The structure of Alan Bigelow’s work “Brainstrips” is really interesting. It is made up of three separate parts: “Strip”, “Brain”, and “S”. I really love the part entitled “Is color real?” in the first part “STRIP”, which is about some “Deep Philosophical Questions”. In this part, there are three characters in a comic strip. One character said that he senses a blackness around them, which is actually the frame in dark color of the comic strip. Then, the other two characters’ dialogues indicate that they knew they are characters in the strips. Which attracted my attention is that in the second strip, outside of the two windows of the boats, there are a pair of human’s eyes actually. I think it reveals the fact that they are in the comic strips, rather than the reality. However, the eyes are actually a part of the comic strip, too. That kind of makes me questioned that “am I a part of comic strip or reality?” or “how can we make sure that we are not just comic characters?” I feel that comic strip questioned and challenged the boundary between reality and fiction or imaginary world. 

It really reminds me a lot of a South Korean television series, which is called “W”. In the teleplay, the hero is the hero in an alternate universe written by the heroine’s father in his comic book. The heroine goes back and forth between the two worlds. And at last, the hero comes to the real world and realizes that he is only a character created by a comic book creator. Both of the teleplay and the Elit make me confused about my exact identity and the world I live in (hhh)… Like… Am I real? How could I know? Maybe I am just a character created by someone in the other world…But anyway, I feel like I can never figure out the answer. So, just live the way I want and do whatever I like hhh…

By the way, I really do not like the dialog bubbles which are kind of vibrating and quivering. They make me feel weird and make my eyes tired reading them. But I can kind of get it, like the author is trying to convey the message that trying to query and overthrow some of the stereotypes.

Of both the articles for this week, my favorite one was the Brainstrips piece by Alan Bieglow. This piece was very engaging and even humorous at times, I enjoyed every section of it.

I noticed that the word brain strips in the main page lead to a category for different lessons.
In the first word brain, the two characters in the comic discuss deep philosophical topics of existential theory. The questions were “what is art’, “are men more sensitive than women, “does God exist”, “how do we know we are human,” “do trees have rights” and “is color real”. All of these questions forces the reader to think outside the box and formulate reasons that are neither right or wrong. For each of these question, I enjoyed the artistic and narrative process of creating my own story. I also enjoyed the visual and audio experiences that Bieglow provided while reading. Everything felt like a real-life comic movie.

In the second section, the word strips were “Science for Idiots”. You would probably expect that the section was like the dummy book of science, however, it was unlike that. Science for Idiots discussed the politics of science in everyday life and how some things just don’t make any sense. For example, in the evolution category, Bieglow writes that “minimum cage size recommended by the zoo industry for an ape is 14 by 14 by 10 feet, slightly larger than a standard office cubicle” Well this statement raises that question of ethics because that size is not large enough to accommodate an ape. So the question remains, who are the real idiots in science?

Lastly, just the letter S in that word lead me to another page with math lessons and concepts. Each word in that section was interactive and hilarious! I felt like I was learning a classroom lesson, however, it was more enjoyable because at random parts there would be a tangent that made it not so serious. The storyline was intelligible and tasty to follow along. I loved that the visuals in the background were consistent and moved while reading. Overall, this was a fun read for today’s blog.

*** Click Here to Read it!

Brainstrips is an interesting take on an old concept. In fact, it’s a few old concepts mashed together in an intriguing way. The textual elements of the comic are thought-provoking, in the way that philosophical questions are. For example, even on the cover, the man in the army uniform says, “So this is how you found the Meaning of Life…?” Then girl replies, “I’m sorry, but Richard has the right answers for me!” However, philosophical questions are not necessarily meant to have “right” and “wrong” answers, so where does her response come from? Are Mr. Suit’s answers simply what she wants to hear? Has no one ever told this woman that a healthy debate is good for the heart? (JK, I am not a doctor).

Another textual element that I really enjoyed was the the lines in “Is Color Real?” One character seems to now know that he is in a comic, and the other two are aware. The first character says, “I sense a blackness all around us…” Then the other two point out that it’s the black border on the page of the comic. The first mate point’s out that the captain’s left hand is “breaking the frame.” The comic declares, “Suddenly, a shift in foreground perspective!” as a too-big bird passes by the boat, the oblivious character not realizing that it’s in the foreground. The very last quote is a cute sentiment about thinking outside the box, obviously referring to the panels of the comic.

I honestly was not very fond of the visual effects in the first part of the comic. The shaking of the speech bubbles felt… cheep. That movement did not need to be there in order to advance or enhance the story. It was as if the comic was screaming, “Look, I’m eLit, I promise!” The flashing lights on the boat were cute, but it was a very small part of what the comic was actually about. The sound was essentially just background noise that I muted after the first two panels. I am honestly not even sure if I missed anything in the 2nd and 3rd parts of the comic because I forgot to turn it back on again.

The theme of Brainstrips was consistent thoughout, discussing philosophical questions that aren’t really meant to be answered. If I had more time I would go through the comic a number of times and see if different answers effects the outcome of the quiz, but I have a suspicion that it’s all the same.

Overall I enjoyed this piece of eLit, but mostly for the content and quality of pictures. For me, I probably would have enjoyed it no more and no less if it had been a comic in a physical comic book.

Brainstrips is a quite interesting E-lit piece as it combines both visual and auditory approaches. In a nutshell, it is a three-part knowledge series as it says on the first page. When I read this piece, I felt like I was thinking all the way along my walk through. It really envoked my inspiration and awareness.

The first part of knowledge is titled “deep philosophical questions”. It presents when I click the letters “STRIP”. It is a philosophical section. There are five questions: “What is art?” , “Are men more sensitive than women?” , “Does God exist?” , “How do we know we are human?”,  “Do trees have rights?” , and “Is color real?”. Hence, this part addresses totally five philosophical questions by using comic pictures.

1. “Deep Philosophical Questions”

The second part of knowledge is titled “science for idiots”. It presents when I click the letters “BRAIN”. This part is in charge of six scientific issues which are global warming, evolution, gravity and you, relativity, elementary particles, and nuclear fission. The animated images and texts inside each issues are vivid illustrations for each point. For example, in global warming, the images and texts sequencely tell the readers the origion of the phrase “global warming”. Wally, an earth science professor, once lived in Oak Park before he arrived in Columbia. Oak park is a suburb of Chicago with a large population and it suffers from global warming.

2. “Science for Idiots”

The third part of knowledge is “higher math”. There are six categories: the googolplex, geometry, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and irrational numbers. However, the content is not about the superficial mathematics. It applys the mathmatical formula into life. Like the addition, it tells a story of a pegnant woman and addition is indicated in the sum of her experience. The addition formula is applied into adding her experience of life. I love the way of connecting mathematics with life. They are different fields of theory and practice, but sometimes have several subtle association. The formula has no emotion and sense, but life has temperature. It has a neutral effect when these two things connect.

     3. “Higher Math” “Addition”

Yeah, the exact prinple of life is called “higher math”.

Works Cited:

Alan Bigelow. “Brainstrips”. http://collection.eliterature.org/2/works/bigelow_brainstrips.html