Boys VS Books: Gaston and the Book with No Pictures

A little while ago, I started a new post series centered around the problems facing boys in regards to literacy. I framed the initial discussion around Disney's Beauty and the Beast and how reading is portrayed within that movie. The movie is famous for its positive portrayal of Belle as a modern, forward thinking princess, and that portrayal is driven home through her love of books. But while Belle is constantly shown reading, the men around her all have problematic relationships with books.

If you're interested in reading the earlier discussion, you can find the previous posts in this series here:

1. Boys vs Books: A Tale as Old as Time
2. Boys vs Books: Beating Back Against Busy

Today, we're looking at one of the three male characters Belle attempts to share her love of books with. Today, we have moved on to Gaston.




First off, I love this image. It cracks me up every time. Ahem...

From the perspective of a writer, this is one of the most problematic scenes in the movie. Belle's love of books is used as shorthand to convey her intelligence and independence to the viewer, so it's little surprise that they're similarly used as a tool to show that Gaston is stupid and domineering - the perfect threat when you consider that he fancies himself her suitor.

The domineering aspects of his personality come from the way he steals the book and eventually tosses it into a mud puddle. (I'm not going to argue. This is pretty low.)

The stupid comes from this line:

"How can you read this? There's no pictures!"

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Hilarious! He thought the book should have pictures in it! What does he want? A children's book? Ridiculous!

In all honesty... the line is actually pretty funny. His reaction and his facial expression and his behavior are so oafish. It treads the line between mocking him but also making him a threatening presence. I can see why the filmmakers wrote it this way.

And yet that comment he makes about expecting a book to have pictures plays into some persistent cultural stereotypes about what books are "worthy" of praise and attention and what books are "unworthy." And wouldn't you guess it? The very books the movie is making fun of are among the books that little boys are most likely to find interesting.

I'm talking, of course, about comic books.

Words and Pictures

During my Master's program, I had an excellent professor who taught my foundation course on children's literature. He had a deep appreciation for old books, the history of the discipline, as well as an enthusiasm for what modern writers were doing now in children's literature. More than anyone, I heard him repeat the command to read, read, READ extensively within your genre if you wanted to create work of publishable quality. He also was a remarkable writer and someone whose work I continue to admire. I plan on being just like him when I grow up.

So let's say you want to teach your child to love books as much as he does. What is the foundation on which this enthusiasm for books was based? As it turns out, comics. As a kid, comics were a far more natural love for him than the books he was SUPPOSED to love. During adolescence, he wanted to be a comic book artist when he grew up, not a novelist. Hints of this still exist in his works, such as illustrated chapter titles.

Of course, for his chosen career path, he eventually had to fall in love with honest-to-goodness-pictureless books too, but the transition between an avid comic reader to a literature super fan is not as strange as it might seem on first glance.

During my research for this series of posts, I was struck by the fact that from the perspective of educators, many of the skills that fall under the umbrella of "literacy skills" are things that you can pick up from other forms of art. Skills like the ability to follow and explain a narrative, or the ability to empathize with a character. These skills can even be developed by having thoughtful discussions with your kids about the movies they watch.

But the amazing thing about comic books is that they provide a natural bridge between visual storytelling and text based storytelling. We're used to the notion that younger children use the pictures in their books to get hints at what the text might say. The same holds true with comics, but with the added bonus that the language and storylines have grown more complicated, since they're usually aimed at an older audience. Even if you have someone who has fine reading comprehension, comics might still help with reading engagement, since they provide helps for readers to visualize the world the story is describing.

And yes, an enthusiasm and passion for comics can lead to a passion for books. And vice versa. Yet you still hear things like what my professor once said when he told us, "I didn't read a lot as a kid. I mostly read comics."

Somehow, both those sentences contain the word "read" in them, because comics are a form of reading that doesn't "count." The Ontario School Board, in their work in boys literacy, notes that many boys who are labelled as poor readers often read far more than they think they do, but they don't believe what they do counts as real reading. They don't report that they frequently will read comics, instruction booklets for video games, sports magazines, web pages filled with information about baseball or animals or Minecraft or cars or whatever other hobbies they might have. Children are highly intuitive and they pick up quickly that adults don't place a lot of stock in reading those things. So is it any surprise that they don't value their own achievements in these areas?

The Price of Literary Elitism

To me, the comic book conundrum is symptomatic of larger problems that the book world has around literary elitism. Certain types of books tend to get valued more than others. Disdain for comics and magazines grows as we age to include an ever-increasing array of books. Oddly enough, it tends to smack people in the face along both gender lines. Romance is confined to a "pink ghetto" while science fiction gets treated like the quintessential "bad books for men."

I'll never forget the first writing course I ever took as a naïve undergrad student. My instructor explained the course syllabus and then had all of us introduce ourselves by name, and favorite book. It was the early 2000s, we averaged around 18 years old and you could see the side of his lip twitching as half the class announced their love for Harry Potter. Then he told us all, very flatly, "so you know, we only study literary fiction here. You won't be writing mystery, suspense, romance, science fiction or fantasy. They're all too formulaic. We want you to learn from great writers instead."

