Whereas scholarship on Zhang Meng＇s acclaimed film The Piano in a Factory is scarce and mainly focuses on working-class identities, the present article contributes to the discussion by investigating the film＇s tragi...Whereas scholarship on Zhang Meng＇s acclaimed film The Piano in a Factory is scarce and mainly focuses on working-class identities, the present article contributes to the discussion by investigating the film＇s tragicomic style. By taking an existentialist viewpoint about the absurd, it demonstrates that the furloughed workers in fact live in an absurdist existence. Moreover, the changing era rather than character flaws is blamed for the absurdity. Specific images are examined in order to reveal a symbolism having to do with the demise of industrialism and the advent of commercialism. While absurdity is the undercurrent, the characters use humor as a strategy to evade, elude, and cope with life. The third section employs theories of comedy to investigate the comicality of the movie, which derives from exaggeration of negative traits in the characters. The paper argues that by manipulating the scenario at the end, Zhang holds out hope for the working-class＇ future. Piano is hence able to transcend the absurdist existence and end up with joy, hope and faith.展开更多
Animal Farm,which is written by the British writer George Orwell,is famous for its incisive satiric writing style and has been considered as an actual political allegory.This paper intends to re-read it from a differe...Animal Farm,which is written by the British writer George Orwell,is famous for its incisive satiric writing style and has been considered as an actual political allegory.This paper intends to re-read it from a different point of view—to appreciate its black-humorous characteristics from the following five aspects—language games,detached narrative,circular structure,open ending and comic incongruity in characterization.展开更多
Is He Living,or Is He Dead is a splendid sample of Twain' s bitter satire.By focusing on textual analysis of the story,this thesis is trying to illustrate "surviving by dying",such a paradox of life impl...Is He Living,or Is He Dead is a splendid sample of Twain' s bitter satire.By focusing on textual analysis of the story,this thesis is trying to illustrate "surviving by dying",such a paradox of life implied by Mark Twain,and to reveal the tragic nature masked by the humorous satire in the story.展开更多
Henry Fielding,incontrovertibly praised as " the father of English novels,deserves another recognition,much more significantly,the first theorist on the obit of English novel with the theory of " comic epic ...Henry Fielding,incontrovertibly praised as " the father of English novels,deserves another recognition,much more significantly,the first theorist on the obit of English novel with the theory of " comic epic poem in prose" as an attempt to revolt against new-classicism.This attempt,despite its revolutionary and bold flavor,is immature and incomplete,which is bound to be attributed to the general context of neo-classicism against which Fielding vigorously averted but inevitably leaned.展开更多
Nowadays,in the movie industry,marvel comics movies play an inevitable role,plenty of super heroes are becoming more and more popular to our spectators,such as:superman,Spider Man,Batman,lron Man,Captain America,Hulk,...Nowadays,in the movie industry,marvel comics movies play an inevitable role,plenty of super heroes are becoming more and more popular to our spectators,such as:superman,Spider Man,Batman,lron Man,Captain America,Hulk,Thor even the alliances Fantastic 4,The Avengers,Guardians of The Galaxy and so on,and this kind of movies occupies a significant part in the movie market.So why people like the super stares so much?And what sort of national culture can we find in these movies?This thesis concentrate on the questions l just mentioned,from the perspective of the renaissance,I will show you how and in what extent renaissance has influenced the marvel comics movies.展开更多
This paper explores the portrayal of Elizabeth in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in writing style. Jane Austen throws light on human values from Elizabeth's feminist perspective while satirizing something r...This paper explores the portrayal of Elizabeth in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in writing style. Jane Austen throws light on human values from Elizabeth's feminist perspective while satirizing something ridiculous with tolerant and sunny attitude, which is the underlying tone of the novel. What gives Elizabeth her power beyond time and space to move us is Austen's realism, and this is the essence of characterization of Elizabeth.展开更多
