Stitches. A Memoir - David Small (2010)

Résumé du document

Stitches is a graphic memoir written by David Small. It tells the story of his own childhood and teenage years trying to survive tough events such as sickness, his father's experiences, bullies and his angry mother, with the help of drawings and art. It is a story about voicelessness and art was his main means of communication so the use of the Comics medium seems pretty natural. In his memoir, David Small describes his relationships, enhances the theme of silence and add depth to his story through his careful page and panel composition, use of black and white and use of allegories.

Extraits

[...] The lack of color represents well the relationship between David and his parents. For example, on pages 152 to 154, when the parents take away David's book: the way his parents are shaded to be very shadowy depicts the dark nature of his parents. On the contrary, in the scene in the bedroom with his mother on pages 98 to 101, where he confesses to his mother that he's afraid of his grandmother, she switches on the light and we can witness a moment where the mother is not angry and tries to understand his son. [...]

[...] To me, the choice of an anthropomorphic rabbit is very effective visually and shows us the mastery of David Small. In fact, nothing could add more depth and meaning to the story like the rabbit did. It acts as webbing between his subconscious and the story. In my opinion, a human psychologist alone would have sound shallow. This rabbit conveys complex ideas with no words. And it is more subtle than several sentences or explicit images. Furthermore, the fact that Small already referred to the beginning of Alice in Wonderland makes it even more effective for storytelling. [...]

[...] Small also often use of bleeding panels to represent moments of fantasy, dreaming or reflection or 291 for examples). This allows a more abstract approach of the moment. The art expands to the full page and it is less realistic. This creates a slow, reflective rhythm throughout the whole memoir. These special panels are the ones that had the biggest effect on me. This is where, I believe, almost all readers stopped and contemplated the beautiful page and tried to interpret it. [...]

[...] Stitches. A Memoir - David Small (2010) “Understanding” Comics: Stitches Response Stitches is a graphic memoir written by David Small. It tells the story of his own childhood and teenage years trying to survive tough events such as sickness, his father's experiences, bullies and his angry mother, with the help of drawings and art. It is a story about voicelessness and art was his main means of communication so the use of the Comics medium seems pretty natural. In his memoir, David Small describes his relationships, enhances the theme of silence and add depth to his story through his careful page and panel composition, use of black and white and use of allegories. [...]

[...] This is why this memoir is kind of unique. Small exploits the full potential of comics in order to tell his story. The rabbit psychologist is an example. We can also notice on pages 258-259 the transition between his tears and the rain or the fact that the words in the balloons look handwritten. These might look simple but these devices are very effective in storytelling: the transition gives a poetic tone and the handwritten typography enhances the sincerity of the piece. [...]