Postmodern Concepts at Work

Postmodernism Recap

Postmodern fiction is characterized by: Questioning of technology/progress Identity as fragmented, fluid, ever-changing Metafictional moments Blending of high & low culture Hyperreality Intertextuality & hybridity

The Po-Mo Page: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/pomo.html

High & Low Culture

The Sandman series is a postmodern work.Elements of high culture

Mythology Poetry Shakespeare and other “high” literature The Bible Works of art are worked together in a comic book format,

traditionally considered “low” culture.

John Keats’ To Autumn

See handout for poem About change, inevitability of loss &

mortality, but the inherent beauty that accompanies these things.

Without the threat of its loss, what makes life worth living?

The hope of redemption is what makes hell bearable in Season.

John Milton’s Paradise Lost About both Lucifer’s fall from heaven

as well as Adam & Eve’s loss of Paradise.

Fall from the grace of God… that seems oddly familiar…

Patrick Nagel

The artwork of Patrick Nagel was said to inspire the design of Desire, Dream’s sister.

See Episode 0 (especially pages 28-29).

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/contemporary/images/PatrickNagel-Unknown-006.jpg

Joel-Peter Witkin

Bizarre & often grotesque photographs, frequently featuring those with physical deformities.

The Merkin is based on Witkin’s photograph Amour (see page 107).

http://img.liveinternet.ru/images/attach4/13285/13285696_Amour_New_Mexico_1987.jpg

David Bowie

At times, Lucifer looks like ‘70s era David Bowie.

The cover page for both episodes 1 & 2 are recreations of photos of Bowie (pages 38 & 64).

http://www.lisatasker.com/uploaded_images/DavidBowie-AladdinSane%5B1%5D-786097.jpg

Identity as fluid

At work throughout the series. Mostly conveyed through illustration,

but to different ends.

Continuum of identity

Triple goddess Represent the 3 aspects of feminine

identity (maiden, mother & crone). On pages 14-15, represent both the Graiae and the Fates.

Treated as separate there, but same concept conveyed by Eve on 108, embodied in one person.

Ever-changing appearance

Yes, can be attributed to different artists

But, changes with the same artist as well.

Shifts usually occur (at Gaiman’s direction) to Indicate a character’s mood/state of mind Reflect how others wish to perceive them See pages 42, 45, 110, 198.

Fluid appearance, cont.

Serves not only to make the characters Dream interacts with comfortable, but also informs reader and blends high/low culture.

See pages 155-165, as each guest visits with Dream.

Odin/Norse myth

Craggy rocks, grave and serious, shadowy, severe.

Reflects Norse attitude; there was no art for art’s sake, but generally ornamented objects of use.

Jemmy/Chaos

Relatively plain on Dream’s end (even in socks).

The panels aren’t laid out in a terribly uniform manner.

Much attention given to Jemmy and her shifts in size/perspective (Alice-esque).

Kilderkin/Order

Organized, rational artwork & panels. Rectangles, straight lines (look at

Dream in last panel). Color, shadows obey natural law.

Susano-O-No-Mikoto/Japanese myth Simple lines, very little or no shading. Reflects traditional Japanese art.

http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/900/PreviewComp/SuperStock_900-612.jpg

Bast/Egyptian myth

Dream is more feline (though not completely a cat). Features more angular, cat-like eyes.

Throne in last panel winged, represents Isis (goddess of creation & destruction). Common design for thrones of pharaohs (protection).

Azazel/Hell

Very dark, shadowed. Dream is extremely haggard here. Focus on either isolation, pain, or

both in each panel.

Identity & the concept of Hell Breschau, see pages 74-76.

Breschau identifies himself through his evil deeds; when no one is around to remember these deeds what do they mean?

Identity & Hell, cont.

Hell on Earth (episode 4) We are always haunted by our past (our

own & others’). Ultimately, Hell is what you make it

(Lucifer’s talk w/ Breschau, Paine’s quote on 139).

Why, Neil Gaiman? Why?!

If we only identify ourselves through our deeds, and if, good or evil, they are ultimately irrelevant (as Lucifer says), what does this mean for anything we do? Why even bother…

CHOICE! We can choose to torture ourselves over the merit of our deeds & whether we want to remain enslaved to the expectations of others.

We can choose to be oppressed by our roles in life or liberate ourselves from them, á la Paine & Rowland or Lucifer. Identity is what you make it.

Works Cited & Consulted Cetiner-Oktem, Zuleyha. "The Sandman as Neomedieval Text." ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary

Comics Studies. 4.1 (2008). Dept of English, University of Florida. 26 April 2009. <http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/Cetiner-Oktem/>.

Duffy, Brian. Aladdin Sane. 3 June 2009. <http://www.lisatasker.com/uploaded_images/DavidBowie-AladdinSane%5B1%5D-786097.jpg>

Gaiman, Neil. The Sandman, Volume Four: Season of Mists. New York, NY: DC Comics, 1992. Nagel, Patrick. Unknown-006. 3 June 2009.

<http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/contemporary/images/PatrickNagel-Unknown-006.jpg>

The Po-Mo Page: Postmodern, Postmodernism, Postmodernity. 2004-2009. Georgetown University. 3 June 2009. <http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/pomo.html>

Sanders, Joe, ed. The Sandman Papers. Seattle, WA: Fantographics Books, 2006.  Sharkey, Rodney. "'Being' Decentered in Sandman: History, Dreams, Gender, and the 'Prince of

Metaphor and Allusion'." ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. 4.1 (2008). Dept of English, University of Florida. 26 April 2009. <http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/sharkey/>.

Smith, Clay. "Get Gaiman?: PolyMorpheus Perversity in Works by and about Neil Gaiman.". ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. 4.1 (2008). Dept of English, University of Florida. 26 April 2009. <http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/smith/>.

“To Autumn by John Keats, with original manuscripts image, an introduction and annotations.” The Life and Works of John Keats (1795-1821). 3 June 2009. <http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/toautumn.html>.

Unknown Artist. Two Women in a Garden. 7 June 2009. <http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/900/PreviewComp/SuperStock_900-612.jpg>

Walsh, Richard. “The Narrative Imagination across Media: Dreaming and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.” Modern Fiction Studies 52 (2006): 855-868. ProjectMuse. Eastern Michigan U Lib., Ypsilanti, MI. 26 April 2009. <http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/mit4/papers/richardwalsh.pdf>/.

Witkin, Joel-Peter. Amour. 3 June 2009. <http://img.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/4/13285/13285696_Amour_New_Mexico_1987.jpg>