Graphic panelling and the promotion of transnational affiliations in Thien Pham’s Sumo | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Studies in Comics
  4. Volume 11, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 11, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2040-3232
  • E-ISSN: 2040-3240

Abstract

In Thien Pham’s comic , simple graphics, iconic figures and limited dialogue assist in efficiently conceptualizing the notion of the itive, the ability to convey meaning, to allow images to late concepts quickly, including that of nationalism itself. Character Scott, a failed American football player, relocates to Japan to take up sumo. His physical transnational move and eventual accommodation to a new sport, new city and new friends are reflected in Pham’s loose OuBaPo form: sections of the comic occurring in Japan and those in the United States follow a fairly strict panel count, diminishing evenly as the narrative progresses, suggesting Scott’s amalgamation of and acceptance in the East from his arrival from the West. But neither is privileged in Pham’s use of nearly equal numbers of panels representing Scott’s past in the United States, present in Japan and future in a smooth amalgamation of football and sumo, East and West, strength and flexibility, failure and success. uses efficient visual approaches – the unique play inherent in OuBaPo as a drawing exercise in constraints, colour-coded panels and iconicity – to accommodate and unify race and national differences.

© 2020 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/stic_00030_1
2020-11-01
2024-04-19
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Calvin, Patricia. ( 2004;), ‘ Defining transnationalism. ’, Contemporary European History, 14:4, n.pag.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Glick Schiller, Nina,, Basch, Linda, and Szanton Blanc, Cristina. ( 1995;), ‘ From immigrant to transmigrant: Theorizing transnational migration. ’, Anthropological Quarterly, 68:1, pp. 48–63.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Groensteen, Thierry. ( 2007), The System of Comics (trans. B. Beaty, and N. Nguyen.), Jackson:: University Press of Mississippi;.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Groensteen, Thierry. ( 2015), Comics and Narration (trans. A. Miller.), Jackson:: University Press of Mississippi;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Lionnet, Françoise, and Shih, Shu-mei. (eds) ( 2005;), ‘ Introduction. ’, in Minor Transnationlisms, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;, pp. 1–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Miodgrag, Hannah. ( 2013), Comics and Language: Reimagining Critical Discourse on the Form, Jackson, MS:: University Press of Mississippi;.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Pham, Thien. ( 2012), Sumo, New York:: First Second Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Roan, Jeanette. ( 2014), in-person interview with Pham, Emeryville;, California:, 1 August.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Ty, Eleanor. ( 2004), The Politics of the Visible in Asian North American Narratives, Toronto:: University of Toronto Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Chiu, Monica. ( 2020;), ‘ Graphic panelling and the promotion of transnational affiliations in Thien Pham’s Sumo. ’, Studies in Comics, 11:2, pp. 285–91, https://doi.org/10.1386/stic_00030_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/stic_00030_1
Loading
Graphic panelling and the promotion of transnational affiliations in Thien Pham’s Sumo
Studies in Comics 11, 285 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1386/stic_00030_1
/content/journals/10.1386/stic_00030_1
/content/journals/10.1386/stic_00030_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): arthrology; comics; iconicity; OuBaPo; panels; transnational; unification

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error