Summary Of Extradiegetic Images In Charles Burn's 'Black Hole'

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There is an old adage that a picture says a thousand words. Within the postmodern graphic novel Black Hole, Charles Burns employs pictures that enhance the meaning of the text. The images in this novel, within the context of the greater connection to AIDS, accentuate the tension between widespread norms and taboo subcultures. The diegetic sequence of the novel presents itself in a general fashion. However, when the diegetic sequence is associated with the extra diegetic sequence, the clash creates a very eye catching visual presentation. I argue that Burns, and his use of the diegetic-extradiegetic clash, first, with the sex scene between Chris and Rob, next, in the scene when Rob leads Chris to the woods, and finally, when Chris is smoking …show more content…

Diegetic, is space that is part of the story as the characters experience it. An example of diegetic space is the scene where Chris goes swimming at the party in the woods. As it stands, going swimming was a part of the collective character experience. Extradiegetic space is the space outside of the story. An example of extradiegetic space is the scene when Keith passes out during the frog dissection. During this scene, there is a four-panel image that looks like the bands of a black hole. This image does not occur naturally within the plot but is a representation of the internal confusion felt by Keith.(Burns, 2008) A graphic novel can manipulate the presentation of space in and outside the …show more content…

He took their posterior pictures and situating them in the focal point of both boards. However, they appear to the far right and far left separately in the individual boards. The highest point of their heads is adjusted while contrasts in their hair lengths uncover disparities in their statures (Burns, 2008). The theme of sex is portrayed in the relationship between Chris and Robs. Chris hooks up with Robs, only to discover while they were having sex that she had been infected with AIDS. However, Rob's ends up ignoring her and treating it just like a usual high school drama. Things turned to be worse when Robs reveals his actual feelings for her, but things became worse when Chris find that she was able to shed her skin like a snake. Rob decided to disappear, and a dismembered arm emerges. The challenges experienced by such teens makes a burn to come up with the themes of the novels(Burns, 2008). Such themes include sex, adulthood, and alienation(Burns, 2008). Burn incorporates some aspect of the mini-scale sequences that go before every volume, the perspective shift, and the time movement. The primary serves to give a bigger structure to the proceeding with the story, while the other two work to draw in the readers with the passionate turmoil of the puzzling "'teenager epidemic' or 'the bug.'" While

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