Deep+Analysis

toc =Introduction=

Deep analysis is a way of looking at something and deriving meaning from what the characters are saying, how they are saying it, where the conversation takes place, and the results of the conversation. It presents messages that the author has embedded within the speech and images. Vagueness aside, deep analysis to me, is really composed of 6 elements.

=The 6 Elements=

> > > > >
 * 1) What is going on in the strip?
 * 1) What does the strip say?
 * 1) How does this affect the characters?
 * 1) How do the characters react?
 * 1) How does the environment affect the scene?
 * 1) What message does this convey?

By going through these steps you are basically pulling apart the strip and extracting any hidden messages and comments the author is trying to convey, steps 1-6 are basically isolating bits and pieces of the message so that you can see it more easily.

=The Archie Factor=

As you were asking, why is it so hard to do a deep analysis of an archie comic? Well, lets take a look at a typical archie comic strip. Lets say in this comic, Archie, Veronica, and Betty are sitting on a bench outside of the burger place in Riverdale. Veronica and Betty are yelling at each other, arguing about who will take Archie to the Sock Hop dance that night. Archie is caught in the middle and eventually passes out due to the loud yelling directly in his ears. Eventually the girls get fed up and decide to go to the dance together as friends and leave Archie all alone.

=Applying the Elements=

Now lets apply these steps to the archie comic I spoke of above. > > > > > > This would be an example of a deep analysis of an Archie strip. Mind you, this is extracting and assuming alot of information, because in the end Archie comics are meant to be short, quick, funny stories to entertain without conveying any real message.
 * 1) Betty and Veronica both want to take Archie to the dance, so they are fighting over him. Archie is distraught.
 * 1) It means that Archie is going to have a headache trying to choose one of the girls, or else he'll go deaf, or he won't be going to the dance with either of them.
 * 1) Either one of the girls will win, or archie doesnt get any.
 * 1) The girls are getting agrier by the moment, and Archie is getting more and more confused.
 * 1) The upcoming dance is making the girls more frantic, and archie more stressed.
 * 1) The message is, being indecisive hurts others more than it hurts you.

=Reapplying the Elements=

Now lets compare this to a more complex scene in another graphic novel. I shall excerpt a few pages from Osamu Tezuka's Buddha volume 1. In these pages, the graphic novel chronicles a starving monk that collapses in a forest, after collapsing a group of animals gather around him, a bear, a wolf, and a rabbit. They see that this man of god who is starving and in need of aid, so they go out to find him food. The bear, being strong and cunning, goes to a stream and captures fish for the monk. The wolf being swift and cunning hunts down and catches a deer for the monk. The rabbit, being smaller and weaker, is completely unable to gather anything substanial enough to revive the monk. Upon returning to the monk, the other animals scorn the rabbit for his lack of ability. The rabbit, feeling like a failure decides to provide nourishment for the monk the only way he can, the rabbit throws himself into the cooking fire, in hopes that the monk will eat his remains and regain his strength. The monk horrified that the rabbit was driven to such an end, thrusts his hand into the flames to retrieve the rabbit, but it is too late. To honour the sacrifice of the rabbit, the monk holds its corpse to the heavens as a ghostly sillhouette in the form of a rabbit flies to the sky. Now, lets use my deep analysis method to look at this strip

> > > > >
 * 1) A starving monk is being helped by animals, each using what they are good at to feed the monk. The rabbit who is neither strong nor as cunning and swift as the wolf sacrifices his own body to feed the monk. The monk awed by such an act, weeps for the loss of the creature.
 * 1) The meaning drawn from the pages talks about how everyone, large or small has something to contribute.
 * 1) The characters react first by scolding the rabbit for doing nothing, and then they are shocked by the sacrifice the rabbit makes, and finally they weep for the rabbits passing and at their own ignorance for underestimating what a great being the rabbit was.
 * 1) The passing of the rabbit shocks the other animals and the monk, that such a small creature can make such a great sacrifice for the sake of the other. It brings realization and humbleness to them.
 * 1) The environment in this strip takes place in the wilderness to express the natural state of this message, and of how even the lowly beast is capable of such compassion.
 * 1) The message conveyed in this strip is a message that the greatest gift that one can give, is of themself.

While you can use your own methods of looking at strips, in the end a deep analysis is just a way of looking at something and trying to understand what it is trying to say in various ways. - Tom