In this study we explore the relationship between literature and comics,through the transcription of a literary text into comics,and we examine the contribution of a preceded intervention-familiarization with comics t...In this study we explore the relationship between literature and comics,through the transcription of a literary text into comics,and we examine the contribution of a preceded intervention-familiarization with comics to the students’comics by drawing by hand and by creating them in the Cartoon Story Maker digital environment,aiming at comparing and evaluating the potential of the two media.Literature review reveals that the majority of the educational studies referring to the use of comics in education and the creation of digital comics by students,sets objectives,mainly adjusted to the teaching subject or even to pedagogical issues.On the other hand,they completely bypass the theoretical agenda of comic books and do not ensure a more substantial acquaintance with the comic book itself and the conventions or the meaning making mechanisms of the medium.Thus,we decided to conduct this study in order to fill the gap in the existing literature.According to the findings,the preceding teaching intervention had been constructive but the digital tool’s technical restrictions prohibited the full making use of the acquired knowledge concerning the language of comics.The hand-made comics were more imaginative and detailed in certain statistically significant factors.Regarding the relationship between the literary text and comics,the students adapted the literary language to the media specifications,remaining in both cases,mostly faithful to the main structure of the text.展开更多
Aim: The aim of this mixed methods research was to develop an educational comic booklet to prevent pregnant women’s exposure to secondhand smoke. Methods: We assessed the suitability of the comic booklet by measuring...Aim: The aim of this mixed methods research was to develop an educational comic booklet to prevent pregnant women’s exposure to secondhand smoke. Methods: We assessed the suitability of the comic booklet by measuring participant response to content, literacy demand, graphics, layout and typography, learning stimulation, motivation, and cultural appropriateness. The participants were 17 Indonesians living in Japan who were recruited through Respondent-Driven-Sampling and met all criteria for the survey. Means and standard deviations were used to determine the suitability of the educational comic. Results: About 80% of participants rated the comic as “superior” on a rating scale with options of “superior”, “adequate”, “not suitable”, or “not applicable”. The most successful aspects of the comic were content and cultural appropriateness, as it provided clear contents and the graphics showed realistic Indonesian smoking behavior. The least successful aspect of the comic was the literacy demand because there were long sentences using difficult words. Conclusions: The results of this study may be used to conduct a randomized controlled trial using this comic booklet with some modifications.展开更多
Mobile device research has been increasing rapidly in Human Computer Interaction （HCI） recently. Following this trend, this paper proposes a user-centered interface, which has been designed, completely installed and...Mobile device research has been increasing rapidly in Human Computer Interaction （HCI） recently. Following this trend, this paper proposes a user-centered interface, which has been designed, completely installed and independently run on a mobile phone. Video signal is steamed through its camera as the image input to the interface by employing techniques of image processing, computer vision and graphics to identify automatically absolute positions of human face, neck and two hands. A paradigm is also put up theoretically. And it embeds this interface to perceive the human postures and convert them into relaxed comic character according to its context.展开更多
In 1952, the federal government was called upon to investigate the comic book industry in order to determine if reading comic books influenced juvenile delinquency. The United States could not afford to look weak from...In 1952, the federal government was called upon to investigate the comic book industry in order to determine if reading comic books influenced juvenile delinquency. The United States could not afford to look weak from any angle; the idea of Communist nations exploiting moral weakness of any kind was frightening to many. However, the Soviets were already aware of moral issues on the American home front that were affecting the health of the nation, such as civil rights, sexism （sexual confusion）, a rise in fascism, and juvenile delinquency. This study will discuss the investigation of the comic book industry as the sole contributors to juvenile delinquent issues, as Fredric Wertham charged in his book Seduction of the Innocent. In addition, this study focuses on the ways in which Entertaining Comics （EC） pushed the envelope and challenged Cold War standards of ideal middle class values. Their creative resistance led to the federal investigation which nearly destroyed the comic book industry. Through these investigations, the federal government re-defined the first amendment as it applied to this type of media as a way to curtail what they believed was the Soviet Union＇s efforts to use our own literature as a propaganda tool for their people.展开更多
