Reading Images of Memory: Photography and Iconography in the Graphic Memoir

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1 Reading Images of Memory: Photography and Iconography in the Graphic Memoir Memory is fallible. Recall what you had for lunch last Tuesday. Try to remember the names of your fifth grade classmates. Pinpointing events in our personal history is hardly simple. Yet, we are always trying to chronicle our all too brief lives. The publishing industry has seen a boom in the genre of memoir, in both the number being written and the number being sold and read. The resulting academic criticism has varied, particularly as certain high-profile memoirs garnered a flurry of controversy regarding their truthfulness. To further complicate the validity of memoirs, writers have begun creating their memoirs or biographies in the form of comics, not just prose. The nature of comics challenges the traditions of memoir. Prose is traditionally easily presented and accepted as factual, yet artistic images, such as comics, are perceived as interpretive and editorial. Especially given the American tendency to associate comics with childhood or childish stories, it seems hard to accept a comic as a legitimate means to communicate factual lives. This essay assesses the ways in which images are read, particularly how the photograph has come to be considered the highest form of truth. I will establish how graphic art, though subjective, is similar in verity and representation to the photograph, using the theories of WJT Mitchell, Susan Sontag, and comicker Scott McCloud. It is also important to note that I use the terms comic book, graphic novel, sequential art, and variations of these terms, interchangeably. I refer to practitioners of the form as both artists and authors and sometimes comicker.

2 Cody 2 *** The style of documentary and memoir is unique. It is factual, historical, and often visual, frequently involving photographs or other evidence of the events being recorded. Though typically filtered through the voice of one narrator, documentaries have a very strong sense of authenticity and credibility. But, what separates the genre from realism? Both are genres with conventions aimed at achieving a goal of perceived reality. Realism is an artificial version of the memoir, relying on a reader s familiarity with their own world to be perceived as realistic. Put simply, realism is an accurate representation or depiction of daily life in a given place and time. It lacks fantastical elements and focuses on abstracting the rhythm of life into prose. Often, autobiography or documentary relies on this style to enhance their believability, allowing the frequent use of photographs to further strengthen their tales. Yet, a graphic memoir, which may feature both realism and images, is frequently challenged for its non-fictional value. And as the value of the photo has changed thanks to editing services such as Photoshop, how does one tread the fine line between fiction and fact, particularly when images, photographic or iconic, are involved? In his examination of memoir in On Autobiography, Philippe Lejeune describes what he calls the referential pact : As opposed to all forms of fiction, biography and autobiography are referential [emphasis his] texts: exactly like scientific or historical discourse, they claim to provide information about a reality exterior to the text, and so to submit to a test

3 Cody 3 of verification. Their aim is not simple verisimilitude, but resemblance to the truth. Not the effect of the real, but the image [emphasis mine] of the real. (qtd. in Beaty 228) Traditional memoir or documentary creates evidence to solve this referential pact most often through photography, as this is the simplest method to provide the said image of the real. Autobiography, Lejeune argues, like science, is researchable. The referential pact is made complete with the evidence of reality itself. The difference between realism and reality is the completion of this pact, the evidence of reality provided within the image of the real created within the text of the biography. Visual evidence seems to be the most compelling source of verisimilitude within a text, particularly as the world has become a global and visually media-driven society. Not only does it provide evidence, but it provides the literal image of the real to the figurative one of the text. From the time of the earliest newspapers with photographs, history, as it is occurring, has been shared via image, and thus regarded as reality, as truth. Even some of the earliest forms of documentary such as cave paintings and Egyptian wall paintings (which Scott McCloud calls possibly the earliest form of comics) have told history via the image. This use of the image as history has become even more standard as the image has progressed from photographs to the newsreel and film to television, granting it one of the highest places in society and history. Susan Sontag argues that the photograph has become a type of icon in itself: Certain photographs can be used like memento mori, as objects of contemplation to deepen one s sense of reality; as secular icons, [emphasis mine] if you will (Regarding

4 Cody 4 the Pain of Others 119). This sense of memento mori explains why so many memoirists and documentarists use the photographic image to establish their stories. The use of the image creates a sense of nostalgia to both the creator and the reader. Not only has the image already been deemed as reliable truth, but it becomes a means to hold the past within the present again. They become a type of icon, held in high regard. It is no coincidence then that cartoonists have moved into the realm of memoir-making, as the form of cartooning is an iconic art (as also explained by McCloud). Comickers are able to create this memento mori, as well as create their own nostalgic icons. The comic then becomes the medium through which the artist can explore themselves and their loved ones. And, as in his essay What is an Image? W.J.T. Mitchell states, the image proper is the graphic or optical representations we see displayed in an objective, publicly shareable space (13). Thus, to establish evidence and realism, the image, either photographic or graphic, is utilized by memoirists to establish the objective, undeniable nature of the facts of their own life, but it must be shared with an audience. The use of images actually enhances veracity within a text, as it completes Lejeune s referential pact with the audience. These images compiled alongside a narrative text can create a compelling and credible document of history or memoir. Since the image became the first representation for reality, even back to the days of ideograms, the image has been held as evidence or a placeholder for reality.

