"Snowfall" and the Great Depression

I’ve always had a fascination with the 20th century in America, particularly through the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. It’s a time that begins as so frivolous and silly and just gets worse and worse with the Depression and a war brewing.

My graphic novel is an allegory for the Great Depression, which is what this article by Peter Termin covers. The article discusses the causes of the Depression (real and imaginery) as well as deflation, the gold standard and the first and second New Deals.

I’m trying to collect as much info on it as possible so that I have not only an understanding of the Depression, but also what sets it up and what set up WWII afterwards, as I have thought about possibly doing other parts of my story based before and after the events of this novel.

 

This is still a world that is sobering up from the raucous Roaring 20’s. I wanted to show the change that people were experiencing, through Snow’s eyes. There are some areas of the world that seem not to be affected yet, so experience is different. For example, Snow passes entire towns that seem to be destroyed or filled with lines of people waiting for jobs or food, and then there are others that seem to barely even acknowledge what has been happening.

The Great Depression left many unemployed and bankrupt. In the story, the depression is personified in the wild and other-worldly “Snowfaller,” an Ice Queen-like beast that has seemingly come from nowhere. She, like the Great Depression, has nearly ruined the world’s economy. She has destroyed the railways, a main source of transportation of goods and people, as well as villages, small towns and crops. Many are panicking as nothing like this has ever happened before and they are turning to those in positions of power for help.

One of my main antagonists is Chairman Rose, the president of the large city “Vizarro Grand,” the New York/Washington D.C. hybrid of my world. In my story, he was a young politician that was very popular and rose to power during the “Greycliff War,” a war that preceded the events of the story and is a reference to the WWI. He then serves for seven years as Chairman and his term is coming to an end. Enter the “Snowfaller” from out of nowhere and he is in a panic, having never dealt with anything this massive before. When he learns of the Snowfaller giving birth to my main character, Snow, he is intent on having her found and brought to him. I am using Hoover and FDR as influences for him, as well as reading up on other politicians around the time of the Great Depression.

Also, in my story I am interested in showing the corruption of those who have money and don’t want to let go of it. There is a factory owner, named Mr. Greene, who has orphaned children forced to work in his factories as a means of saving money on employing adult workers. In fact in my story, green, a color often associated with money, wealth and vitality, represents tragedy.

As this is from a child’s perspective, a lot of what Snow knows about world events are overheard from adults around her. I will be mentioning many things that would have been a real problem during the Great Depression (people mentioning unemployment, the stock market, bankruptcy, etc.) and she will slowly be learning and understanding the older she gets and the farther she goes.

Allegories of Oz: Symbolism to inspire Snowfall

This article discusses symbolism in “The Wizard of Oz” as the blog that I wrote last week covered the second edition of “Alice in Wonderland,” which features an introduction that discusses the history, characters and symbolism in the story.  

The story of a little girl named “Dorothy” being swept away in a twister to the magical land of Oz has inspired my imagination ever since I was a child. The books and film adaptations (especially the 1939 “Wizard of Oz” and 1986 “Return to Oz”) have always held a special place in my heart. It’s a nostalgic and emotional journey, with moments of terror, but also whimsy and heart-warming moments. It is this balance of light and darkness that I think pulls you into the story and makes you care for Dorothy and her friends. Her struggle to get back home and for her friend’s to get their courage, heart and brains becomes the struggle of the audience.

This article mentions “symbolic allegory” in the story. The article goes on to explain the possibility that Oz author Frank L. Baum used his characters to symbolize the economy at the time the book was written. The three friends that little Dorothy makes friends with are said to be based off of three different kinds of people. The Scarecrow is the farmer, the Tin Man is a the “dehumanized” factory worker, and the Cowardly Lion represents “social reformers” of the time.

