Shaun Tan, 11/16

Scribe: Friday, November 16, 2012
Catherine Horn
Topic: Looking at genre of Shaun Tan’s and other literary works
Logistics: Whole class discussion
Activity: 2 parts
-Looking at genre as a category and a complicated idea
-What are some genres that we have looked at this year? What are the expectations? How would we describe them?

1) Shaun Tan’s work:
b) Student: Mystery
i) A lot of it didn’t make sense- the reader must figure out why something is taking place
c) Student: Randomness
i) Whatever was on his mind, he wrote about it.
ii) Stories seem like poems, but they are not.
(1) They are very odd- similar to Alice, Silverstein, Mirrormask
d) Teacher- what are the expectations we have of all of these?
i) These stories are all different medias that are connected by randomness
(1) Genre does not have to do with medias
ii) Other expectations include being incoherence
(1) Student: The stories in Tan’s books were not related; it seems like something is missing
iii) Student: Did not try to make the connection when they read it
(1) More of a coffee table book
iv) Student: Lost and Found connections: everything that was lost eventually found a place
v) Student: People are getting lost in various ways, but getting found
vi) Student: Tales of Outer Suburbia- thread of color is important
(1) The stories do not have an obvious connection
(2) Teacher- stories may not seem like they are fitting together, but the reader wants to find a connection
e) Coffee table book as a genre:
i) Student: More of a collection
ii) Student: Tan has more of bathroom books
iii) Student: Good conversation pieces
(1) Illustrations and short, interesting stories
iv) Student: Variance/ similarities between books: randomness
v) Student: Word/picture interaction
(1) Teacher: words add a lot to the stories, but pictures add more
f) How Tan does not fit into picture book genre
i) Teacher: Picture books are typically for a young audience
ii) Student: Break the audience? Some images are more for adults, and stories themselves are defiantly for adults
iii) Teacher: Pictures look so cool, so children might just flip through pictures
iv) Student: Not for children- student had a hard time learning lesson and theme, so children will not understand either
v) Student: Student thinks it should be for children, but they would not understand the underlying meaning like we would
(1) Teacher: How much will children understand?
(a) Student: In The Red Tree, the theme is even though you might be having a hard time, things will get better
(b) Student: In Eric, the theme is that there are different cultures and everyone has differences, yet they are still the same
(c) Student: In The Broken Toy, the audience might not need to know what is going on
(i) You can use people that you know personally and put them in the book’s characters
(2) Teacher: Does a story have to have a lesson?
(a) Some children’s books don’t need to have a lesson
(b) Student: The point of the book is that there is no point
(i) There is no specific meaning; it is left up to your interpretation
(3) Teacher: If audience were older, would they get more meaning from these books?
(a) Student: They would enjoy it more than younger audience
(4) Teacher: We associate picture books with a lesson, but Tan’s books are picture books, and they have no lessons
(a) How exactly do media and genre fit together?

2) What are some other genres you have come across, and what are the expectations?
a) Student: The Hunger Games as a young adult novel
i) Action- rebellion, killing, violence, fights, explosions, chasing, heroin/hero
ii) Political
iii) Romance- people who love/don’t love each other
iv) Suspense- waiting for something to happen; anticipation
v) Futuristic- dystopia; science fiction, technology
(1) Film looks at the current society and bases movies off of it, much unlike novels
b) Student: Coraline as a young adult novel
i) Gothic- dark, disturbing, depressing, not happy, evil, antagonist
ii) Horror- violence, bloody

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