Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Literature?

           Alan Moore’s graphic novel, “Light of Thy Countenance,” is definitely considered a work of literature. I believe that literature is gathering words to tell a story or form an argument to express one main idea. In this case, Moore uses a different form of literature, which we are not used to. Unlike the common form of literature where we read and are guided to visualize a picture in our head and pair it to what we are reading, Moore depicts exactly what he wants us to see. This is very different than what we are used to however, because by using this method we are all picturing the same thing and there are no open interpretations. Some people like the fact that they are in control of how a character looks or how a setting is placed, but by using a graphic technique, we automatically know Moore has a strong message that he wants to convey and show in his exact way.
            Moore uses the graphic novel technique in order to show his message of the growing reliance and power of the television. Depicted next to words, he uses pictures to show the influence television has over humankind. Moore portrays television as a Godly figure, being all-powerful and all knowing. As we go through the story, we see how television is taking over relationships and distorting the way humans interact with each other. This growing impact and reliance on technology is similar to what we have read in William Gibson’s “Pattern Recognition.” Both stories are alike in that they show the negative affects on the dependency of technology and present the message that with growing technology comes risks and fallbacks.
            By comparing Moore’s graphic novel to a more common form of literature, we can conclude that they both share the same message and are both therefore a form of literature. 

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