Earlier literature on conceptual metaphor studies has extensively examined verbal metaphors of sadness in different text types and with cultural variations. However, there has been by far limited ...research on the visual metaphor of sadness. Adopting a socio-cognitive perspective, this study investigates the conceptual metaphor of sadness in the exemplary case of Chinese poetry comics drawn by Cai Zhizhong. The findings reveal that (1) BEING SAD IS BEING CONFRONTED WITH NATURAL FORCE and BEING SAD IS BEING PHYSICALLY ISOLATED are the two most frequently occurring visual metaphors across the panels; (2) all the visual metaphors at play can be explained according to the conceptual metaphor theory; (3) SADNESS IS BITTERSWEET FOOD OR DRINK and BEING SAD IS BEING PHYSICALLY ISOLATED are two additional kinds of sadness metaphors identified; and (4) the visual metaphors of sadness with Chinese cultural variations are rooted in mainstream Chinese cultural philosophies in the relevant period of history. The article also discusses the underlying mechanisms of the investigated visual metaphors in the Chinese culture by unveiling three cultural characteristics in the particular context.
Visual data storytelling is gaining importance as a means of presenting data-driven information or analysis results, especially to the general public. This has resulted in design principles being ...proposed for data-driven storytelling, and new authoring tools being created to aid such storytelling. However, data analysts typically lack sufficient background in design and storytelling to make effective use of these principles and authoring tools. To assist this process, we present ChartStory for crafting data stories from a collection of user-created charts, using a style akin to comic panels to imply the underlying sequence and logic of data-driven narratives. Our approach is to operationalize established design principles into an advanced pipeline that characterizes charts by their properties and similarities to each other, and recommends ways to partition, layout, and caption story pieces to serve a narrative. ChartStory also augments this pipeline with intuitive user interactions for visual refinement of generated data comics. We extensively and holistically evaluate ChartStory via a trio of studies. We first assess how the tool supports data comic creation in comparison to a manual baseline tool. Data comics from this study are subsequently compared and evaluated to ChartStory's automated recommendations by a team of narrative visualization practitioners. This is followed by a pair of interview studies with data scientists using their own datasets and charts who provide an additional assessment of the system. We find that ChartStory provides cogent recommendations for narrative generation, resulting in data comics that compare favorably to manually-created ones.
Cartoonists Alison Bechdel and Diane DiMassa, writing in a socially and culturally heteronormative context, give life to a fantasy: worlds that, instead of excluding dykes from public space, are ...entirely organized around lesbian characters. Both reflect the debates within lesbian feminist groups, the tensions between lesbian and straight feminists, and the strategies that can be deployed in the face of discrimination. They create utopian (Bechdel) and dystopian (DiMassa) universes that parallel and question contemporary US realities. DiMassa presents a caricatured, degraded version of US society, focusing on its relation to minorities, as seen through the eyes of a “homicidal lesbian terrorist” intent on reclaiming their right to exist in the world. Bechdel’s syndicated bi-monthly strip is a twenty-five-year running commentary on US politics viewed from a lesbian perspective, that also discusses such feminist and/or LGBTQ+ issues as gender relations, the sodomy laws, trans rights, marriage equality, etc., and that shows her characters evolving on a number of these issues, as many Americans have since the 1980s. For all their provocation and humor, these comics from the margins have remained eerily topical.
A research project on using comics for teaching mathematics was initiated in one Singapore primary school. One class of Grade 5 (students of age 11-12) students was exposed to comics for mathematics ...instruction. This paper reports a case study of seven students' perception of the features of the comics instructional package and how these features impacted their learning of mathematics. The students' responses in an interview with the researchers were analysed using Thematic Analysis and presented using the Singapore mathematics curriculum framework. Four main features of the comics instructional package: (1) humour; (2) story narrative; (3) scaffolding provided by the questions and (3) visuals and four main themes: Increase in (a) enjoyment; (b) understanding; (c) appreciation of real-world applications of mathematics and (d) participation during lessons; were uncovered. The use of comics could potentially impact positively on developing students' Attitudes, Skills, Concepts and Processes of the Singapore mathematics curriculum framework in learning mathematics.