No wizards or spaceships. Both far too childish. We weren't to deal in the whiz-bang plots of thrillers, clearly intended only for the uneducated masses. And heaven help us if we wanted to write a story that existed solely to explain how people fall in love!

I can't tell you how much I wanted that writing program to work for me. I'd wanted to study writing my whole life. But sadly, I realized it wouldn't be during my undergrad, because my world of writing couldn't function if it had to be that small. (Incidentally, my main project for that class was a short story that took place during the after-life, and I got an A+ on it because my professor knew so little about speculative fiction, he never realized I'd tricked him into reading paranormal fantasy.)

Sometimes when I think back to that first undergraduate writing course I took, I'm amazed anyone reads at all. Or writes at all. There are so many people who are foaming at the mouth, eager for their chance to tell you that what you're reading is stupid. People who might not know much at all about the books that you love, but are dead certain you shouldn't waste your time on them.

Books! Books for everyone! You get a book! And you! AND YOU!!!!

I'm a firm believer that if we want to increase literacy, it doesn't happen by demanding people like very specific things. In one of my previous posts, I touched on how important it is to meet readers where they are, rather than insist they conform to your tastes. This should also mean NOT belittling what they're interested in.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that incorporating comics and other alternatives to traditional books in education is a balancing act. I'm not here to argue that comics should replace books or that literary fiction be thrown from the curriculum in favor of Harry Potter. What I hope is that they'll be treated more as allies in a common cause.

When I first read Howard's End, a classic novel from 1911, I fell in love so quickly with the text because it reminded me of Peter Pan. Plot-wise, the two books have nothing in common. One is decidedly sillier than the other. But you know what they do share? Time period. They're both Edwardian novels and I realized that part of what I liked about the books was a particular turn of phrase that was in style just before the start of the First World War. Pan prepared me to love a classic novel, and that in turn taught me to be more curious about literature from that whole time period.

The frivolous books of our childhood - the books with pictures - are often preparing and informing our taste in adult literature. And with the sophistication of many graphic novels and comics, they can continue to be an influence, worthy of engagement. It doesn't have to be an either/or.

Rethinking Belle

So like last time with the baker, let's attempt to re-imagine the scene where Gaston steals Belle's book and make it, ummm.... better?

Gaston: How can you read this? There's no pictures!
Belle: Well, there's actually a graphic novel version of The Graveyard Book too, if you're interested in seeing the story illustrated.
Gaston: Belle, that was just an excuse to start talking to you. I'd rather we talked about me now. *throws book into mud*

Look, he's the villain of the story. We can only do so much.

Stand Still. Stay Silent - A Book/Web Comic Review

Stand Still. Stay Silent by Minna Sundberg.

The Rash illness spread too quickly for anyone to develop a vaccine or learn its true nature. In its wake, nearly all of humanity seems to have been wiped out, most of the known survivors residing in Iceland, which closed its borders at the beginning of the plague. Pockets of civilization exist throughout the other Nordic countries, but for the most part, the world is Silent.

90 years after the initial devastation, a team secures government funding to send a party to mainland Denmark to investigate what remains of the Silent World. Woefully underfunded, the team is staffed only by those desperate enough to work for little pay.

There's Tuuri, a Finnish scholar, mechanic and all around handy-gal who just wants to see the world.
Lalli, the team mage and tracker who let his cousin Tuuri drag him into this.
Emil, a reluctant soldier, this Swedish pretty boy comes from a once wealthy family that fell on hard times.
Mikkel, the Danish cook/medic who has an impressively long resume (mostly because he can't hold down a job).
Sigrun, the bull-headed, thrill seeking Norwegian Captain who can't turn down a challenge, even if might kill her.
And Reynir, an Icelandic farm boy who probably should have never left home.

Oh and there's cats. Lots of cats.

What Makes it So Good

I've been wanting to review a web comic for a long time. They're one of my favorite art forms and one of the primary reasons I'm a total internet junkie. In addition to that, most of my readers are not necessarily web comic aficionados. For those people in particular, I would LOVE to introduce them to the wonders of the medium, because it's incredible what's being made right now and put on the internet for free by these artists.