I am interested in symbolic allegory in my story. I am loosely basing this story around the events that follow the very beginning of the Great Depression (so this is perhaps a magical, elseworlds version of 1929). There is a creature known as the “Snowfaller,” a dangerous, Ice-Queen like creature that destroys everything in her path. She is an allegory for the Great Depression. Her reign of destruction has destroyed the world’s main railways, a means for people to buy and sell goods, as well as a means of transportation. The world has fallen into an economic crisis and people are disgusted, looking back at themselves years before. I want there to be a sense of people waking up from a frivolous fantasy (the Roaring 20’s) to a horrible nightmare where there is little to go around.

I also am interested in symbolic allegory to represent current social issues as well as those of the late 20’s/early 30’s. I am interested in depicting gender, gender roles and the expectations of men and women in this world, as well as defying those stereotypes. I especially enjoy exploring the inner strength of women and the secret vulnerability of men.

I also have characters called “Squealers,” portrayed as men with the heads of boars (literal “chauvinist pigs.”) These characters represent the idea of sexual aggression and machismo is today’s American culture and how harmful it can be to men. These characters are similar to the street harassers that I personally have had to avoid in my own life and I want to represent just how frightening this can be, through the eyes of a child.

Going back to the article, there is also the use of “racial allegory.” it is also suggested that there is use of racial metaphor within Oz. The article suggests that Baum used the flying monkeys as a metaphor for Native Americans. The stories feature many different kinds of characters living amongst humans, such as the Munchkins, the Winkies and the creatures that live in the forests of Oz.

I am interested in representing race and racism within my story. In my world, there are humans, Gods, animals, wood creatures, and humanoid creatures with animal features. This story is an allegory for the United States around the beginning of the Great Depression, so I thought it would add complexity to my world to reference the racial tensions and segregation that existed at that time.

One of the main relationships in my story is between Snow, the main character, and her friend Bertie, a “Quetzle Bird,” a rare creature with the body of a young man and the wings and feathers of a bird. When they meet, they are alone. Snow and Bertie form a close friendship and romantic relationship. However, when they are in the big city filled with humans, it is assumed that Bertie is Snow’s “pet.”



Bertie concept

 Snow’s develops other friendships with animals who are turned into humans. Her childlike point of view is used to examine the silly and dangerous behavior of the adults in the world, just as Dorothy’s or Alice from “Alice in Wonderland” does.  



Bertie is colored pencil

 

The story of the “Wizard of Oz” has been very useful in inspiring my world and reading more about the allegories hidden within its pages adds a complexity that I hope to add to my story as well.

 



How does "Alice" influence "Snow?"

"Curiouser and curiouser!"

 

One of my academic sources that I am using for research on my Capstone is Broadview Press's second edition of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is one of my favorite children’s stories of all time. This timeless classic has inspired many fantasy tales for both children and adults. I am using this particular copy of “Alice” not only because of the fantasy elements in the story and how they might inspire me, but because there is a very interesting introduction that explains of the themes and subtext in the story, as well as the history of the book. In these passages, we also learn more about the structure and characters of "Alice" in both a Victorian and modern context.

I am thinking of how this story and characters is influencing my own story. As I read through the introduction, I take note of things and how they might apply to my characters.

One point mentioned is that Alice is interesting for both fitting into the orphan ingénue stereotype (a popular type of a character in Victorian children’s literature, and even today’s children literature, I would say) while simulateously defying it. Alice had parents, but in Wonderland she was alone.

I thought about this myself with the main character of my story, Snow. I wanted Snow to face many challenges in her life alone, forcing her to be courageous and strong, but I did not want to her to be cliché. “Alice” inspired me to make a compromise.

Snow, like Alice, is alone through a good portion of the book, overcoming a great many obstacles by herself, thus learning more about herself and summoning strength, courage and patience that help her grow and mature.

Snow’s parents are both mentioned in the book, but neither is interested in raising her. Her mother was a raging monster, her father is a disinterested, spoiled God-like character. Both exist in the story, but neither wants to take responsibility for her. She is raised by an adoptive father and friends throughout the story. However, through her adventures, there are periods where she is alone and must use her wits and good sense to guide her.

