On Memoir Modalities and Diversifying Narratives

 

­­What George Watsky, Jaed Coffin, and Hyperbole-and-a-half have in common is their use of different methods and deliveries to explain their personal narratives. Watsky is an artist whose medium ranges from the written word to spoken poetry, skits, tedtalks, and most famously, rapping. Through this medium, he showcases his talent while also drawing attention to struggles he’s faced regarding his seizure disorder as well as the issues he had in adolescence before there was an emotional and creative outlet for him. Personally, his eclectic way of storytelling is appealing to me because it never becomes boring or tired, there is always something new. That being said, having a style you stick with doesn’t make you inherently boring.

This is evident from looking at Hyperbole-and-a-half’s blog where their comics are published. Like we talked about in class, their art style lends itself to be humorous despite often covering things like depression, anxiety, and apathy, the lesser talked about looming figure of mental illness. As someone who struggles with anxiety and depression, I found myself relating a lot to the feelings of dysfunction and inability to be productive—usually, this would then cause me to spiral if I linger on the topic too long, but because of the forcibly upbeat nature of their art (funny, bright, colorful, fast paced), I actually found myself laughing along while also sympathizing with the state of their mental health and well-being. I feel like drawings, especially heavily stylized, usually are associated with exclusively humor, so to me it was refreshing to see that mode of narrative explore a more serious topic. It added extra depth.

After both reading his article and watching his tedtalk, I find Jaed Coffin’s perspective on immigration as well as his interpersonal relationships with his parents to be at once interesting and also multi-dimensional; He talks in his article not only about his feelings towards his father, but about how culture, society, and expectation can blur the actions of one into the actions of many. The idea of “going out to sea” not only as a physical excursion but as an emotional distance is something I hadn’t considered before and using that phrase to tie together the narrative in all of it’s different parts is super cool. Getting to hear him talk about his mother and her struggles to be accepted as American despite her hard work brings an even more unique view to the situation as we can explore his opinion and experiences in multiple modalities. Ultimately, I think having a diverse range of mediums can really add to the experience of absorbing media, and I am glad we got to take a deeper dive into some of these works.

 

P.S. as the only Watsky listener in the class, I highly recommend his album Cardboard Castles—Or, if you just want to listen to a song or two, “Welcome to the Family”, “Brave New World,”, and “Talking to Myself” are all very good as well.