The Comics Journal, the premiere venue for comics criticism in the United States since its inception in 1977, built its reputation on its harsh criticism of mainstream comics and its championing of ...alternative comics, but the Journal did not arrive fully at this position for two decades. During this time its critical perspective was complex and contradictory, with the Journal continuing to hold out hope for the eventual improvement of superhero comics. However, the Journal focused most of its critical energies on what were known at the time as groundlevel comics, small, independently published comics that utilised the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror and superheroes. The Journal largely ignored alternative comics until the late 1980s, and it wasn't until the 1990s that the Journal fully embraced them as the driving force for the evolution and improvement of American comics.
In this essay, I analyse HIMM comics from the USA, a specific textualisation of graphic medicine/pathography that deals with a variety of illness experiences by male cartoonists. It is my contention ...that, in the existing literature, the motif of masculinity in autobiographical health-related comics is an underdeveloped area of academic enquiry. As a result, my analysis focuses on how three North American men depict ill health in their work in relation to existing sociological understandings of male behaviour. The texts I discuss are John Porcellino's
(2014), a story about his abdominal tumour; Matt Freedman's exploration of adenoid cystic carcinoma in
(2014); and Peter Dunlap-Shohl's
(2015), which discusses the cartoonist's experience of Parkinson's disease. At the same time, I use the concept of hypermasculinity to explore the similar visual and verbal strategies through which these men respond to their physical and emotional suffering. It is my intention to illustrate how HIMM comics provide an important, non-medicalised lens through which clinical practitioners and lay readers alike can better see the subjectivised experience of male illness in the early 21st century. With a focus on the concept of bracketing, the representation of pain and vulnerability, men's loss of self-identity and hardiness, I explore how HIMM comics act as important counter-narratives to biomedical discourse by visualising the phenomenological aspects of men's ill health. In this way, the texts in my analytical corpus offer a valuable gender-oriented understanding of the connection between illnesses and (hyper)masculinity.
This study was carried out to explore the moderating effect of comic education and locus of control (LOC) in innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities. Firstly, the ...theoretical knowledge of comic education, innovation and entrepreneurship education, and LOC was briefly introduced, and the significance of comics for innovation and entrepreneurship education was discussed. Secondly, the existing innovation and entrepreneurship education modes in colleges and universities in China were introduced. Thirdly, a simple comparative analysis was conducted on the internal and external characteristics of LOC. Finally, an investigation was performed on the innovation and entrepreneurship ability of college students. The results demonstrate that the average score of students’ innovation spirit is 3.302, with a standard deviation of 0.481, suggesting that the current college students’ overall innovative spirit is moderate. Besides, students get moderate scores in each dimension, and the difference between different students is slight. Among them, the mean of reflectiveness is the highest (
M
= 3.446,
SD
= 0.540), and the mean of criticality is the lowest (
M
= 3.160,
SD
= 0.481). The average score of the current students’ entrepreneurial ability is 3.112, indicating that the students’ entrepreneurial ability is above the average. From the perspective of each dimension, students have the lowest score in opportunity discovery ability, which is at a low level (
M
= 2.821,
SD
= 0.873), while the other five dimensions are at a medium level. The highest is strategic decision-making ability (
M
= 3.264,
SD
= 0.749). At the same time, factors such as gender, grade, institution, and students’ relatives significantly impact students’ innovation and entrepreneurship ability. It can be concluded that colleges and universities should focus on controlling the quality of innovation and entrepreneurship teaching and guiding and carrying out innovation and entrepreneurship practice activities. They should also encourage students to participate in courses and activities related to innovation and entrepreneurship to improve college students’ innovation and entrepreneurship ability.
Students need critical, systematic, logical, innovative thinking skills and effective collaboration in the learning process. Students want math learning that is fun, relaxed, easy to understand and ...the material displayed in a colorful book so it is fun to read and it can be presented in comic form. The classroom action research conducted aims to see the use of comic worksheets. Mathematics learning using comic worksheets can improve learning activities, understanding concepts and can improve students' mathematical problem solving. Students feel happy if the mathematics material can be presented in comic form because it is easier to understand, presented in the form of pictures and series of stories that can lead in the discovery of concepts so that it is clearer and easier to understand, adds enthusiasm in learning and does not create a tense atmosphere of learning.
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