Performativity and the Formal Elements of Comics: Reading Nonviolent Resistance in Graphic Novels

Date of Award

6-2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

English

First Advisor

Gwen Athene Tarbox, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Meghann Meeusen, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Jil Larson, Ph.D.

Fourth Advisor

Joe Sutliff Sanders, Ph.D.

Keywords

Comics studies, graphic novels, nonviolent resistance, performance studies

Abstract

There is a growing body of graphic novels that depict instances of nonviolent resistance as comics creators explore issues related to geopolitical conflict, social justice, and human rights. Among these are Sally Heathcote, Suffragette (2014) by Mary M. Talbot, Kate Charlesworth, and Bryan Talbot, the March trilogy (2013-2016) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio (2020) by Derf Backderf, and Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes (2020) by Lun Zhang, Adrien Gombeaud, and Améziane. These graphic novels detail events situated in historical social movements and feature prominent examples of nonviolent resistance as forms of protest. Nonviolent resistance is a means of “dramatizing” a situation by collectively calling attention to a problem, thus forcing figures in authority to address grievances on a public stage. In this way, nonviolent resistance becomes a performance, revealing the similarities among comics, nonviolent resistance, and performance at operational, structural, and ideological levels, and prompting questions about how comics creators communicate protest as performance, what this performativity might look like based on certain cultural considerations and contexts, and why the comics medium is especially effective for depicting nonviolent resistance. I argue that applying performance as a critical lens—specifically performance as kinesis, which entails the act of breaking and remaking—reveals the ways that comics creators utilize the medium’s qualities to foreground depictions of nonviolent resistance, make meaning of these events, disrupt traditional narratives, and have an impact on the world.

This study contributes to academic and public-facing conversations regarding nonviolent protest and offers insight into the attitudes, opinions, and ideologies that have historically underpinned social movements with an eye to how these have shifted over time and are currently developing in today’s increasingly polarized society. This interdisciplinary project not only demonstrates the increasingly visual nature and practical application of cultural studies that students desire, but it also emphasizes the importance of studying the humanities and fostering a closer look at people and their subjectivity to remind people of the foundational aspects of humanity’s shared condition and need for community and agency to form an inclusive and healthy society.

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