Blankets

The graphic novel "Blankets" by Craig Thompson is quite possibly one of the most personal and touching works I have ever read. I mean this in the context of all narrative media, and not just comics, which I think is an important distinction. There are things here, as is the case in "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan, that are simply not possible in other mediums of storytelling, and quite honestly enhance the directness of the experience far better than any other medium could. The personal quality of the drawing style, coupled with the hyperbolic, and fairly sparse (in context of the length of the work) word usage make the experience of Craig Thompson's life one that we do not have to adjust to our own experience; it becomes our experience.

To be fair, I am exaggerating a bit. This is only because the nature of the experiences Craig Thompson depicts so closely mimic my own (most obviously in name). I realize many people will not connect with the story as strongly as I did. However, it is impossible to not put yourself in his shoes because there is no barrier between his experience and his medium, or at least there is a diminished barrier. I feel often times novels may present a high barrier between the experiences of the character and the experience of the reader if the language choices are that which the reader is not used to or exposed to. This is obviously a generalization, as plenty of people connect with traditional novels more than other mediums of storytelling, however I feel it is becoming more difficult for people born in newer generations to connect with the characters in classic novels of old because of the great disparity in language, and cultural context. Ideally one would teach said things alongside the reading of the novel, however in most public (and even private) schools this is often left out due to time constraints and budget limitations. As such, I feel new mediums such as graphic novels and interactive mediums such as video games tend to present a more immediate personal connection with younger viewers. The trade off, of course, with mediums like video games and movies is that everything has to be condensed into a consumable amount of information, often restricted by time limits and attention spans. I feel this is where graphic novels fill in the gap between novels and movies, video games, and television. They contain the image-based accessibility and immediacy of movies and television, while allowing for the depth and dimension that is built over time with a novel.

I'm sure all of this is fairly obvious, and fairly treaded ground, but I think this became really apparent to me while reading "Blankets". The personal connection I developed with the story, I feel, would not have been as deep or as meaningful if it had been presented short hand in a movie or video game, and I feel like I wouldn't have been able to experience his wonderful interpretations of the very same experiences I've had in a novel. His struggle with his personal religion, his family, his own self-worth, I think might have come across as trite and more juvenile had it not had such expressive and metaphorical imagery to give it depth. Granted, I did feel it went over the top in some instances. The portion of the book that focused mainly on his relationship with Raina I didn't connect as strongly with, simply because I felt like it felt a little too idealized and not as developed as the rest of the book. Granted I understand his goal was to express how he felt in the moment, and for that I think it was very successful (also it probably doesn't help that I'm homosexual and that automatically creates a barrier in trying to understand that expression of love) but it just didn't feel as genuine or thought out as the rest of the book did.

Since this has basically become an essay, I would just like to summarize by saying the experience of reading "Blankets" was one I will hold dearly as a piece that both proved a medium's possibilities to me as well as creating a greater personal connection than most other pieces of literature or film have in quite a while. So I suppose a thank you is in order for directing this book to me.