I appreciated reading about Chris Ware particularly because I felt like his humor as well as his humble, unpretentious attitude made him very easy to relate to. Examining this in more detail, I thought his process for creating characters in a way his audience could relate to was extremely interesting as well. In one portion, he discusses the importance of the audience feeling an emotional connection to the characters or subjects. He talks about how just as he begins to feel more sympathy or affection towards the characters he develops, the more depth and intricacy they gain, and the more they become real to the theme of his story. Any book that I have read and truly appreciated, it is one where I felt some sort of connection to a character, which I also think is what leaves you continuously thinking about it even after you have put the book down. Whether this connection is more direct or even just that of empathy for the character, having a tie to the individuals you read about makes all the difference in how a story affects you.
I also thought many of Ware's statements on the American life and family were extremely thought provoking as well. It, in part, reminded me of the discussion we had on Glen Ligon and the photo's he had collected of other families and personal experiences. Looking at photo's like his makes you immediately question the history of the person, what framed their life to make them who they were in that instant. Everything from their lineage, home life, and experiences. As Ware states "I can only think of things through people, which I guess is the difference between a novelist and a historian — there’re historical novelists, I guess, but I can’t think of things in large abstractions, I can really only think of them in terms of how human beings interact or what drives them to do certain things" I think it is fascinating to study what causes people to be who they are, and what factors work so powerfully to shape a person. I think Ware had some really compelling insight into this idea.
The image I posted is by a brooklyn artist James Jarvis, whose new graphic novel De Profundis is set to come out November 1st.
I agree with what you said about how his creating the characters in a relatable way was effective. What I found interesting about this though, was that he also talked about how he never really planned ahead. The characters he said mostly develop over time. This is probably so unlike other comics or tv shows shown today. Usually every character and move is carefully planned out. I think his unplanned method works because it allows him to keep reinventing the character until he feels like its right.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely about Ware's personality. It was one of the things that struck me most about the reading. I think the interview style really made the whole thing more interesting. If I had just looked at a bunch of his work, I would have never realized how much effort and thought went behind everything. I also wouldn't know about the personal issues Ware's deals with in his pieces. Very cool.
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