This particular version of the story offers a few examples of graphic violence. Could this be considered inappropriate for adolescent or younger readers? On the other hand, is this tale any more violent or graphic than what the young are exposed to in other media: internet/television/cinema/news, etc.? Is this story any more violent or graphic than some of the other tales that we have?
Discuss the significance of the context: Garangao. Garangao seems to me like an Arab version of Halloween. Are there any cultural difference to take into consideration here? Is Garangao just like Halloween as it is usually understood in the west? Or are there some key differences to think about for western readers?
Many of the tales under discussion originate from other parts of the GCC. This one, however, is said to originate from Qatar. Is there anything in particular about this tale that marks it as undoubtedly Qatari?
The time period of the tale is circa 1930. Is this time period significant for some reason? In other words, why set the story in 1930 rather than 1900 or 1990?
4 comments:
I believe what children perceive as violent today is much more different than how would they have perceived it a 100 years ago.
Let's say we had a time machine and went back a hundred years, then showed these kids a harry potter movie. They'd probably freak out from all the creatures there. They'll probably get freaked out by the TV screen and even our pants too.
Everyday we get exposed to more and more visuals simple or complex, in addition to sounds, and special effects. Children today can tolerate a lot of visuals as compared to past generations. Otherwise "Pirates of the Caribbean", with all it's creepy sea mutants, and man-eating mermaids, wouldn't have been a PG-13 Disney movie. Also take a lot at "The marvelous misadventures of FlapJack" or "Happy Tree friends"…Maybe not that extreme, but it's there, and children can access it.
I think that children's level of intelligence and tolerance to "violent material" is way too underestimated these days. Children's tolerance level to violence is just as good as ours if not a little bit less. Since they got exposed to some very nice stories in their early childhood from the Bible, or the Quran. Since acts of violence are very heroic when done for the sake of god. Why not consider violence enjoyable in the sake of a harmless fairy tale?
Am I justifying violence?
No, but I don't find any reason to hide it when it's already there and easily tolerated.
I think the story is complex enough by having a story in a story (background story of Om Hamar, story of the kids), then a shift to a completely different era (while driving the car). I'm a bit worried, that if by introducing the culture of Grangao, I might break the flow of the story (we might have little footnotes at the button describing these things, and maybe we can add a little mascot beside it to make it a little playful)
I personally like the idea, where the story is told for the sake of being told, and have these nice little bit of information at the bottom, that teach you something about Qatar. What do you think?
With regards to the differences, Garangao is not as "spooky" as Halloween. And what children wear in Garangao is not as individualistic as halloween. Also you they don't threat you with a trick if you don't give them a treat. They just say "give us some sweats, so god can give you what you want"…or something like that.
I don't think that there is something that marks Qatar undoubtedly. And I don't think it's important as long as it came from the gulf region, since they all share the same folklore tales with subtle difference, maybe. I personally think that what's really important is that this graphic novel and the interpretations of these fairy tales is coming from Qatar and based on the tales of Qatari folks.
I think we tend to be attracted to something more when it carries more history with it. It becomes more deep, mysterious, intriguing and valuable. So putting it in an old or ancient context is defiantly an attraction. As it gives it a higher value and a stronger identity. And identity is something that we're always striving to find these days. Specially as we keep blending together through globalization every day.
I've talked to Patty Earlier. I think I'll reformat the illustrations into something more sequential (closer to a comic style)
I hope you're all having a wonderful break!
Hussein
Thank you for your thoughts, Hussein.
Representing violence in the media is a complex issue, particularly when children as an audience are concerned. Just so that we don't get sucked into an endless debate about it, I think it is enough for our project that we are at least aware and reasonably sensitive to it.
Part of the goal of the anthology is that it has the potential to sensitive readers to various aspects of local culture. I think we should definitely foreground Garangao in the illustration. I'm not sure how to accomplish this visually, but I think it should be an aim.
I agree with your thoughts on Qatar, and I hope that you are able reinforce these ideas visually in your illustration.
Good luck, Hussein! I look forward to seeing this story!
When I was in the sociology class a few years ago we discussed this issue of violence and children. I found it interesting to note that almost the whole class agreed that Arabic news sources are much more graphic than those in the west. We did some investigating and concluded that whilst the BBC would not show a dead body on the news Al Jazeera would. I don't know about American news sources? - Probably somewhere in between?
I know that children don't necessarily watch the news and in each family it varies widely as to what children are allowed to be exposed to, but interesting nonetheless.
I think how you "treat" the visuals can make a big difference in how the 'violence' is interpreted. In classics such as Tom and Jerry and the Roadrunner, characters are frequently being blown up, hit round the head by saucepans and the like. The fact that the characters always seem to shake off the hit and carry on, seems to me to indicate a different type of violence than if Tom never got up and died there and then! That said my sister will not let her young children watch Tom and Jerry because it is too violent and she thinks they will misunderstand that if they were to do similar things in real life the consequences might be quite different!!
All this said this tale Om Hamar seems really violent and scary to me! Donkey Lady is crazy and she is out there!! I will not be stopping for any old ladies dressed in black on the Dukan road on my way kitesurfing!
I guess all fairytale collections tend to have one really dark story that petrifies children into reading them in the dark to each other for the thrill!
Hussein--I think a more sequential approach is needed for this story because it's fairly complex, and it shifts around in time.
Looking at your current work, you might want to re-think some things as you move into the next phase of rendering this story. Think of horror movies where the scary element-monster, ghost, serial killer, whatever-is largely hidden from the audience for most, if not all of the film. It is often more scary to get a glimpse of the scary thing, or have the scary thing represented as a sound, shadow, etc. rather than seeing it outright. The imagination is wickedly effective at conjuring scary images, and we've all probably experienced watching a scary movie and feeling let down when the scary thing is finally revealed. All this to say, perhaps you should experiment with how much of the donkey lady you show. Less might be better.
The other thing about scary stories that is really important is that the audience/reader identifies strongly with the characters/victims. I noticed that your human figure is a bit generic. As a viewer, I'm not really drawn in because he doesn't seem to be inhabited by a personality, a person. For the donkey lady story, imho, the human characters are more important than the donkey lady.
Making the story more comic'ish and less realistic might allow you to really open up the characters and the story, particularly since you'll be working more sequentially.
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