It's pretty fascinating to see where comics as we know them originated, and how far they've come over the last hundred years or so. It was also really great exploring the medium before the popular notions of what a comic should be like or how they should read were set into stone. The sheer lack of regularity was awesome to see, and it was great that artists and writers were exploring a multitude of styles and techniques so early on, and that everything from Krazy Kat to Peanuts was executable and available. That being said, there were definitely times when some of the storytelling techniques made it extremely difficult for the reader to stay in the flow of the story. Like Windsor McCay's lengthy word explanations of what was happening to Little Nemo, as its happening to Little Nemo. I will say however that the artwork and humor in Little Nemo far outshines any and all awkward writing conventions.
It was definitely interesting learning about how far we’ve come as a culture when it comes to the stereotypical representations used in early comics and other forms of media, especially in terms of race, sexuality, gender and ethnicity. To me, despite the current cultural climate of dissatisfaction, I think that we’ve come pretty far as a culture in one lifetime. It actually seems like we’re probably pushing the limit for the amount of change and adjustment that some people can make to their worldview in one lifetime, without completely plunging them and the culture into a state of mass anxiety and hysteria. That being said, I wish we would have acknowledged that in class in a more positive way, and approached this topic in the lecture from a more reassuring perspective - especially in today’s current media-fueled maddening political climate. It would have been refreshing to hear about this topic from the perspective that the changes we need to make as a culture, have already happ...
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