1. Explain why Voices in The Park is an example of a postmodern
picturebook.
Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park is a
wonderful example of a postmodern picturebook as described by Serafini in our
class text. This book demonstrates
the effect of a story written from four different perspectives. Serafini refers
to this characteristic as “polyphonic” narratives. The first narrator is seems to be an affluent woman who
takes her son to the park to walk their pedigree dog Victoria. The second narrator is a jobless man
who seems hopeless as he looks for a job in the newspaper. The third narrator is the young boy of
the affluent mother who longs for a friend and an outing to the park. The fourth narrator Smudge is the
daughter of the jobless man who wants to get her father out of his “funk” and
take their dog to the park. Each of these narrators gives a different
perspective of the time spent in the park and symbolizes how cultural and
social influences have on one’s perspective of the adventure in the park.
This book also gives a feeling that
there is a disruption of traditional time and space relationships in the
narrative that is also a component of a postmodern picturebook.
2. Give examples of how at least three of the picturebook codes
listed on pg 78 are used in Voices In The Park.
Codes of Perspective
This was evident in this picturebook
by Anthony Browne in that each narrator was able to convey a personal
perspective of the day in the park.
When the young boy Charles and girl Smudge were sitting on the park
bench with the third narrative part, it was noticeable that the boy who longed
for a friend while he sat watching the playful dogs was sitting with a darkness
or gloomy aura around him. On the
other hand, Smudge was sitting on the same park bench with rays of sunshine
surrounding her. Each of these
narrators had a different perspective of the situation and it was demonstrated
in the point of view or setting to change how we interpret the scene.
Codes of Frame
The majority of images in the
picturebook were framed images. However, it was noticeable that the borders in
the narrations by the affluent mother and her young son Charles were crisp and
clean borders and the images were captured in magnificent light and brightness
of light. In contrast the images
surrounding the narrations of the jobless man were worn and encompassed dull
and gloomy colored images representing the downtrodden demeanor and sense of
hopelessness that the man felt.
Codes of Color
With each narrative the changes in
image color speaks boldly to each narrator’s perspective. The images surrounding the affluent
woman and her young boy are bright and cheery with substantial variation of
color used in each image. This relates to the social element where this woman
is able to be home with her young son and enjoy a walk in the park because she
has the resources to do so.
In contrast, the images surrounding the jobless man are dull and gloomy
without the myriad of color to demonstrate the feeling of hopelessness the man
feels. Even his clothing is worn
and dirty. The young girl brings
an element of color to the father with her cheery attitude and sense of
hopefulness. She is child-like
despite her situation and finds hope in the world in which she lives. She sees beauty and finds joy in the
simplest of things (going down the slide, or being on the teeter totter).
3. Identify and explain the type of "interplay" between
the written word and visual images on one of the pages in Voices In The Park.
This book shows interplay between the
written word and visual images from narrator to narrator. The font choices by author Anthony
Browne show a distinction between each of the narrators. A formal more sophisticated font was
used for the affluent woman. A
bolder plain font was used for the jobless man. The font used for the children were childlike and for the
boy more sophisticated than the young girl.
4. Identify the art movement or technique that is being used in
Voices In The Park.
The art movement used by Anthony
Browne in Voices in the park was typical for this author’s work. Anthony Browne has been known to use
images and even characters that are uncommon and this is witnessed in the
ape-faced images of the individual narrators in this picturebook. Browne used this motif in his this and
other works of his to demonstrate surrealism. This concept shows images that are illogical, imaginative
and out of the ordinary. In this
book he uses the ape faced character narrators to tell the story of a day in
the park.
5. Conduct an Ideological Analysis and Structural Analysis of
Voices In The Park. What is the message? Provide evidence from the images to
support your opinion. Use the examples on pg 86, 87,89. I do not expect your
analysis to be as in-depth but I would like for you to make two or three
insightful observations about the perspectives and social context conveyed
through the books words and images.
Ideological Analysis:
Voices in the Park demonstrates the
lives of two people from different social classes. The first narrator, a woman living a pristine life of
affluence and rank in the society’s social structure has the means to be at
home with her son and the family dog.
Her clothing and home surroundings as illustrated in the book show
affluence and wealth. She and her young boy are dressed in better clothes and
formal coats. In contrast the man
who is jobless and hopeless to find one is from a lower social class. Whether he and his daughter live alone
in an apartment or meager home environment, their clothing and surrounding give
evidence to the hopelessness and lack of monetary wealth. These ideals represent
differences in perspectives as well as social classes. The jobless father and daughter
interaction in this book introduces a unique situation where the father is home
being urged to go to the park with his daughter and the family dog. The time
period in which this book was written shows the distinction of the social class
and interplay between the two families.
Structural Analysis:
When analyzing the metafunction of
this picturebook the interpersonal component reveals the position of the
characters to the reader. In this
book the adult narrators, both the affluent snobbish woman and the hopeless
father without a job, are fairly close to the reader and also larger
images. In contrast the young
narrators both Charles and Smudge are at midrange to the reader. Their positions reveal their perspectives. The children are further away from the
reader than the adults and this reveals how many children are less focused than
adults in many situations. The
children in the book look more at their surroundings with great
expectation. The reader is able to
see a wider perspective when images of the children are shown.
Compositional metafunction is
evaluating the frames around the characters in the image. In this book, the characters are within
the frame of the image, typically centered to the viewer. There are a few images where you can
see where the characters have been and where they are going. The
Ideational metafunction represents
the characters and their interaction with each other. In this book it is
evident that the mother and father do not interact because of their difference
in social class status. The
children on the other hand are not influenced by their extreme difference in
social class. They play and
interact well despite their different upbringing. This shows how young children do not recognize the social differences
and look more at the person and not where they come from in society.
6. Embed a picture of the cover of
Voices In The Park in your blog.
References
Serafini, F. (2014). Reading the
visual: an introduction to teaching multimodal literacy. New York: Teachers
Collage Press.
"Voices in the Park".
(n.d.). . Retrieved June 24, 2014, from http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIEZY6lTmEwAxg77w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTB2YW1mMWVvBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDVjE2MQRncG9zAzU-?p=voices+in+the+park&vid=cec1d6583bdec8775283a8b0234f1421&l=5%3A49&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.608037326292058305%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dohs-7ue_wdM&tit=Voices+in+the+Park+by+Anthony+Browne&c=4&sigr=11a9qkkc4&sigt=114304s3q&age=0&fr=mcafee&tt=b