5 Cody 5 Images at their core, however, are too easy to trust and in fact, should not be. After all, an image is simply that, not the thing itself. Take for instance, the classic painting by Rene Magritte, The Treachery of Images, (above), which reads, This is not a pipe. Of course it is not it is simply the image of a pipe. If this is the treachery of images that they are not in fact that which they represent then how did the image become the highest standard for truth? Mitchell argues that an image cannot be seen as such [emphasis his] without a paradoxical trick of consciousness, an ability to see something as there and not there at the same time (17). So, because our minds are capable of understanding that an image is a representation of the thing, we can correlate the image to the object in reality, even when that image is abstracted and simplified into a graphic form. Mitchell futher explains via diagram the reciprocal nature of images and reality within the human mind. This model [below] posits a relation of absolute symmetry and similitude between mind and the world, and it affirms the possibility of a point by point identity between object and image, worldly phenomena and representation in the mind or in graphic symbols (16). The diagram suggests that in our minds we can see either the candle or an image of the candle (the rectangle), yet we still recognize the

6 Cody 6 candle for what it is. Even if the image is manipulated, changed, or unrealistic, it can still be perceived as the object because our brains recognize an image as simply a representation. Thus, comic artists can use their own distinctive art style to produce unique representations of their world and the reader can still perceive that which the artist is representing. Graphic documentary poses a unique problem, however. It is inherently visual, yet the iconographic nature of comics means that the representation of reality is abstracted and filtered through the hand of the artist. While the reader may recognize the artistic rendering s analogue in reality, since the work is subjective to the creator, rather than supposedly objective as a photograph or video documentary might be, this can create a cognitive dissonance within the reader s mind about the credibility of a comic as a form of documentary. For instance, Maus (in a very self-aware manner) uses mice to represent Jews and cats to portray Nazis, as shown below. Obviously, this was not the case in actual history. Artistic renderings tend to be perceived as less evidential than photographs due to this. Also, since the narrator s voice is actually reflected through the iconic art, rather than syntactically, the voice itself becomes doubted. Further, since comic books are culturally established as children s or childish literature (the untruth of

7 Cody 7 this is another essay in itself), this can further distance the reader and cause one to question the validity of the graphic documentary. There are several factors barring the graphic documentary from being accepted as truthful. The term documentary stems from the root document, implying it is the very root or goal of a documentary to chronicle evidence. But how can one document history through a subjective medium? Historical accuracy is not what is at stake in these graphic memoirs; what is at stake is the reader s perception of how the iconographic representations of reality can actually be perceived as something possible beyond the page. Truth, as I am exploring it, means perceived as real and connected to reality through the referential pact. Despite the lack of physical evidence such as photos in a graphic novel documentary, the art of a comic functions as the visual image to represent the external world and reality. These comic memoirs actually create a stronger verisimilitude within their works. This is a quality unique within the graphic form. Through what Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics calls amplification through simplification (left, 30), the iconic form of graphic art

8 Cody 8 or cartoons is actually able to more closely focus on specific aspects of reality. Thus, graphic art is actually a more refined and controlled truth than is available within just photography or prose. An individual choosing to portray their own history through comics gives them the ability to cut out what is superfluous, allowing only the very heart of the facts through by stripping down the images of documentary to what is necessary or crucial. This is particularly true for Maus. McCloud argues that simplistic artwork emphasizes concepts rather than the world itself (41). In abstracting the Jewish people of the Holocaust down to mice, Spiegelman is actually reinforcing their Jewishness conceptually and metaphorically. Particularly since there is no true way to determine that someone is Jewish simply by sight, the concept must be portrayed differently in pictorial form. When one looks at an image, more than believing it is fact, we believe its possibilities. Comics are the form of the possible and the real, allowing what photographs would not be able to portray to become a very real image. The comic medium also has several other advantages over photography, particularly in memoir. Drawings can go places that photographs cannot. A photographer may not always be present to document a historical event with his camera, yet that event can still be represented in an image with an artistic rendering. Before the camera, this was how many historic events or people were recorded. This is particularly true for Maus as Spiegelman graphically portrays the concentration camps and his father s time as a prisoner of war. Photographic images of these situations are uncommon as they simply weren t allowed. Thus the situation can be recreated through the comic form, allowing both the reader and Spiegelman himself to experience these moments along with

