Concept Formation & Visual RhetoricPersepolis

Adapted from

Hanno H.J. Ehses

Design Discourse:

History/Theory/Crit

icism @ University

of Chicago

How do artists derive their creative concepts?

1. Read the subject matter2. Derive overall psychological impact3. Try to convey a understanding visually

J. Shadbolt, marketing designer, remarks “It’s easy to make an elegant decoration, but quite another thing to evoke exact implication.”

J. Shadbolt, marketing designer, remarks “It’s easy to make an elegant decoration, but quite another

thing to evoke exact implication.”

The remark addresses some of the fundamental problems in design:1. What do we see?2. What meaning can we derive as a result of what we

see? 3. How does the text/concept relate to the visual

representation?4. What is the “literary” nature of the relationship

between the image and the text/concept in the visual design?

Of Mice and Men1. What do we see?oA large black rabbit

with undefined edges as positive space

oTwo men that appear in the foreground in the negative space dressed casually. The smaller of the two men has a tool (shovel).

Of Mice and Men2. What meaning can we derive from the image?oThe rabbit is the

first thing we might see but given the context of the picture it later seems to be a shadow looming behind the men. It shows that the men are subject to what the rabbit symbolizes.

3. How is meaning created in the visual design as a result of textual knowledge?

The more we know about a subject matter, the more we are able to read an image. Our reading is influenced by our familiarity with the subject matter.

Main characters: George and Lennie

Symbolic Connections: Rabbit as symbol for the men’s American dream that is at once tangible yet intangible

4. What is the “literary” nature of the relationship between the image and the text/concept in the visual design?

Content/Form—Of Mice and Men, a novella by John SteinbeckExpression?/Substance

Hyperbole—The image of the black rabbit is exaggerated and it becomes an ominous symbol of the Dream they men will fail to achieve.

Applying this to Persepolis1. Graphic novels allow for a innovative approaches to

understanding diction, imagery, syntax, structure, and language.

2. The images need to be understood as a language that needs interpretation.

3. Artists intentionally or unintentionally use their knowledge of literary and rhetorical figures to express supplementary interpretive value.

Figures of Contrast: Antithesis

o a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else / a contrast or opposition between two things

1. What do we see?2. What meaning can we

derive as a result of what we see?

3. How does the text/concept relate to the visual representation?

4. Explain the visual antithesis.

Figures of Proximity: Metonymy

o the substitution of terms suggesting an actual relationship that can be of causal, spatial, or chronological nature--The White House (President of the United States) reduced his troops in Europe.

1. What do we see?2. What meaning can we derive

as a result of what we see? 3. How does the text/concept

relate to the visual representation?

4. Explain the visual metonymy.

Figures of Proximity: Synecdoche

o a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa

1. What do we see?2. What meaning can we

derive as a result of what we see?

3. How does the text/concept relate to the visual representation?

4. Explain the visual synecdoche.

Figures of Proximity:

Pun

o playful use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications

1. What do we see?2. What meaning can we

derive as a result of what we see?

3. How does the text/concept relate to the visual representation?

4. Explain the visual pun.

Figures of Graduation:

Amplificationo the expansion of a topic

through collection of relevant particulars

1. What do we see?2. What meaning can we derive as a

result of what we see? 3. How does the text/concept relate to

the visual representation?4. Explain the visual amplification.

Figures of Graduation: Hyperbole

o the exaggeration of an object beyond its natural and proper dimensions

1. What do we see?2. What meaning can we

derive as a result of what we see?

3. How does the text/concept relate to the visual representation?

4. Explain the visual hyperbole.

Lesson Reflection

What did you learn about visual rhetoric? In what practical ways can you apply your learning? As you reread and annotate sections of Persepolis,

look for more examples of Satrapi’s use of literary and rhetorical figures to express supplementary interpretive value.