion of rhetoric’s role in editorial cartoons, this study grounds the theoretical discussion by providing four historical examples of cartoons that have contributed to public discourse: Benjamin Franklin’s “Join or Die”, Thomas Nast’s cartoons of William “Boss” Tweed, Bill Mauldin’s “Weeping Lincoln”, and the Jyllands-Posten cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed.
A version of this paper has been submitted for consideration to the 2007 National Communication Association's annual convention.
II. COMICS AND RHETORIC (CLASSICAL OR OTHERWISE): WHEN COMIC ART MEETS RHETORICAL THEORY
Comics contain a veritable recipe for visual rhetoricians. But how do they function? What ties do they have to classical and contemporary rhetoric? And in this mediated age, why are comics as powerful as the written and spoken word? This project attempts to deconstructs comics in order to understand how they bridge oral and written communication and function as visual rhetoric.
This project delves into this murky realm in hopes of understanding how comics bridge the oral and written communication divide. First we differentiate between the comic and the cartoon and then move into the formal scholarship on comics and cartoons. From there, we briefly discuss how the Greek and Roman cultures viewed the oral and written word and then juxtapose that against contemporary viewpoints. With this foundation, we look more thoroughly at comics and their various visual and verbal characteristics. Finally, we put forth five distinct ways to show that comics bridge the oral and verbal divide: as rhetorical artifacts, through enthymematic reasoning, through the use of symbols that generate meaning, using a grammar for production and understanding, and most notably through kairos.
A version of this paper has been submitted for consideration to the 2007 National Communication Association's annual convention. This project was originally constructed as a web page. It can be accessed here: www.alechosterman.com/comics.