Grant Tabler
Final Paper for AHSS*2030 (Thursday)
for Dr. Greg Kelley, Media Studies, 4th Floor
Dec. 9th, 2010
Virgin Ankles
Comics have the ability to portray many aspects of a story in a short set of pictures and narration. It is through this brevity coupled with the approachability of comics that makes them a great medium for the dissemination of folk lore and legends. Many classic legends have been exemplified via comics in The Big Book of Urban Legends. This paper will analyse one of the legends illustrated there, “The Slasher Under the Car”, examining an interpreted meaning, and looking at how various comic elements work to amplify meaning.
This comic seems to set the story in the 1950s, the women are dressed conservatively, and in a style mimicking this period, the hairstyles and fashion mimic that of 1950’s America as well. The “gang members” are not the stereotyped gangs of today comprised of minorities in baggy clothing. Instead, they are represented as 1950’s greasers. They are all white, with slicked hair styles and leather jackets. This makes some sense, since this legend is documented by folklorist Jan Brunvand to have first appeared in this time period.(Brunvand 134-138) The comic illustrates dramatic tension in a very clear way. Throughout most this comic we only see the main characters from the knees up, we are lead to assume that these women could be the next targets—as indeed one is.
The layout and rhythm of this comic are illustrated in a patterning of the panels. The panels, excluding the title, are ordered in a sort of pairing of narrative. The panels seem to have a story being started in the first of the set, and elaborated on or explained in the second. The first of the panels after the title mentions an attack; the second tells us what happened. The third panel mentions the slashing, the fourth panel tells us why it happened. The fifth talks about gift wrapping people, which is tied via ellipsis points to the sixth panel which tells us where that happened. The seventh shows the listener’s confidence, the eighth shows us why she is confident. These panels are grouped according to their closure. Since the story is taking place in multiple locations, the reader must make a jump from one location to another. To facilitate this, the reader is shown a pairing of panels related to each narrative event explained. Closure between these panels is about the continuation of action, whereas closure between the pairs is about guiding the reader in their understanding of the storytelling.
Another comic element is texture. Although this comic shows a character’s ankle being slashed in panel four, it is difficult to tell because of the texture. The first time I read the panel I did not even notice that the slash was illustrated. The picture does show the knife in the air, but the blood spewing from the cut is difficult to recognise because it lacks a noticeable texture, this is especially true with a black and white comic with a large amount of black just below the blood showing the darkness of the car’s shadow. This darkness coincides with the story’s appeal.
The appeal of this story is it’s based in a fear of the unknown. Much like the legend of the killer in the backseat, it is easy to be afraid of someone lurking in an area we expect to be safe like our cars. Add to this that the victim is attacked in a way that gives us no way of defending ourselves, and this situation quickly becomes a horror story that we could imagine in our daily lives. The story therefore stays with us as an irrational fear, always in our mind. When one keeps such a tale in their mind they may also subconsciously be influenced by its deeper meanings, illustrated in the following interpretation.
This story, especially in this mediated form, could be interpreted as a cautionary tale about rape. This story shows gangs comprised entirely of males, attacking only females, in vulnerable places, with their phallic symbols, the knives. These gang members are attempting to rape the women, take a souvenir of clothing, and brag to their gang friends. The blood drawn from the initial penetration could be a reference to a loss of virginity. The gift wrapping stage can also fit in this model as a form of public embarrassment for the rape victim. The victim is subdued, tied up, and put somewhere that will require a large group of people, and emergency services, to be around when she is freed. She is then subjected to public embarrassment because she has been taken advantage of and put on display so many others will know.
The caution here seems to be that the female needs to take steps for her own protection in this dangerous world. The listener character in the story is protected by, instead of wearing something sexy, choosing to wear some more functional piece of clothing for protection. The boots rather than the stilettos could be a reference to how the woman chooses to protect herself more directly, the boots being a direct protection of the vulnerable area, like a chastity belt. Perhaps it is the gossipy teller of this story that iterates the teller’s mindset of overprotection best when she says: “you can’t be too careful.”
-30-
Work Cited
Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Baby Train. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993. (pp. 134-138).
No comments:
Post a Comment