I also am interested in the descriptions of “Wonderland,” in how it may help me shape the world that I am creating. “Wonderland” is curious because…well, actually, it’s just curious period, but it’s curious because truly anything is possible and it does not follow a lot of the same structure common for books set in fantastical lands. It is not like many fantasy stories where there are certain races like elves, dwarves, etc. There are no big cities and towns like in Narnia or Oz. You have humans and animals interacting in a bizarre setting.  

I think perhaps my setting may be a bit more traditional. I have a world map drawn. There are cities and world conflicts. There are wars, depressions, people reference other parts of the world. There are races in my world. In Wonderland, generally a type of a character is seen only once (only one March Hare, only one Cheshire Cat, etc), but I am interested in playing with themes of racism in my story, so I have humans, beasts, Gods, wood-creatures, and “halfways” (in the story this is a derogatory term for anthropomorphic type creatures.)

A rough sketch of the world of "Snowfall"

Though I have already developed much of my story, it’s very interesting to read and learn more about this book that I have always adored and has helped shape how I write my children’s stories. It inspires me and this source has been helpful in influencing where my story goes.

The Virtual Revolution: Episode One

The first episode of "The Virtual Revolution" focuses on the history and impact of the Internet and the Web (which I learned are technically two different things; the Web is apparently the connections on the Internet.) The internet has become such an essential and important tool in our lives and there is only a small chunk of time in my life where I do not remember having it at all. I would say that I check the internet more than fifty times throughout the course of a day.

I think just examining the power of the internet in general is fascinating, so that is something I found interesting about this episode. Here you have something that is not run or own by any one person, has limitless possibilities and anyone, nearly anywhere can contribute or be a part of it in some way. From online shops to social media to Wikipedia, the internet has changed the way that the world connects, learns and communicates. Information is being shared like never before. It's really interesting to learn more about where this revolutionary thing came from and who is behind it. 

I was interested to learn that the internet had it's roots even farther back than I realized. I knew the computers had existed prior to the sixties, but it was really amazing to see the progression towards it's invention examined in this video and interviews people who had a hand in the creation of such a massive, world-changing invention. One of my favorite interview subjects was Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with creating the internet. There was a bit where he says that written onto his basic proposal for the idea of the internet by his boss was: "vague but exciting" just cracks me up. What a hilarious understatement in hindsight, considering what this little acorn of an idea would grow into.

The possibilities of the internet are just limitless and it's really something special that this man really threw this idea out there. He helped create it, but he doesn't own it. I think Stephen Fry said it best when he said that this sort of "idealism" should be "celebrated."

"Snowfall" - My Statement of Intent

Statement of Intent: Capstone Graphic Novel Project

For my Capstone, I will be creating a graphic novel. Monica Larson will be my director on this project. I am very interested in graphic novel to big screen adaptation (either live action or animation), so I would like to make a video of my illustrations with the character’s voices, sound effects and music added.

My graphic novel is “Snowfall.” The story centers around the fantastical and frightening adventures of a girl named Snow, the abandoned daughter of a fierce ice monster whose reign of terror has nearly brought the world they live in to its knees. When a powerful, but desperate politician learns of Snow’s existence, he sets after her to exploit powers he believes her to have. Snow is on the run now, encountering Gods, creatures, and new friends. Joined by Rigby, her goldfish, Strongheart, her guard dog and a rare bird named Bertie, Snow must overcome her fears, control her strengths and face her mother in a final battle that threatens to destroy them all.

"Snowfall" Character Concept Sketches

“Snowfall” has been taking shape over the last few years. The story deals with themes of family (particularly adoptive family), sacrifice, power/corruption and courage. I’m planning to work with Comic Life and draw the illustrations myself. In my final presentation of my work, I would like to also include concept sketches and a small “making of” type video elaborating more on the story, characters and how I put together the graphic novel, as well as a video featuring illustrations with voice, sound effects and music. I would edit the film in iMovie or After Effects.

