i was their american dream Flashcards
what makes a comic book/ graphic novel such an interesting mode of communicating meaning
as well as written discourse there is the narrative and structure of the panels and illustrations
so as a reader you must unravel the intricacies and layers of meaning that exist within the artwork, structure, and narrative of a comic book
what did MG say in an interview in 2019
that in 2016, there was a lot of anti-immigrant rhetoric
how did donald trump’s campaign affect the social climate of america (2016)
- branded immigrants as dangerous and a threat
- rise in xenophobia
- fuelled anti muslim sentiment
how did donald trump’s campaign affect MG
- she was inspired to create the memoir to share her experience and humanise the immigrant experience and celebrate her story
- there was lots of others combatting the harmful stereotypes being perpetuated, by sharing their stories in interesting ways eg poetry or graphic novels
- there was more representation in media
all of these things are context of production that led to MG wanting to (authorial intent) write her graphic memoir
about MG’s mom
- escaped phillipines when it went under martial law, moved to LA
- catholic
- values: perserveance, hard work, education
- single mother and worker
- presented in the extract as: loving, hardworking, undergoing implicit financial hardship. she is representative of the immigrant experience
martial law in the phillippines
ferdinand marcos president from 1965-86
martial law from 1972-81
about MG’s dad
- muslim
- values education
- egyptian
effect of family on MG
conflicting cultural and religious values and experiences meant:
- her childhood (especially since they separated) was one of adapting to who she was with - ideas of code switching
- she was mixe therefore there were cultural differences. this meant in her childhood and thus in her memoir there was a lot of focus on what it means to belong, identity
creates this meaning in her memoir: navigating identity in childhood
what award did the book win
arab american book award 2020
MG education
studied journalism at uni against their wishes,
therefore any act of writing, like this book, is an act of rebellion and coming to terms with herself
about the genre
conventions of a graphic memoir
1. chronological X -> instead episodic
2. personal //
3. visual and consistent art style //
the impacts of her use of the genre
- episodic therefore captures the nuanced of memory. organised into vignettes which might show her fragmented identity
- interactive elements place us within text and uses a light-hearted medium to convey deeper themes and meanings
- educational element facilitated by change in tone teaches her culture, sense of pride and different voices (past and present)
- visual so culture more vivid
- multi modal experience is layered and accessible
about register
humorous
- uses humour and satire to handles heavy themes of identity, race, belonging, american culture
informal
instructional
- shift in tone when instructing
aligns with purpose
- shares her experience in an engaging and euphemistic way, mirroring a sense of implicit hardship she had in childhood but didnt know how to articulate
aligns with audience
- wide so must be accessible and engaging
about audience
people with similar experiences to her, and wider american readership
- they are positioned as unknowing and sympathetic to her experience.
- they are accommodated for by the HF lexis which makes it accessible, and predictable sentence structure to anchor the captions in structure ,,
- and also by the pop culture references an american audience would understand
about the mode
multi modeal - written and visual elements
- adds a layer to reader experience because text and image interact (anchorage), and image conveys extra implicit information (relays)
- influences language because the captions hold less weight and don’t need to be so extensive. brief because extra things in visuals; must be taken in conjunction
about her purpose
amplifying her voice
combatting -ve discourse (DT campaign)
exploring nuances of her upbringing in a lighthearted way
therefore she
- uses an episodic structure which focuses on her memory and her experiences
- relays the experience of an immigrant and their child
- explores themes of immigration, socioeconomic struggle, american culture and belonging, identity and childhood ,,
- but she does this in interesting ways (humour, interactive elements) to meet audience and purpose of engaging and entertaining them
about the subject of the extract
how her family differs from what is idealised in american media;
filipino food (element of self acceptance and love - differing voices);
what she can and can’t do;
her mother’s goodness (humanising immigrant experience);
pressures to be perfect (the guilt and pressures of an immigrant child).
therefore she creates these subject using the mode (multi modal, use of visuals) of her genre (lighthearted, self centered, focused on experiences). her language (euphemistic, her register, parallelism), her semiotics (checkboxes, doors as symbols of disconnection) reflect this
post colonial theory application: mimicry
imitating cultural attitude of colonisers
MG is preoccupied with white american culture as shown in anaphora of ‘on tv’ and the pop culture references, their visual symbols showing only white people. implication that she is dissatisfied because they’re not like the idealised american family
meanings conveyed (8; some overlap)
- feelings of inferiority and otherness in american culture
- idealising white american culture
- oversaturation of whiteness in media and how that affects self perception of POC
- guilt and sacrifice and pressures of immigrant child
- sacrifices of an immigrant mother, struggles of immigrant experience
- humanising and appreciating the immigrant experience
- navigating cultural (american, filipino, egyptian, relgious) identity as a child
- her growth and acceptance of her culture now
