Not too long ago, I was saddled up at a bar, silently drinking a pint. I was meeting a friend, but arrived a little early. A beer by myself seemed like the best way to shake another long day at the office. All I wanted was to be left alone to wonder how at such a young age, I was spending so much time at a desk or at a bar. In doing so, I did not notice another patron pull up beside me and order a drink. Taking me by surprise, the mystery patron made an innocuous comment about the bartender. I do not remember what he said to me, for I turned to him to respond and sat face to face with a full-grown version of the child who had ridiculed, beaten and harassed me through childhood. Immediately, he realized who I was and I realized who he was. We both sat stunned, staring at each others, mouths agape, both of us struggling to make words, and instead were, as my mother said when we were children, "catching flies." This moment carried on for longer than it could have in actuality occurred. Eventually, overcome with the awkwardness of the moment, my former assailant received his drink and simply walked to the other end of the bar. No words were exchanged, nor would any be exchanged. Shared between us was merely an awkward moment, mouths hanging wide open, staring at each other in disbelief.
Chris Ware's
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth would work well as an in depth study on awkward moments such as that. While speaking with other students, words tossed around to describe the feel of the book were "awkward," "uncomfortable," and "tense." In Adrian Tomine's Sleepwalk, the same thing can be said for almost every story.
What techniques do Tomine and Ware use to create this tension in their works?
The character is off-the-charts awkward to begin with in Jimmy Corrigan. Jimmy is in Ware's words, "emotionally impaired." He spends a substantial amount of time day dreaming, staring off into space, not making eye contact with people and just being generally awkward. How is this illustrated about Jimmy? First, other than Jimmy's father, grandfather and Amy, the reader never sees another person's face. This accomplished a few things. One, it isolates our characters. More importantly though, we see how little Jimmy notices other characters in this book. His day dreams and his anxieties get the better of him repeatedly. Jimmy actively avoids human interaction with everyone. When forced to interact with people, Jimmy is tenative and many long moments can pass before he responds, if he responds at all. Ware does an excellent job of illustrating this with "silent" panels. McCloud talks about how a panel void of dialog or narration can be used to show a passage of time. Through the text, there are examples of little to nothing being said between two characters over a series of many panels. The more panels, the more time the reader is to assume has passed.
An identical tactic is put into use in Tomine's Sleepwalk. Each character has silent frame moments. We draw the same closure. Time passes, words are not exchanged. Few words, spread over many panels indicates that awkward conversation we've all had. Long pauses between exchanges are filled with looming silence. Each vignette features a emotionally dysfunctional protagonist which can be seen to be more dysfunctional through these techniques.
What are you getting at Mr. Hotshot College Student? How does making the reader uncomfortable lend anything to the work (or more importantly, does the protagonist being awkward actually achieve tension?) What is the end result of these characters "emotional dysfunction," "awkwardness," and "tension?" Whatever happened to that old bully you ran into at the bar?
Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down, dear reader. One question at a time. The tension these panels create for the reader is very real. Not only is the character demonstrated to be awkward, the reader become awkward for them. Don't believe me? Reread the scene in Jimmy Corrigan when the doctor looks at Jimmy after he is hit by a car. I'll wait. Done? It made you squirm a little, didn't it? The end result of all this tension is in each story, these characters being utterly alone. Each Sleepwalk story and the Jimmy Corrigan story the characters are left alone because of their crippling awkwardness. Many of these seem like possibly autobiographic gestures about loneliness.
And that bully, well I was told by a mutual friend that he married recently. Also, they informed me that she cheats on him....a lot. Oh sweet justice.
*I WILL PROOF READ THIS IN THE MORNING! SO IF YOU READ IT TONIGHT, TOUGH COOKIES!*
Do you really think its awkwardness that is weaved throughout Jimmy Corrigan? Tension, yes. But as I read the novel, I was more sympathetic towards him. He's more shy than anything, but I agree when he replied (the seldom times he did) to someone speaking to him, most of the time his responses were limited to him stuttering out "uhhs" and "umm..." For the most part I think he is just nervous around people. I know what you're thinking, Bob.."SARAH, THAT'S AWKWARD." Trust me, I know awkward(I do talk to you...) If he was cracking strange jokes or talking about random off topic things I would agree.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of Sleepwalk...I think the whole novel makes me feel so let down. Its a great compilation of stories of loneliness, but I imagine myself sitting there leaning forward, sort of egging on the author to continue only to turn the page and see there is no more to the story.
There is a certain amount of detatchment between character and reader. I did not feel awkward reading Jimmy Corrigan. I felt sympathy for him and his people problems made me like him more. In the end we are all alone. Some people are just alone longer than others. I felt more of an isolation of characters than awkwardness.
ReplyDeleteAs for the distinction between "tense" or "awkward," remember that Jimmy is not the only character. It's going to be very awkward for the person trying to engage Jimmy or his father in conversation, when all they get in response is grunts and nervous glances. Also many of the conversations that include real dialogue consist mainly of phony chit chat that people create in order to fill time. They talk a lot and don't say anything. There's still no connection to be had. Jimmy at the clinic with his bloody nose is a good example of people awkwardly BSing with each other for one purpose, to avoid something even worse: an awkward silence.
ReplyDeleteJimmy Corrigan made me feel awkward all over. Even the way the dialogue is written to be read very slowly or awkwardly. Each phrase that Jimmy says (almost all) starts with some variation of "uhh" or "ummm". After reading some of the comments I have struggled to decide whether or not the feeling I get from Jimmy is awkwardness or just feeling generally out of place.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I empathized more with the people interacting with Jimmy. I have family members who respond with "uhs" and "ums" many moments after you've addressed them. I never walk away from those situations feeling anything less than uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteBy no means am I saying that Jimmy's quirkiness didn't endear him to me. Jimmy's my boy. Him and I play poker every Thursday. And by that I mean, I adore the character, but I do believe the intended result was at least to illustrate how socially incompetent Jimmy was and maybe get a glimpse into the innumerable reasons for this. One of the major themes I got out of this book was that there are certain things we never shake, not even as adults. The things that shape us are often out of our control and are often passed down. Jimmy's grandfather was abandon. Jimmy was abandon. We are all our fathers, as the cliche goes.
I am really glad that you pointed out that only three or four characters in Jimmy Corrigan actually show their faces. In fact, it's driving me quite mad that I made it all the way through the book without noticing this fact! It had exactly the impact you described without me having even known how. You do feel an absolute isolation with the characters. Ware knew what he was doing. Now I'm just asking myself...why so awkward!?
ReplyDeleteMr. Maxchill I think you are very insensitive towards Jimmy Corrigan, calling him awkward and what not, and should look at the person as a whole...ah i'm kidding but this is my real view point.
ReplyDeleteI see the way you use the word awkward because you get that vibe when reading JC as if you were in his shoes. We all have had moments like those (and if you say otherwise, you are lying to yourself lol). The blank panels which describe the awkwardness help relate to that feeling even more and Ware does an awesome job of drawing our attention to this.
I don't think the kid is disturbed at all, he just has a hard time with social interaction. I've known a couple people like that and they give off that same vibe because they like social capabilities. Plus, it could be hard for someone who doesn't have a dad growing up this just varies with different people. I'll see you guys at poker this Thursday Bob.