Marbles by Ellen Forney has to be one of my favorites books that we’ve read so far. I felt like the images matched perfectly with the story/themes. One of the things that I want to talk about is how Forney uses space in her book. In the beginning of the book, Forney is all over the place. It gives off a claustrophobic vibe, which gave me a variety of feelings, a majority of the part consisted of panic and feeling overwhelmed by the bombardment of words and images. But the images also conveyed excitement and energy.
Forney’s depiction of depression emphasized the blankness that comes with depression. I noted from pages 70-73 how empty the spaces become compared to the beginning. There is so much white space. This came as a surprise to me because I was just in this state of excitement and stimulation and then, as if all of a sudden, I’m in this state of being low. It was as if I was in an art gallery, then I blinked and the gallery was emptied of all its work and guests. I also noted that on page 81, Forney writes “Besides, suicide seemed like an awful lot of effort. All I really wanted was to disappear.” The illustration on this page makes her disappear and not just because of how small she looks. Everything seems transparent/blended together. There is not “spotlight” on her compared to the previous pages. What makes her exist on this page is the outline. In a way, black gives life in comic. Going back to page 71, the entire page is black with her thoughts encased in white. The blackness conveys this enclosed space and her words make this space more personal. It is as if we are in her mind. In addition, this page allows us to translate her words into our own images, making this space even more personal.
In class today, and I didn’t even make this connection, we discussed 77 in comparison to Casey’s “A better Place to Live”. I believe the discussion was on the difficulties or, perhaps, the impossibilities to describe feeling depressed. It’s as if Casey is implying that language is failing her. So, would you say that Forney is able to do what language can’t for Casey? Are Forney’s drawings able to depict depression? Or do they come close enough? And if Forney has succeeded, what do you think makes her drawings successful in the depiction?
Grace I completely agree with these feelings! Her mania translates so well in her comics especially when she has so many thought bubbles popping up all over the place, or when she makes a decision and then later regrets it in the following scenes. Her mania gave me mania, it made me feel kind of weird because I felt like I had to constantly keep up and ended up feeling like I had to recoup after a chapter or two. Her depressed chapters were easier to get through and more organized. This is one of my favorite scenes, and to answer your question this definitely depicts depression perfectly. I feel like I understand this picture, I can understand the exhaustion of getting up just to go lay down again because just moving is exhausting. Maybe because I’ve felt this before but the picture is so simplistic and clear that it’s easy to grasp. I think pictures can do what words can’t sometimes, in this case Forney’s pictures depict feelings we might not be able to explain. You can easily say “I was in a manic state” but what comes to mind can vary, seeing Forney’s picture I feel like it’s a better understanding.
Gracie, I really enjoyed your post. The day we were assigned to meet up in our groups, my group and I was also working on page 77 and trying to figure out what exactly is going on in this page however , we couldn’t come up with much besides connecting this page to our morning routine of not wanting to get out of bed. Your post made a lot of sense to me of why the blank space. Once her mania kicks in she is no longer this hyper crazy women. She became calm and depressed.on page 78, I really felt sad for her but I am also happy that she didn’t let her mania stop her from going and meet her idol Judy Blume. While conducting the interview with Judy Blume she did her best to not let her mania take her over. “Don’think, don’t cry, shh.”(78).
Nice notes of Forney’s pictures; I agree that they are a vehicle particular to her that enable her to convey her experience. However, I wouldn’t necessarily say “language is failing [Forney]”; I think it can be argued art is a kind of language, and that having this page sans words is just … stylistically smart (as you noted, it’s quite the contrast from the frenetic words that comprise much of the first chapter). I would say that Forney is relying on the medium she feels is most adequate to convey what she wants to say–or maybe even the medium she is most able to express herself through–and that most-expressful medium is probably different for everyone. For example, a poet might argue that poems are most exemplary for depicting his/her feelings, while a painter would say painting, etc.
I think this was the best picture to describe her mood change, also she was alone, and no one was by her side to encourage. I remember her mother did encourage her over the phone but I wish her mother was by her side to see her daughter what she is going through. I think this picture relates to all of us because I think once a while we all feel this way, does not want to get up and just want to hide somewhere so no one can bother us. But her situation was different and had different feelings. I think the space that she uses in the images refers to the gap she felt between herself and surrounding her. The distance between her families, the society, makes her stay in her space where no one will bother her at all.