December 15, 2016 - 19:33
The graphic novel As the World Burns, depicts a unique narrative of how the people and the animals of the world stick up for the earth against the governments and corporations trying to destroy it. The illustration style is very interesting because without it the story would be received differently. They also present hidden messages that otherwise would be lost in a normal novel setting.
The style of the graphic novel serves a dual purpose: to appeal and attract younger readers, and to emphasize the message of the book by clearly pointing out the bad guys and the good guys. The first characters you’re introduced to are the two little girls on the front cover. They both have pigtails and they both wear dresses but the purple girl is dressed in all black signaling to the reader that this will be the edgier character. The yellow girl is in a blue dress with hearts. This character seems more playful and optimistic. They both however are adorable and therefore are the good guys. The bunny that shows up in the opening scenes can also be adorable but he is missing an eye. This means he is more in line with the purple girl which makes sense because their views are similar and both go to the extreme to make change. By making two young girls the central characters of the story the authors show that age does not change the amount that a person can help change the world and how some kids view their role in the battle for the earth. The pink girl represents the average youth and how the media shows that it is up to the individual to save the world. The purple girl represents the truth; even if everyone did their part on the individual level it wouldn’t be enough. The yellow girl says that her friend the purple girl is “really negative” (Jensen and McMillan 38). Which is interesting because she is shown in colors associated with negativity. If these two girls are teens and the purple one is wearing all black it could imply that she is “goth” or “emo”. These trends are associated with pessimistic views on life and sadness in general. Making her the bad guy in the eyes of the yellow girl. These two characters are paralleled in attitude and dress but also skin tone. They are purple and yellow the colors often associated with the sun and the moon. They are drawn to be opposites but tied to each other the same way that the moon depends on the sun for light, the purple girl needs the yellow girl to make points about the environment.
The bad guys are ugly. This is simple because in real life it is harder to pinpoint the bad guy. The bad guy in real life could have a partner and kids, they are human, but in the book, you can villainize anyone with illustrations. In this case, it is the government and the corporations and the alien robots. The president is an alcoholic, childish, pill popping adult who is greedy and doesn’t care about the environment. He is oddly shaped with greased hair and an ugly face. Any twelve-year-old could see that he is the bad guy. He is an accessible villain and an easy target for hate. The corporations are represented by fat, balding, old men, with grotesque features and smiles. They are also easy to pinpoint villains. The alien robots are the tricky ones. They are not necessary evil but just trying to continue their race and that just involves eating the earth and all its resources. They represent climate change itself. The earth’s natural processes aren’t evil. We can’t blame desertification itself for the loss of soil and forests because we set in motion the events that would lead to it. This is also true for the alien robots. That is why they are let in so easily. They bribed the government with a resource, gold, for the resources in the same way we as humans get resources even as whole areas are destroyed by the results. Therefore, I believe that the robots have their cute moments like the baby bot scene. The baby bot is adorable and if this book is supposed to make the good guys cute then why is the baby bot so cute? It is because the robots are not the problem. People in the book see that the robots are eating the world but aren’t doing anything to stop them because they feel powerless. The same way people see the world crumpling around them and do nothing for it because how could one person change anything? The robots are the action of the world ending, they are cute to shield the reader from the real problems. They also make very odd and periodic entrances. This is like how climate is talked about in the media. It comes up periodically and then a new problem replaces it and it disappears into the background of the public’s mind. The robots would have a couple of pages and then the big corporations and president would come back and have pages of conversation. The reader forgets that they were in the book because they were eating the world. Then you inally see it and also see that it is too late because the robots have multiplied. The problems surrounding climate change seem like this too. Once we see the effect of what we’ve done it is too late because we have reached the tipping point and there seems like there is no solution.
This graphic novel makes itself accessible to young teens and adults alike through its captivating and dark illustrations. The characters gain a depth through their style and depending on how they are meant to be perceived because of it. The illustrator made the villains visible by making them grotesque therefore giving reader and characters an easy place to target their anger. The good guys are cute and young and relatable with the odd couple friends and adorable animals. They can be pitied by the reader and rooted for. If this novel was not graphic it would have lost a lot of the meaning and accessibility that it gained through the comic book styled pages and dark illustrations.