While reading the text, I couldn't help but notice how Sacco uses borders in some cases and doesn't in others. Throughout the graphic novel, Sacco breaks the boundaries, literally and metaphorically. What begins as a neat story, pages i and ii, turns into something altogether chaotic. Pages i and ii ("Prologue) introduce us to the narrator, Sacco. He is sitting in a coffee shop hoping to find out the "Real Truth." In other words, Sacco is looking for something neat and pretty that can be written and drawn into neat boxes. As the story progress, these boxes drastically change.
The next section entitled "GO AWAY" is framed by two splash images without borders. The caravan driving through "No-man's-land" is in a very real sense, endless. It is also a timeless image. Without Sacco's brief descriptions, the image could be placed, any where during any war. Moreover, the image implies that the destruction is far more severe and extensive than in just this one snapshot. The following two pages (2 and 3) are very neat. Although the caption box protrudes slightly past the frame, everything is very uniform. These are the facts, they are without emotion. Just plain facts. The last image (p.4) is the second splash page. Like the first image, this is just a snapshot of the "57,000 inhabitants"(p.1) of Gorazde. The isolation of the town is evident in the backdrop of hills. The destruction is also evident in the faces of the peple lining the streets. It is also interesting to note that soldiers guarding the road are without expression.
The "Red Carpet Part I" begins in much the same way, until the party in "Part III." At this point, order begins to disintegrate. As Sacco becomes more emotionally involved with the people of Gorazde, he loses his border "inhibitions." The images in each frame blend into eachother, the captions and dialogue overlap. We do not see the strict boxes again until stories like "Disintegration" and "Disappearance." These stories are again a presentation of the facts. Sacco presents the people's stories solely as news facts. These are very unbiased representations of what happened during the war. These stories are provided in neat little boxes with neat caption and balloons. It is not until Sacco relates his personal experiences to us, that the borders are blurred and almost disorienting.
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2 comments:
From the prologue I got the sense that Sacco was disdainful of the concept of "Real Truth" as he vows to completely avoid the man who offers it to him, yet later in the novel when Sacco's hanging with the "silly girls" he tries to go after the "Real Truth" (151). In this bit of narration he seems self consciously predatory.
Sacco does a great job of subtley diffrentiating between Truth and truth and I I think he prizes that latter over the former.
Sorry if this is a bot of a digression, but your observation about the "Real Truth" caught my eye and I wondered if you had any further thoughts.
Good post and good comment both, there, Katlyn & Justin. Katlyn, I like the way you've merged comment on both Sacco's formal techniques and his narrative methods--very nice!
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