BOBC

WIKINDX Resources  

Ludewig, Julia. "Different beasts? National and transnational lines in the German-Indian anthology The Elephant in the Room." Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 11.(2020): 52–73. 
Added by: joachim (08/08/2020, 14:36)   Last edited by: joachim (08/08/2020, 14:49)
Resource type: Journal Article
Language: en: English
Peer reviewed
DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2019.1621915
BibTeX citation key: Ludewig2020
Email resource to friend
View all bibliographic details
Categories: General
Keywords: "Spring", Gender, Germany, India, Interculturalism, Style
Creators: Ludewig
Collection: Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
Views: 19/489
Attachments  
Abstract
This essay compares the contributions by eight Indian and eight German-speaking visual artists to the 2016 issue of the all-women magazine Spring, an issue in which they reflect on gender roles, the titular 'Elephant in the Room.' Searching for transnational and national trends, I zoom in on three larger aspects: themes, genre, and visual style. Transnationally shared themes concern motherhood and female beauty standards. However, while artists across national and cultural borders ruminate about voluntary non-motherhood and engage expectations of feminine attractiveness, they differ in the extent to which they describe actually lived motherhood. The issue also shows culturally-specific beauty ideals, such as the Indians' preoccupation with fair skin. In a similar way, artists from both continents use the genre of autobiography, but go to different depths with a notable 'Indian' preference to explore a grandmother's past. Visually, too, the artists show interesting commonalities such as the tendency to tell their stories in a traditional comics format, yet the surface aesthetics differ. Whereas the Indian artists tend to employ a polished, fine-arts style, several German-speaking artists relish expressive abstraction. I provide possible reasons for these differences and end with an appraisal of how women artists might try to access the comics scene in the future.
  
WIKINDX 6.8.2 | Total resources: 14514 | Username: -- | Bibliography: WIKINDX Master Bibliography | Style: Modern Language Association (MLA)