MEMORY'S SO TREACHEROUS. ONE MOMENT YOU'RE LOST IN A CARNIVAL OF DELIGHTS, WITH POIGNANT CHILDHOOD AROMAS , THE FLASHING NEON OF PUBERTY, ALL THAT SENTIMENTAL CANDY-FLOSS ...
THE NEXT , IT LEADS YOU SOMEWHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO...
...SOMEWHERE DARK AND COLD, FILLED WITH THE DAMP, AMBIGUOUS SHAPES OF THINGS YOU'D HOPED WERE FORGOTTEN.
MEMORIES CAN BE VILE, REPULSIVE LITTLE BRUTES. LIKE CHILDREN,I SUPPOSE. HAHA.
BUT CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT THEM? MEMORIES ARE WHAT OUR REASON IS BASED UPON. IF WE CAN'T FACE THEM, WE DENY REASON ITSELF!
ALTHOUGH, WHY NOT? WE AREN'T CONTRACTUALLY TIED DOWN TO RATIONALITY!
THERE IS NO SANITY CLAUSE!
SO WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF LOCKED ONTO AN UNPLEASANT TRAIN OF THOUGHT, HEADING FOR THE PLACES IN YOUR PAST WHERE THE SCREAMING IS UNBEARABLE, REMEMBER THERE'S ALWAYS MADNESS.
MADNESS IS THE EMERGENCY EXIT...
YOU CAN JUST STEP OUTSIDE, AND CLOSE THE DOOR ON ALL THOSE DREADFUL THINGS THAT HAPPENED. YOU CAN LOCK THEM AWAY...
FOREVER
Take a second and observe the above piece of dialogue. While reading, observe what sort of emotions are running through your head. For me its astonishment, dread, and a sense of strange and frightening wonder. This piece of dialogue is terrifying, its unbearable, and above all, it's strikingly beautiful.
The above dialogue is an excerpt from Alan Moore's classic graphic novel "Batman: The Killing Joke". In this piece of dialogue Moore is portraying a terrifying message of letting madness and insanity take over when things get to be unbearable. Escape into madness when even your memories can not be accessed and you have no where else to go. Escape into madness when everything in your life seems pointless and there's nothing else worth living for. Moore even goes as far as to say the Madness is fun, and being insane can get you away with almost anything, after all "There is no sanity clause".
The character delivering this speech is none other than the most recognizable comic book villain of all time The Joker. This speech fits the Joker so well, because it is an exact representation of the type of character he is. The graphic novel focuses on a major theme, that being madness and how the characters react to it. When madness shoves, the weak ones fall off the edge, while the strong push back. Many other books of literary merit focus on this theme such as Shakespeare's "Hamlet". In Hamlet, the characters all react to the insanity of the unruly prince. Shakespeare never really dives deep into the theme of madness, but rather focuses on methodical ways to employ madness to ones advantage. Now "Hamlet" is widely considered the greatest piece of English Literature of all time. I have just compared a book with clowns and bats to the greatest piece of literature in the English language and have shown how they relate and differ in the analysis of their themes.
In the last few paragraphs I have taken a theme from a book, analyzed it, explained how it drives the characters and the plot forward, and how it relates to other forms of literature and everyday human life. This is something every student learns how to do in a typical high school English class. However, I have done it with a book that has artwork on every single page, and is written in complete dialogue with speech bubbles above each characters heads. I have done this with a book whose protagonist dresses like a enormous bat to fight crime in his city. These reasons are why this book is not considered literature by the general masses. Well first let me ask you, what exactly is literature? The dictionary definition of literature is "written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit". Now with this definition in your minds ask yourselves, how is Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke" not literature? It's a written work. Check. It came out in 1988 and is still highly regarded, therefore it is lasting. Check. As I previously have shown you, it has a theme that is thoroughly analyzed and can be argued. That's superior and artistic merit. Check. "The Killing Joke" falls into every single category that the dictionary definition of Literature states.
Now that I have established why "The Killing Joke" is an example of literature, I want to note that while I have just used this one graphic novel as an example, I can apply this to almost any comic or graphic novel. Comic Books are here to stay. It is time we began to progress as a society and begin to respect that the art of comics are a form of literature. And much like Superman who fights until the end for Dignity, Honor, and Justice, I will never stop fighting for comic books.
