Drawn To Screen: Graphic Novels, Comics and Serials
Production still from Spiderman 2 2004 / Director: Sam Raimi /Image Courtesy: Sony Pictures
Drawn To Screen: Graphic Novels, Comics and Serials is screening at the Australian Cinémathèque at GoMA, from 6 January – 4 March 2012. Assistant Curator, Amanda Slack-Smith, gives you an insight into what to expect from this unique program. For your chance to win a free double pass to one of the films, post a comment telling us which is your favourite comic/graphic novel/serial to film adaption. Winners will be notified by 10 February.
‘Flash, Flash, I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the Earth!’ The Gallery’s Australian Cinémathèque celebrates the adaptation of graphic novels, comics and serials to screen in Drawn to Screen from 6 January to 4 March 2012. From the guilty pleasures of Flash Gordon, the heroics of Superman and celebration of the mundane in Tamara Drew and Ghost World, the program brings together over 60 films from around the world and delves into the rich world of the drawn narrative and its translation to cinema and television.
Due to their big budget nature, the adaptation of comics to film is often perceived to be a North American invention focused solely towards superheroes. While Drawn To Screen: Graphic Novels, Comics and Serials touches on this recent phenomenon seen in Hollywood in a thematic strand titled ‘Gods and Monsters’ this program also highlights the rich diversity of themes explored by comic creators.
Animations such as Marjane Satrapi Persepolis 2007 and Joann Sfar’s The Rabbi’s Cat 2011 explore issues surrounding religion, cultural displacement and persecution. Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta 2006 (directed by James McTeigue) and Raymond Briggs’s When the Wind Blows 1986 (directed by Jimmy Murakam) offer commentary on the political structure of the times – V for Vendetta a scathing response to the Thatcher Government in the United Kingdom and When the Wind Blows a chilling look at the fear engendered during the Cold War. Other films in the program simply question life such as American Splendor 2003 (directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini) is an autobiographical recounting by working-class everyman Harvey Pekar.
For comic-book film lovers’ familiar with many of the North American titles this program is an opportunity to revisit old favorites and to discover new titles For non-comic book readers it offers an introduction into a diverse exploration of the medium presented in both animation and live action films.
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My favourite film adaptation is Ghost World. When I saw Ghost World years ago I never thought that Graphic Novels were for me. My sister was into X-Men and various super heroes and that’s what I thought Graphic Novels were all about. But then I saw Ghost World and it was so different to my preconceived notions that I thought I better check it out in its Graphic Novel form. Now that’s my kind of Graphic Novel! It totally captured the vibe of my teenage experience, my generation’s (gen-X) existentialism and self indulgent inner voice.
My favourite would have to be Spiderman!
As a child, I loved reading “Superman” and “Spiderman” comics and graduated to reading graphic novels, like “Sin City”. To have the opportunity to see these stories, come to life, up on a huge screen is exciting and never tiring to watch!
Mine is Tintin. Well, the 2D animation adaptation is superior in content compared with the 3D adaptation although the latter is just enjoyable. I really love Belgian comics (including Les Aventures de Blake et Mortimer and Largo Winch – I really enjoyed the film adaptation of this comic).
My first boyfriend bought me Daniel Clowes, graphic novel Ghostworld and I’ll always treasure it. I think the movie adaption was sublime. The cast were uniformly brilliant and the movie kept it’s tongue firmly in cheek. Also Zack Snyder’s ambitious adaption of ‘Watchmen’ was flawed but very watchable!
Thanks everyone, you’ve each picked up a double pass. I will email you with the details.