CHID 250 E: Special Topics: Introduction to the History of Ideas

"THE POLITICS OF WEIRDNESS IN CONTEMPORARY COMICS" (VLPA, W CREDIT) THIS COURSE WILL TACKLE A NUMBER OF RECENT COMICS THAT ARE DECIDEDLY WEIRD IN THEIR APPROACH TO VISUAL STORYTELLING. WHILE WEIRDNESS IN COMICS IS NOTHING NEW, THESE WORKS ARE DISTINGUISHED BY THEIR EXPLICIT EXPLORATION OF A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FORMAL EXPERIMENTATION AND POLITICAL/CULTURAL RESISTANCE. THIS CHAMPIONING OF WEIRDNESS IN THE LOOK, LINE, COLORING, AND LAYOUT OF VISUAL NARRATIVES IS A MEANS OF THINKING THROUGH SOCIAL DIFFERENCE AND ITS MANY PHENOMENA THAT CANNOT BE HAD IN THE SAME WAY IN WRITTEN TEXTS. CLASS WILL BE BALANCED BETWEEN CRITICAL READING, DEBATE, AND CREATIVE EXPERIMENTS. WORKS WILL INCLUDE: MY FAVORITE THING IS MONSTERS; ANT COLONY; BLACK HOLE; BITCH PLANET; THE SYSTEM; AND WHAT IT IS.