Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants: Possibilist Ecologies in ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Bingham 64 explain the group's reliance upon Rick and disdain for the new-found occupants of their shelter. Yet even among these convicted criminals there is not a clear consensus or articulation of what exactly the correct moral code is or what it means to violate it. What Kirkman draws attention to through the interaction of these various characters is that despite the belief in the existence of law, the law itself is only maintained by the willingness of individuals to adhere to it. Moreover, since actions like Shane's murder attempt can be justified as being in accordance to one's own moral code while still defying the determinations of law, the work shows that the stability of societal infrastructure is merely a construct subject to deterioration. In fact, the pursuit of upholding individual ideals often comes at the expense of the group's well-being. Without informing any of the group's members he is leaving, Rick sets out to determine whether or not Shane has transformed into a walker. Having been shot in the neck and buried before the group realized one need not be bitten or scratched by a walker to turn into such a creature, this metamorphosis is almost certain. Rick feels an obligation to make sure, though. Alternating between depictions of four of the group's most able members attempting to clear out the prison's overrun gym and Rick's solitary journey, Kirkman and Tony Moore demonstrate how fragile the community actually is. The four clearing out the gym, Tyreese, Glenn, Arnold, and Andrea, are outnumbered. Tyreese runs into a large congregation of the walkers and breaks formation (Figure 23 & 24). Next a grid is devoted to Rick's reflection as he watches Shane rise up from the grave he's just shoveled out (Figure 25 & 26). As Shane's corpse grunts unintelligibly Rick replies: “Had things turned out differently, if you had killed me...I wonder if you would have just assumed being buried 'alive' wouldn't effect me. Could you have lived
Bingham 65 with yourself? Not me. I had to set things right” (Figure 27-29). After we see Rick accomplish this, the action flashes back to the prison. The focus is now on Hershel Greene who is searching the dark corridors of the prison for his two youngest daughters, Rachel and Susie (Figure 30). A full grid is dedicated to showing his unanswered calls and shouts (Figure 31 & 32). Constructing a tone of panicked desperation, Tony Moore shows us an enactment of the unthinkable or an example of pure horrorism. With Rick absent, metaphorically law is absent as well and turmoil and chaos reign. The first panel depicts Hershel witnessing its aftermath; his two twin girls have been decapitated in the prison's barber shop (Figure 33). Though readers see the images of Hershel's tear-filled eyes and the horrifically mutilated bodies of his daughters simultaneously, the choice to indicate his sight as the means for discovery is important. Firstly, it draws a tether between reality and vision. Even though Susie and Rachel were murdered before their father found out, the echoing impact of this heinous crime is only complete once its occurrence is known. Secondly, by implicating sight as an act within the process of violence, our own security as readers is challenged. Cavarero argues that our detachment from the image doesn't separate us from its affect. From this viewpoint voyeurism “not only fails to cancel out reality; it does not prevent reality from challenging us, making us responsible” (Cavarero 55). In a work composed of images that contains hundreds of representations of distorted bodies, this large panel is particularly upsetting. It is more meaningful than the gruesome depictions of random walkers because it is emotionally charged; there is a history between the viewer, the victims, and their father who bears witness. I envision this connection as a crossdimensional pyramid-like projection: Hershel, Rachel, and Susie occupy points on the
Page 1 and 2:
Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants:
Page 3 and 4:
Bingham 3 I owe an extreme debt of
Page 5 and 6:
Bingham 5 Introduction My project e
Page 7 and 8:
Bingham 7 personal growth through t
Page 9 and 10:
Bingham 9 beliefs. Seeing a possibl
Page 11 and 12:
Bingham 11 zombie exceeds death as
Page 13 and 14: Bingham 13 the validity of singular
Page 15 and 16: Bingham 15 Chapter I: The History o
Page 17 and 18: Bingham 17 Swamp Thing. According t
Page 19 and 20: Bingham 19 instructional profession
Page 21 and 22: Bingham 21 Another artist who worke
Page 23 and 24: Bingham 23 action into panels (Cohn
Page 25 and 26: Bingham 25 sponsorship. He designed
Page 27 and 28: Bingham 27 Charles Moulton. Marston
Page 29 and 30: Bingham 29 Frederick Wertham prompt
Page 31 and 32: Bingham 31 “graphic novel” was
Page 33 and 34: Bingham 33 what is or isn't a graph
Page 35 and 36: Bingham 35 Works Cited Benton, Mike
Page 37 and 38: Bingham 37 Chapter II: Transfusion
Page 39 and 40: Bingham 39 conflict or war. This ex
Page 41 and 42: Bingham 41 and dismember other bodi
Page 43 and 44: Bingham 43 bodies to pieces. (Cavar
Page 45 and 46: Bingham 45 thus creating an affecti
Page 47 and 48: Bingham 47 margins. Unlike the four
Page 49 and 50: Bingham 49 implicates the role of o
Page 51 and 52: Bingham 51 demonstrates that he is
Page 53 and 54: Bingham 53 Amy (Figure 10 & 11). Th
Page 55 and 56: Bingham 55 being who has done nothi
Page 57 and 58: Bingham 57 transgressions, this ima
Page 59 and 60: Bingham 59 Returning to the full pa
Page 61 and 62: Bingham 61 order” (200). The prem
Page 63: Bingham 63 possession, selling, ste
Page 67 and 68: Bingham 67 immediate proximity of t
Page 69 and 70: Bingham 69 experience, or the human
Page 71 and 72: Bingham 71 sentences Thomas to hang
Page 73 and 74: Bingham 73
Page 75 and 76: Bingham 74 Works Cited Berger, Arth
Page 77 and 78: Bingham 76 APPENDIX A Fig. 1. Openi
Page 79 and 80: Bingham 78 Fig. 7. Fig. 8.
Page 95 and 96: Fig. 38. Bingham 94
Page 97 and 98: Fig. 41. Bingham 96
Page 101 and 102: Bingham 101 Chapter III: Speaking o
Page 103 and 104: Bingham 103 preserved, yet not enti
Page 105 and 106: Bingham 105 increasingly more discu
Page 107 and 108: Bingham 107 Wrightson only drew the
Page 109 and 110: Bingham 109 by the inexorable progr
Page 111 and 112: Bingham 111 appeared. Though the tw
Page 113 and 114: Bingham 113 General Avery Carlton S
Page 115 and 116:
Bingham 115 dismembered body which
Page 117 and 118:
Bingham 117 sheltered from or not e
Page 119 and 120:
Bingham 119 authority. This subtle,
Page 121 and 122:
Bingham 121 the center of the page
Page 123 and 124:
Bingham 123 affect. Apart from this
Page 125 and 126:
Bingham 125 acts of fictional chara
Page 127 and 128:
Bingham 127 resemblance, their comp
Page 129 and 130:
Bingham 129 experience. The creator
Page 131 and 132:
Bingham 131 justified. What follows
Page 133 and 134:
Bingham 133 present to witness it t
Page 135 and 136:
Bingham 135 If we read each charact
Page 137 and 138:
Bingham 137 able to issue an urgent
Page 139 and 140:
1 According to comics historian Rob
Page 141 and 142:
Bingham 140 - Interview by David Ro
show all

Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants: Possibilist Ecologies in ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?