Greek classics, Homer, and the Greek tragedians, supposed to be the cornerstone of Western civilization, have long suffered from a stagnant and formalistic institutional approach. On the other hand, the adaptations, t...Greek classics, Homer, and the Greek tragedians, supposed to be the cornerstone of Western civilization, have long suffered from a stagnant and formalistic institutional approach. On the other hand, the adaptations, the transcriptions, or the transubstantiations of the Greek antiquity material into new stories and formats compose an abundant cultural field. Antiquity is diffused in a variety of texts, among comics as well. In this paper, we revise the comic books adaptations dealing with ancient Greek classics and classify them according to ＂the fidelity criterion-dilemma＂, to the kind of reader they imply and to the extent of authorial mastery they impose. When classics and comics collide, they create unexpected variations of the ancient material, reflecting the receiving culture＇s practices and beliefs.展开更多
The long-term biased critical reception of comics did not allow the medium＇s theoretical remodeling, the highlighting of its multidimensionality and complexity, and its establishment as a self-sufficient and serious ...The long-term biased critical reception of comics did not allow the medium＇s theoretical remodeling, the highlighting of its multidimensionality and complexity, and its establishment as a self-sufficient and serious narrative medium. The creators of graphic novels in an attempt to upgrade and restore their ＂ancestors＇＂ cultural status and to eliminate the negative stigma of the medium, by taking advantage of the self-referencing techniques, they try to redefine comics and reframe the field of their social practice. Graphic novels, even more, either allusively or straightforwardly, aquire metatextual quality, by exercising critique on the artistic phenomenon in general and on comics＇ history and theory in particular. Self-referentiality and metatextuality function as ＇internal legitimization apparatuses of the medium and provide graphic novels the right to participate in the theoretical discourse, negotiate or even rearticulate it.展开更多
Since several Asian pear species are considered to be potential source of fire blight resistance, we crossed “Doyenné du Comice”, the susceptible European cultivar, with four Asian pear species. The aim of the ...Since several Asian pear species are considered to be potential source of fire blight resistance, we crossed “Doyenné du Comice”, the susceptible European cultivar, with four Asian pear species. The aim of the study was to establish the level of resistance of each genotype and the mode of transmission of fire blight resistance to each F1 full-sib progeny. The best sources of resistance were P. ussuriensis 18 and P. ussuriensis var. ovoidea 8 ranked to resistant and highly resistant, respectively. Although pear resistance to fire blight is suggested to be polygenic, distribution of phenotypes in “Doyenné du Comice” × P. ussuriensis var. ovoidea 8 hybrid family suggests the possibility of monogenic inheritance with the dominance of resistance derived from P. ussuriensis var. ovoidea 8. Polygenic inheritance of pear resistance to fire blight was identified in cross combinations of “Doyenné du Comice” with P. pyrifolia 6, and contributed by the major gene, with P. ussuriensis 18 and P. calleryana 12. Transgressive segregation was observed within the progenies of susceptible, moderately susceptible and resistant parents.展开更多
文摘Whereas scholarship on Zhang Meng＇s acclaimed film The Piano in a Factory is scarce and mainly focuses on working-class identities, the present article contributes to the discussion by investigating the film＇s tragicomic style. By taking an existentialist viewpoint about the absurd, it demonstrates that the furloughed workers in fact live in an absurdist existence. Moreover, the changing era rather than character flaws is blamed for the absurdity. Specific images are examined in order to reveal a symbolism having to do with the demise of industrialism and the advent of commercialism. While absurdity is the undercurrent, the characters use humor as a strategy to evade, elude, and cope with life. The third section employs theories of comedy to investigate the comicality of the movie, which derives from exaggeration of negative traits in the characters. The paper argues that by manipulating the scenario at the end, Zhang holds out hope for the working-class＇ future. Piano is hence able to transcend the absurdist existence and end up with joy, hope and faith.