But up until now, I hadn't found one that met my rather extensive list of criteria. It was as follows:

1) A Long Runner. I wanted to highlight something that had enough story down that I could read through a sizable chunk of material and, therefor, give a fair appraisal of it. With a backlog of just under 500 pages, Stand Still Stay Silent (or SSSS, for short) has a good chunk to get you addicted, but isn't so long it intimidates new viewers.
2) A Frequent Updater. Because most Web comics are self-published, self-directed projects, it really varies how much time their artists have to devote to their work. Since the expectation is that the work is available for free, it can take a while to build a large enough fan base that the creator can derive a living through advertising/ merchandise/ print runs/ kickstarter/ patreon etc. While this is something I don't mind putting up with, for those new to the genre, I wanted their first experience with a web comic to be of one that updates dependably. SSSS keeps a brisk schedule of one new page per week-day which is incredible, given the level of detail on each page. This woman clearly draws faster than I do.
3) Relatively "Clean" Material. For the record, there are some "adult" comics I've really loved, but because I blog primarily about children's books and YA novels, I wasn't interested in highlighting an overly gritty or crude piece. Most web comics are about college-aged characters, and that often leads to raunchy material. SSSS focuses more on friendship, adventure and mystery, even with a cast that falls around the 19-30 age range. I'd rate it somewhere between PG and PG-13.
4) Visually Appealing. All skill levels exist on the internet, and all sorts of people make comics. With some, the art can be pretty rough, but if the story is still good, I'll stick with it. But again, as a "gateway" comic, I hoped to find something with a high level of polish. SSSS is so freakin' gorgeous, I'm kind of worried people will walk away thinking this is the norm. The design is so incredible, it's worth reading just for the art.
5) Story Focused. Web comics run the gamut and I love so many of them. Many people are familiar with things like XKCD or Dinosaur Comics which focus on the short-strip, joke-a-day style of comic. You can *kind of* piece together character descriptions for The Stick Figure With the Top Hat or T-Rex, but with both, the jokes and the words are the primary concern. I'm not as qualified or interested in reviewing those. SSSS excels in it's story telling, and it's that aspect I'll focus on for the rest of the review.

Story telling in web comics works differently from how it does in novels. As a rule, most web comics have more open-ended storylines; the kind that can be added to over the years, as the author gets new ideas. They're a bit like TV, in that the hope is that they can run for a long time and continue to build. So structuring them so that each episode feels satisfying while also leaving the door open for new adventures is a tricky balancing act.

SSSS does this very well. The expedition plot line could, theoretically, go on forever. But at the same time, there's a real sense of progression from one chapter to the next. The world opens up beautifully, and the reveals are well timed. It really is one of the most thoughtful portrayals of world-destroying apocalypse I've ever read.

The cast is also delightful. Every character rings as distinct and their voices all sound very different - often quite literally. One of the joys of this comic is how much of it is about language and culture. The author is half Swedish/half Finnish, and you can see how deeply familiar she is with the intricacies of all the Nordic languages and mythologies. The cast, being multinational, do not all speak the same languages, and so Tuuri often has to translate between group members. It's super fascinating, reading this, because as the fantasy unfolds, you can't help learning things about Scandinavia.

The use of folklore is also fantastic. Again, you can feel how deeply lived and researched this comic is. Monsters of Norse times have been given a futuristic twist and spiritualism of early Finnish peoples guides the mage culture. On top of that, she's added variations in the levels of technology that survived in the various countries, so that the whole world and cast feels wonderfully diverse.

I really can't recommend this enough! And it's FREE TO READ! Click the Link now!!!!

What Could Be Better

While I love the characters, they are (at this point) a little lacking in motivation. Now don't get me wrong, each person has their own reasons for being on the expedition. But with the exception of Emil, who has family and a fallen heritage back in Sweden, we don't really get the sense that anyone has really given anything up. Or even totally understand what each character needs to learn.

That being said, I'm optimistic this stuff will develop over time. A recent flashback helped give some more depth to Lalli, and each of the characters is clearly flawed, so surely they need to learn SOMETHING. The reality is, it's tough in a web comic to foreshadow your cast's ultimate development, because the overall length of the piece is often undefined. But I don't think this gets the comic off the hook entirely. I've read a few comics that do a very good job of at least telling you what to watch out for during the first few chapters.

Right now, the primary concerns of the story are WILL THEY SURVIVE and WILL THEY LEARN THINGS THAT HELP THEIR PEOPLE and for now, these are good goals. I'd just like to see some more character dependent goals mixed in, because I like the characters so much. In particular, I adore Sigrun, who we currently know the least about, backstory wise.

Another potential weakness is the super long prologue, which gets a big solid MAYBE from me about whether or not it was needed. I loved the prologue. I loved the foreshadowing. I loved going back and figuring out which main characters were descended from which prologue people. But it was also really long and it took me a while to figure out that I wasn't reading about the main cast. Oddly enough, the prologue is actually FAR more character driven, as it shows a diversity of reactions that are happening around the region to the news of the Rash illness. All those stories are justified purely in terms of the emotions they convey. Probably why I liked it so much.

Final Verdict

For anyone who has wondered about web comics/graphic novels or for anyone who already loves them and needs something new to read, open up Stand Still Stay Silent NOW! It's beautiful. It's interesting. It's charming. It takes a lot of well known tropes and makes them wonderfully new, through the power of language, culture and research.

And should a Troll happen across your path, remember the best way to survive - Stand Still. Stay Silent.