Thursday, February 24, 2011

Blog Questions 1&4

1. The illustrations of Kafka's Metamorphosis differ from one another. Mairowitz and Crumb's illustrations are more realistic and remain true to the story while Kuper's version is darker and more vivid. Kuper also depicts Gregor having a human-like head on the body of a bug showing that Gregor hasn't completely lost himself during the transformation. The illustrations in a way confirm my interpretation of the novella; however, the two artists took liberties in changing certain parts of each scene and adding their own interpretations of how the characters look and act therefore distorting Kafka's original work. The way I envisioned Metamorphosis somewhat conflicts with their illustrations. Kuper might've chose to illustrate in black and white rather in color because it represents conformity. Colors are unique and depict happiness and cheer while black and white is simple, lacks individuality, and is gloomy/depressing. This is why his choice was so effective because it made an impact on the overall mood of the graphic novel.

4. Kuper is more sympathetic towards Gregor because he illustrates Gregor as being stuck in a dead-end job forced to work for a man who treats him poorly. Kafka focuses more on the conformist side of Gregor instead of focusing on the reasons why he enjoys conformity. Moreover, the father's attitude towards Gregor in Kafka's novella is not as harsh as Kuper's drawing of him violently beating Gregor with his cane. In a way, humor can be found in Gregor's metamorphosis since he turns into the very creature he's acted like all his life. I find that there is more humor in the illustrations of Metamorphosis than in the novella. The illustrations of the family's and the manager's reactions to Gregor being a bug appeared comical rather than serious.

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