文摘Animal Farm,which is written by the British writer George Orwell,is famous for its incisive satiric writing style and has been considered as an actual political allegory.This paper intends to re-read it from a different point of view—to appreciate its black-humorous characteristics from the following five aspects—language games,detached narrative,circular structure,open ending and comic incongruity in characterization.
文摘Is He Living,or Is He Dead is a splendid sample of Twain' s bitter satire.By focusing on textual analysis of the story,this thesis is trying to illustrate "surviving by dying",such a paradox of life implied by Mark Twain,and to reveal the tragic nature masked by the humorous satire in the story.
文摘Henry Fielding,incontrovertibly praised as " the father of English novels,deserves another recognition,much more significantly,the first theorist on the obit of English novel with the theory of " comic epic poem in prose" as an attempt to revolt against new-classicism.This attempt,despite its revolutionary and bold flavor,is immature and incomplete,which is bound to be attributed to the general context of neo-classicism against which Fielding vigorously averted but inevitably leaned.
文摘Nowadays,in the movie industry,marvel comics movies play an inevitable role,plenty of super heroes are becoming more and more popular to our spectators,such as:superman,Spider Man,Batman,lron Man,Captain America,Hulk,Thor even the alliances Fantastic 4,The Avengers,Guardians of The Galaxy and so on,and this kind of movies occupies a significant part in the movie market.So why people like the super stares so much?And what sort of national culture can we find in these movies?This thesis concentrate on the questions l just mentioned,from the perspective of the renaissance,I will show you how and in what extent renaissance has influenced the marvel comics movies.
文摘This paper explores the portrayal of Elizabeth in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in writing style. Jane Austen throws light on human values from Elizabeth's feminist perspective while satirizing something ridiculous with tolerant and sunny attitude, which is the underlying tone of the novel. What gives Elizabeth her power beyond time and space to move us is Austen's realism, and this is the essence of characterization of Elizabeth.
文摘In this study we explore the relationship between literature and comics,through the transcription of a literary text into comics,and we examine the contribution of a preceded intervention-familiarization with comics to the students’comics by drawing by hand and by creating them in the Cartoon Story Maker digital environment,aiming at comparing and evaluating the potential of the two media.Literature review reveals that the majority of the educational studies referring to the use of comics in education and the creation of digital comics by students,sets objectives,mainly adjusted to the teaching subject or even to pedagogical issues.On the other hand,they completely bypass the theoretical agenda of comic books and do not ensure a more substantial acquaintance with the comic book itself and the conventions or the meaning making mechanisms of the medium.Thus,we decided to conduct this study in order to fill the gap in the existing literature.According to the findings,the preceding teaching intervention had been constructive but the digital tool’s technical restrictions prohibited the full making use of the acquired knowledge concerning the language of comics.The hand-made comics were more imaginative and detailed in certain statistically significant factors.Regarding the relationship between the literary text and comics,the students adapted the literary language to the media specifications,remaining in both cases,mostly faithful to the main structure of the text.
文摘Aim: The aim of this mixed methods research was to develop an educational comic booklet to prevent pregnant women’s exposure to secondhand smoke. Methods: We assessed the suitability of the comic booklet by measuring participant response to content, literacy demand, graphics, layout and typography, learning stimulation, motivation, and cultural appropriateness. The participants were 17 Indonesians living in Japan who were recruited through Respondent-Driven-Sampling and met all criteria for the survey. Means and standard deviations were used to determine the suitability of the educational comic. Results: About 80% of participants rated the comic as “superior” on a rating scale with options of “superior”, “adequate”, “not suitable”, or “not applicable”. The most successful aspects of the comic were content and cultural appropriateness, as it provided clear contents and the graphics showed realistic Indonesian smoking behavior. The least successful aspect of the comic was the literacy demand because there were long sentences using difficult words. Conclusions: The results of this study may be used to conduct a randomized controlled trial using this comic booklet with some modifications.