This story is influenced strongly by dark fantasy films, such as “Return to Oz,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Never-Ending Story,” “The Fall,” and “Spirited Away” as well as classic fantasy tales like “Alice in Wonderland” and “Wizard of Oz” and Greek mythology. The story is also influenced by memories from my own childhood and life experiences. Though this story features a child as the main character and has elements of magic and whimsy, the story also has some very scary/adult elements in it. This book would probably be best suited young adults. Once I finish with this project, I would like to look into sending this off to be published (my fantasy would be for it to be adapted as an animated or live action movie.)  

Graveyard Analysis

I find After Effects to be a complex program and, as newcomer to this branch of film-making, I have found it challenging when working on of our projects so far. So when it comes to working on this project, I realistically see all aspects of this film (masking, rotoscoping, day to night, etc.) as being potentially difficult for me, but if there is going to be one thing that I think will be the most difficult, it will be the adding the green-screened zombie to the graveyard footage. 

I think that this scene would not only be technically difficult, but I am worried about getting the zombie footage to look natural against the graveyard footage, so it synchs up well together and giving the zombie enough room to move around in. I don’t want there to be a lack of space and my zombie’s arm just disappears off frame or goes through where a tree or a headstone is.   

When it came to storyboarding my project, I tried not to make the scene with the actual zombie too complex for me to work with, but there is a enough there to give it some visual interest.

One problem that I noticed with some of the footage and my storyboarding is that there is a lack of space for the character to move in. I will have to really work around that to make the footage of a character moving within the space seem natural. I will probably have to tinker around a bit and work on panning and zooming in on certain areas to make it seem as if there is more space.

However, if this is a problem that I really can’t work around, my storyboards can always be re-worked to accommodate my work. No reason to make it more difficult in this project.

All things considered, though, I am really interested in the horror genre so this type of project is right of my alley and with Halloween coming up, I look forward to working on this project.

Ray Harryhausen

Often artists, animators and filmmakers will reference their own body language and facial features when creating a character to make the movements more realistic, sophisticated and something that the audience will be more willing to buy into. Adding even small gestures and expressions can convey character and personality, which is especially vital to a character that has no dialogue, like, say, a dinosaur or a skeleton warrior or a six-armed octopus.

Ray Harryhausen, one of the greatest visual effects creators in film history, built his entire career (and legacy) on the understanding of what would bring fantasy and imagination to life on the big screen in the way that was real for the viewer.

Ray would throw himself into his work, often acting alongside actors and directing on set though the sequences he had already storyboarded and would be animating later. Directors often would disapprove of Ray working on set, unsure of why exactly he was there. Ray would work in place of where the monster would be and provide direction to the actors, who would be working with little more than a drawing and Ray’s direction.

Caroline Munro remembers working with Ray on the set of “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.”

“Working with Ray Harryhausen was the most amazing experience for me. I was a very unknown actress and had never worked with his stop motion animation. There was nothing to work with. Ray used to us these wonderful drawings that he’d done. He’d say, ‘Now this is what you’re going to be reacting to, but it’s not a drawing. It’s a real life huge, enormous creature.’”

Munro continued by adding that during one sequence where her character faced one of his fiecersome creatures, “His eye-line was a stick so he’d have this stick and on the end of this stick, he’d drawn this eye, which for me was the centaur’s eye and Ray would wield the eye.”

Martine Beswick, actress in "One Million Years BC" recalls an instance with Ray on set. “I remember one scene when these pterodactyls were coming over us, and we didn’t know this, we didn’t see this, but Ray got onto a flat bed truck and drove in front of us while we in our little wet, skimpy pieces of leather brandished our spears at these things.”

Harryhausen’s dedication to bringing his vision to life shows through not only in his work on his many models and drawings, but in his directing and acting. Ray’s gift for breathing life and character into creatures built his career and his legacy.