9 Cody 9 Spiegelman s father. The medium also allows for the simultaneous digestion of both image and narration. With the form s unique word balloons and text boxes, a narrative and an image can enhance each other in what McCloud calls interdependent combination of word and image (155). This interdependence also allows for the simultaneous portrayal of separate moments of time. Take for instance the image to the right (Maus I 12). Through the comic medium, the reader sees Art s father, Vladek, as he is at the time of Art s writing (panel 2), as he was before the war (panel 4), as well as the evidence of his time following in the concentration camps (displayed via the tattoo on Vladek s arm in panel 1). The comic form also allows for multiple forms of simultaneous narration, via both dialogue and verbal narration as well as visual narration. Even photographed images in sequence cannot accomplish such a conflation of time and space. Another unique aspect of the comic medium is its intimacy. Not only is a creator sharing his or her personal history with the reader, but they are recreating that life through their individual artistic portrayal. As discussed previously, the subjective nature

10 Cody 10 of the art of the comic may be seen to damage credibility as the image is predigested by the creator; however, through this filtering, the reader is able to see that which is most crucial to the artist. Based on McCloud s arguments, these crucial moments are thus amplified, raising their impact on and importance to the individual s life story. The more imaginative the work, the more profoundly it allows us to share the artist s experience of the visible, says John Berger in Ways of Seeing (10). To see the artist s portrayal of their reality brings the reader closer to understanding the creator as an individual. Through art, the creator is also able to create visual metaphors and symbols where a traditional memoirist may not be able to. As previously discussed, Maus uses the visual fable form of the mouse for the Jewish people as a metaphor. Spiegelman also creates a powerful visual symbol through his well-timed use of the image of the gas chamber (above left, Maus II 58). Rarely explicitly stating what events took place, Spiegelman deftly uses his father s euphemisms, such as the other side here, interdependently combined with the towering image of a smoking chimney to imply the facts that history has made clear they were gassed. Palestine incorporates another crucial aspect of the graphic form that of the megapanel, or rather, the entire page itself viewed as one large panel. Just as the image of several individual triangles form one large triangle, the multiple panels of the comic page form one large panel. Joe Sacco adeptly uses this

11 Cody 11 technique throughout his work to create the sense of chaos and confusion he was experiencing in occupied Palestine. His megapanels speak to the reader similarly to Hunter S. Thompson s Gonzo style of journalism fast, fluid, and hard. The page shown below (56) is actually approximately six separate panels making up one large megapanel.

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13 Cody 13 Removing the borders of the panel, Sacco is removing the boundaries of storytelling, allowing these instances to seamlessly blend into each other and create a larger image of this event. Here, he also uses careful placement of text boxes to direct the reader s attention while simultaneously creating a pseudo-border as well as adding to the chaos verbally. The page itself shouts through both image and word. This is also an excellent example of the type of control offered by the medium. In a traditional documentary, the photographer would be thrust into this situation, potentially distracting or detracting the protest. With comics, the creator can control the viewer s eye to focus on important aspects of a given situation without getting in the way himself. Here, we also see the opposite effect of simultaneous time than demonstrated previously in Maus. In this megapanel, all of these moments are quite literally taking place at the same time, but, through the art of the comic form, this moment is able to be broken down into smaller individual sequences, elongating this occasion. The comic s ability to portray multiple perspectives at the same time is also on display here. Sacco shows the perspective from both the protestors and the police. The reader is able to see through the eyes of both sides of the protest at the same time, seeing each group as the other sees them. The panel in the top right corner also shows how comics portray motion. Through motion lines, the reader watches as a policeman raises his baton, prepared to strike, creating a sense of still movement unachievable in any other medium. Through a combination of the established conventions of the memoir or documentary as well as conventions unique to the comic medium, the graphic documentary can demonstrate a powerful sense of truth. The image, whether

14 Cody 14 photographic or iconic, demonstrates the perception of reality. And comics, with their iconic form, allow for a more clearly fine-tuned method of storytelling, particularly for the memoir or documentary genre. As demonstrated, comics offer the genre a new medium to exercise methods of nostalgia and reaching through to an audience. Through the simplified, iconic form, comic memoirists have established themselves as credible and thus provided a new level both within and beyond fiction for the graphic medium.