THE NEXT , IT LEADS YOU SOMEWHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO...
...SOMEWHERE DARK AND COLD, FILLED WITH THE DAMP, AMBIGUOUS SHAPES OF THINGS YOU'D HOPED WERE FORGOTTEN.
MEMORIES CAN BE VILE, REPULSIVE LITTLE BRUTES. LIKE CHILDREN,I SUPPOSE. HAHA.
BUT CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT THEM? MEMORIES ARE WHAT OUR REASON IS BASED UPON. IF WE CAN'T FACE THEM, WE DENY REASON ITSELF!
ALTHOUGH, WHY NOT? WE AREN'T CONTRACTUALLY TIED DOWN TO RATIONALITY!
THERE IS NO SANITY CLAUSE!
SO WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF LOCKED ONTO AN UNPLEASANT TRAIN OF THOUGHT, HEADING FOR THE PLACES IN YOUR PAST WHERE THE SCREAMING IS UNBEARABLE, REMEMBER THERE'S ALWAYS MADNESS.
MADNESS IS THE EMERGENCY EXIT...
YOU CAN JUST STEP OUTSIDE, AND CLOSE THE DOOR ON ALL THOSE DREADFUL THINGS THAT HAPPENED. YOU CAN LOCK THEM AWAY...
FOREVER
Take a second and observe the above piece of dialogue. While reading, observe what sort of emotions are running through your head. For me its astonishment, dread, and a sense of strange and frightening wonder. This piece of dialogue is terrifying, its unbearable, and above all, it's strikingly beautiful.
The above dialogue is an excerpt from Alan Moore's classic graphic novel "Batman: The Killing Joke". In this piece of dialogue Moore is portraying a terrifying message of letting madness and insanity take over when things get to be unbearable. Escape into madness when even your memories can not be accessed and you have no where else to go. Escape into madness when everything in your life seems pointless and there's nothing else worth living for. Moore even goes as far as to say the Madness is fun, and being insane can get you away with almost anything, after all "There is no sanity clause".
The character delivering this speech is none other than the most recognizable comic book villain of all time The Joker. This speech fits the Joker so well, because it is an exact representation of the type of character he is. The graphic novel focuses on a major theme, that being madness and how the characters react to it. When madness shoves, the weak ones fall off the edge, while the strong push back. Many other books of literary merit focus on this theme such as Shakespeare's "Hamlet". In Hamlet, the characters all react to the insanity of the unruly prince. Shakespeare never really dives deep into the theme of madness, but rather focuses on methodical ways to employ madness to ones advantage. Now "Hamlet" is widely considered the greatest piece of English Literature of all time. I have just compared a book with clowns and bats to the greatest piece of literature in the English language and have shown how they relate and differ in the analysis of their themes.
In the last few paragraphs I have taken a theme from a book, analyzed it, explained how it drives the characters and the plot forward, and how it relates to other forms of literature and everyday human life. This is something every student learns how to do in a typical high school English class. However, I have done it with a book that has artwork on every single page, and is written in complete dialogue with speech bubbles above each characters heads. I have done this with a book whose protagonist dresses like a enormous bat to fight crime in his city. These reasons are why this book is not considered literature by the general masses. Well first let me ask you, what exactly is literature? The dictionary definition of literature is "written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit". Now with this definition in your minds ask yourselves, how is Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke" not literature? It's a written work. Check. It came out in 1988 and is still highly regarded, therefore it is lasting. Check. As I previously have shown you, it has a theme that is thoroughly analyzed and can be argued. That's superior and artistic merit. Check. "The Killing Joke" falls into every single category that the dictionary definition of Literature states.
Now that I have established why "The Killing Joke" is an example of literature, I want to note that while I have just used this one graphic novel as an example, I can apply this to almost any comic or graphic novel. Comic Books are here to stay. It is time we began to progress as a society and begin to respect that the art of comics are a form of literature. And much like Superman who fights until the end for Dignity, Honor, and Justice, I will never stop fighting for comic books.