Above is a Fleischer cartoon featuring Koko the Clown, the studio’s big star until Betty Boop (and the now largely forgotten Bimbo) came along.
One thing that really impresses me about the oldest Fleischer cartoons is how strong the line work is. In modern cartoons, lines are razor-thin and uniform in width, and don’t really have any personality. The lines found in the old Koko shorts, on the other hand, have an expressive, calligraphic presence. That this quality was achieved not in still illustrations but in the labor-intensive medium of animation is pretty remarkable I think. I can’t think of any modern animation that uses lines so artfully.
Whenever we meet someone from, say, Thailand, we do our best to simulate the native pronunciation of their name. The Thai way of saying it is considered to be “correct”, and when our English-speaking tongues are unable to faithfully recreate the sounds, we sheepishly apologize for our substandard approximation.
I was surprised to learn recently that this idea, that people’s names have an absolute “correct” pronunciation, isn’t universal. I was talking to a Japanese grad student named Ms. Kawai, who had recently returned from a year abroad in China. During the course of our conversation, she mentioned that her Chinese friends and colleagues called her Chuan-He. When I asked why, she told me that Chuan-He is the way the characters that make up her name are pronounced in Chinese.
Apparently, “translating” Japanese names into the Chinese pronunciation is not at all uncommon. This speaks to underlying differences between English and Chinese.
The English written language is tied to sounds. The letter “M” doesn’t mean anything, it simply represents an “mmm” sound. Only by stringing letters together do we get words that have meaning.
The Chinese written language, on the other hand, is tied to meaning. Each Chinese character intrinsically represents a concept.
Pronunciation in Chinese can vary wildly depending on what dialect you’re speaking. Someone who grew up speaking Mandarin Chinese wouldn’t understand a word of Cantonese Chinese. In fact Mandarin and Cantonese are different enough that they would probably be called different languages (rather than just dialects of the same language) if it weren’t for the common writing system. Pronunciation isn’t absolute in written Chinese, meaning is. So rather than struggle with the Japanese pronunciation of a Japanese name, they just say it the Chinese way.
Starting today (Tuesday, February 23), some of my work will be on display here in Tokushima, Japan. It’s a very small, informal group show for Shikoku University’s Calligraphy Department research students (all three of us).
My contributions amount to two pieces of mediocre calligraphy, and about ninety pieces of original art from Tonoharu: Part Two. Here are the deets:
Dates: Tuesday, February 23, 2010—-Friday, February 26, 2010 Time: 9am to 5pm Location: The second floor of Shikoku University Kouryuu Plaza, Tokushima, Japan
See you all there!
What’s that you say? You live on the wrong side of the planet and I haven’t given you enough notice to book a ticket to Japan? In that case, here’s a few images of what you’re “missing”… (more…)
In addition to the Tokushima show I wrote about last week, I also participated in a show in Tokyo this week. That’s right, two shows in as many weeks, check me out! (Though literally hundreds of people were accepted for the Tokyo one, so don’t be too impressed.)
Rather than upload my photos of the event here, I’ll just direct interested parties to the Facebook album I made for it:
I’ll be giving a presentation about Japanese calligraphy and its relationship to comics at the University of Minnesota on Friday, January 28, 2011. The lecture is a part of a workshop being put on by N-dimensional Japan. The event is free and open to the public, so come out if you can!
Presentation Details What: N-dimensional Japan Workshop Series III When: Friday, January 28, 2011 · 6:00pm – 9:30pm Where: University of Minnesota, 100 Rapson Hall, 89 Church St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 [Google Maps]
Just a reminder that I have two presentations that are just around the corner:
This Friday, January 28th, 2011, I’ll be speaking at the University of Minnesota about Japanese Calligraphy and how it has benefited me as a cartoonist. All the details can be found here.
Then just a few days later on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011, I’ll be talking at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design about my comics, and my experiences with self-publishing. Details for that one can be found here.
So if you’re in the Twin Cities area, come out if you can!
(Note: I’m running myself ragged trying to finish up these presentations, so there will be no new blog entry this Friday.)
As previously blogged about, the Tokyo-based magazine Metropolisran a cover story about Tonoharu last month. Editor James Hatfield was kind enough to send me a copy of the print version, which looks pretty snazzy:
And finally Hashi, a Finnish magazine devoted to Japanese culture, ran a translation of some blog entries I wrote about East Asian calligraphy. It’s an absolutely gorgeous magazine, with a lot of really interesting looking articles; I sure wish I could read Finnish! Thanks to editor Mirja Paatero for translating/including my inane rants!
The original blog entries can be found (in English!) starting here.
*****
*Reminder* Until the end of the month (March 2011), I’m donating the profits from Paypal sales of Tonoharu: Part One and Two to the Red Cross, to help with the earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan. (Details here)
So far I’ve sold four books, with a total of $62 donated to the Red Cross (my thanks to those who ordered!). I think it’d be cool to get that total up to at least $100, so if you’ve always wanted a copy of Tonoharu, please consider making that purchase now! Otherwise, please consider donating directly to the charity of your choice. Thanks!
These videos have a few images from the forthcoming Tonoharu: Part Three, so check ‘em out!
My thanks to Angie Prindle, Steven Flynn, Joel Zimmerman, and all the other folks at Twin Cities Public Television / Minnesota Original for putting together such a wonderful piece.
Also, thanks to everyone who joined me for the viewing party last night! I appreciate it!
Then on Saturday, December 17, 2011, I’ll be at the Tokushima Museum of Literature & Calligraphy ( 徳島県立文学書道館 ). This is in conjunction with a calligraphy show that runs from 12/16 ~ 12/18. Don’t miss your big chance to see a piece of my sub-par calligraphy! I’m not sure what times I’ll be there to and from, but I’ll update with that later. There doesn’t seem to be an online event page for the show, but the website for the museum can be found here (Japanese only): http://www.bungakushodo.jp/index.html
