Final Group Project Exam

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Responsible for Entries Made on 3/11/10-3/13/10

ENL 003 Post #8

Alan Moore’s “Light of Thy Countenance” is an intriguing graphic novel that seems to blur the line between literature and art with its insightful and powerful take on the history of television. As for whether it is a literary text, it can objectively be considered as such due to satisfying all five frameworks that define literature. Being adapted from Alan Moore’s story, the language definitely retains its literary origin as it requires interpretation, due its ambiguous and poetic diction, to understand many of his descriptive metaphors. Aesthetics is also shown as it presents an argument with different modes of thought, produced by the combination of heavy chunks of text with an illustrative and symbolic backdrop. With the entire novel exposing the visual yet unexamined evils of television, social critique is more than met as its reveals the foothold it has made in many lives. Although its form initially comes off as rather haphazard, the graphic novel does possess a distinct plot as we are thrust into just one of the many worlds that television has to power to create and destroy. This is cleverly followed by the essence that is television presenting itself to the reader and acknowledging its own history through direct narration. As for outlaw language, both the text and imagery do not shy away from portraying some of the more explicit and darker realities that people have succumbed to since television’s arrival.
I personally think that this graphic novel has much to offer to the reader as it is both engaging and entertaining while bringing to light the serious issue of how our lives are swayed by television’s seemingly endless facades of fiction. Although Moore’s argument appears to be a bit dated due to the evolution of televised programming and emergence of new media, with the internet beginning to assume its mantle, it is still relevant in demonstrating how a single invention can become an all encompassing force of subtle control. As for the presence of the illustrations that accompany the story, I believe that they accentuate the story by dividing it into appropriate sections and recreating firsthand many of the allusions made by Moor, with some directly recreating the scene in question; a clever concept that could not be replicated with words alone. Although the literary aspect of the graphic novel is suitably text heavy to convey the tale of television’s path to power on its own, it would certainly make less of an impression due to the powerful imagery Felipe Massafera brings in this disturbing yet compelling adaption of Moore’s brilliant social critique.

ENL 003 Post #7

The cyberpunk film Blade Runner draws many parallels, both in plot and theme, with the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and the play R.U.R. by Karel Capek. In comparison to Frankenstein, the creature and replicants are very similar in the potential their creators grant them, constructing them with the physical aptitude to outdo any normal human. Although both artificial humans demonstrate their raw power in intimidation and murder throughout the story, Victor’s creation and the replicants are also intellectually gifted, suggested by the text to even outshine their creator. This is shown in Frankenstein by the creature’s astute deciphering of Victor’s location and actions and by the rogue replicant leader Roy as he manages to checkmate the head of the Tyrell Corporation in the elevator. Another similarity is seen in how these scientific failures are dealt with hunting and termination, a vain tactic against the creature that eventually kills Victor and the way of the law that Deckard must follow in “retiring” the rogue replicants.
This film also shares several connections with R.U.R., most notably the human appearance of the androids and their original purpose. As Rossum’s robots and the replicants are nearly indistinguishable physically from human beings, it introduces an unnatural element into both stories as science has progressed to the point whereas flesh and blood can be synthesized. The robots and the replicants also share a purpose of labor, with Domin mass producing Rossum’s work to liberate man toil and the Tyrell Corporation providing a source of menial work for space colonization. However, it is from this exploited disposition that the robots and replicants are able to become self-aware and develop human emotions towards their own situation and each other.
As one of the most memorable scenes in the film, Roy’s decision to spare Deckard during their final showdown provides much insight into many of the replicant’s motivations. Informing Deckard of the overwhelming fears replicants feel due to their ignoble origin and predetermined life span, Roy effectively shows the humanity that he has achieved in just a few years despite it being denied to him as he was treated as a slave to toil on foreign planets. Although Roy acknowledges that he has made a difference in sparing Deckard’s life, a sign that he held compassion towards all life, he laments his own impending expiration since all of the unique evolution he has realized in his short life will go unnoticed by the world that only views him as a rogue replicant that can easily be replaced.