基金supported by the MKE(The Ministry of Knowledge Economy),Korea,under the ITRC(Information Technology Research Center) support program supervised by the NIPA(National ITIndustry Promotion Agency)(NIPA-2009-(C1090-0902-0007))the Soongsil University BK21 Digital Media Division
文摘Mobile device research has been increasing rapidly in Human Computer Interaction （HCI） recently. Following this trend, this paper proposes a user-centered interface, which has been designed, completely installed and independently run on a mobile phone. Video signal is steamed through its camera as the image input to the interface by employing techniques of image processing, computer vision and graphics to identify automatically absolute positions of human face, neck and two hands. A paradigm is also put up theoretically. And it embeds this interface to perceive the human postures and convert them into relaxed comic character according to its context.
文摘In 1952, the federal government was called upon to investigate the comic book industry in order to determine if reading comic books influenced juvenile delinquency. The United States could not afford to look weak from any angle; the idea of Communist nations exploiting moral weakness of any kind was frightening to many. However, the Soviets were already aware of moral issues on the American home front that were affecting the health of the nation, such as civil rights, sexism （sexual confusion）, a rise in fascism, and juvenile delinquency. This study will discuss the investigation of the comic book industry as the sole contributors to juvenile delinquent issues, as Fredric Wertham charged in his book Seduction of the Innocent. In addition, this study focuses on the ways in which Entertaining Comics （EC） pushed the envelope and challenged Cold War standards of ideal middle class values. Their creative resistance led to the federal investigation which nearly destroyed the comic book industry. Through these investigations, the federal government re-defined the first amendment as it applied to this type of media as a way to curtail what they believed was the Soviet Union＇s efforts to use our own literature as a propaganda tool for their people.
文摘Greek classics, Homer, and the Greek tragedians, supposed to be the cornerstone of Western civilization, have long suffered from a stagnant and formalistic institutional approach. On the other hand, the adaptations, the transcriptions, or the transubstantiations of the Greek antiquity material into new stories and formats compose an abundant cultural field. Antiquity is diffused in a variety of texts, among comics as well. In this paper, we revise the comic books adaptations dealing with ancient Greek classics and classify them according to ＂the fidelity criterion-dilemma＂, to the kind of reader they imply and to the extent of authorial mastery they impose. When classics and comics collide, they create unexpected variations of the ancient material, reflecting the receiving culture＇s practices and beliefs.
文摘The long-term biased critical reception of comics did not allow the medium＇s theoretical remodeling, the highlighting of its multidimensionality and complexity, and its establishment as a self-sufficient and serious narrative medium. The creators of graphic novels in an attempt to upgrade and restore their ＂ancestors＇＂ cultural status and to eliminate the negative stigma of the medium, by taking advantage of the self-referencing techniques, they try to redefine comics and reframe the field of their social practice. Graphic novels, even more, either allusively or straightforwardly, aquire metatextual quality, by exercising critique on the artistic phenomenon in general and on comics＇ history and theory in particular. Self-referentiality and metatextuality function as ＇internal legitimization apparatuses of the medium and provide graphic novels the right to participate in the theoretical discourse, negotiate or even rearticulate it.
文摘Since several Asian pear species are considered to be potential source of fire blight resistance, we crossed “Doyenné du Comice”, the susceptible European cultivar, with four Asian pear species. The aim of the study was to establish the level of resistance of each genotype and the mode of transmission of fire blight resistance to each F1 full-sib progeny. The best sources of resistance were P. ussuriensis 18 and P. ussuriensis var. ovoidea 8 ranked to resistant and highly resistant, respectively. Although pear resistance to fire blight is suggested to be polygenic, distribution of phenotypes in “Doyenné du Comice” × P. ussuriensis var. ovoidea 8 hybrid family suggests the possibility of monogenic inheritance with the dominance of resistance derived from P. ussuriensis var. ovoidea 8. Polygenic inheritance of pear resistance to fire blight was identified in cross combinations of “Doyenné du Comice” with P. pyrifolia 6, and contributed by the major gene, with P. ussuriensis 18 and P. calleryana 12. Transgressive segregation was observed within the progenies of susceptible, moderately susceptible and resistant parents.
