“How to Read a Graphic Novel” by Dr.

Michael Chaney
Courtesy of Mr. Indelicato

Marjane Satrapi chooses a very unique genre, the graphic novel, to deliver her groundbreaking
autobiography detailing her experiences coming of age during a cultural revolution. Her choice
in genre may represent a powerful statement challenging Western values and attitudes. Only
recently have graphic novels shed their reputation as juvenile and unsophisticated--the genre of
children’s comic books. Graphic novels, however, have grown up and are quickly becoming a
highly respected genre garnering serious attention in growing numbers of literary circles.

Before we dive deeper into Satrapi’s personal memoir, we must first understand what is so
unique about this genre of writing and why it helps Satrapi reach and impact a much broader
audience. The video linked below is of a TEDx presentation by Dartmouth University professor
of English Michael Chaney. In it, Dr. Chaney explains the genre and educates students on how to
approach the reading of a graphic novel with a higher degree of acumen and sensitivity.

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Click the link below to watch the TEDx video introducing the graphic novel genre and
then respond to the following question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAyEbgSPi9w&list=PLuOKd-ImGldfjY00evZhxnT
XlRko-GhYQ&index=4

After watching Dr. Michael Chaney’s TEDx video, what are four key takeaways that
will help you understand and appreciate the uniqueness of graphic novels as a modern
genre?

1. The artistic take on graphic novels allows for interpretation and can sometimes be
subjective. This will make the author’s meaning different depending on the person.
It can also give more freedom to the reader to create ideas that they think are true.

2. Often an author can contradict the graphics in the novel with the text. This makes
the reader question what the author’s saying and makes them look deeper into why
the author’s doing it.

3. Graphic novels can be compared to the capturing of photographs. This allows the
images to be important in how they are drawn since they are not seen in motion or
 in passing like movies are. Pay attention to the details within the images because
they can connect the story together.

4. The images in the graphic novel give further insight to the text. They both
supplement each other and are important in forming the story which means one
does not hold more value than the other. This is very important in graphic novels
since their combination of texts and images is what makes them so significant.