Week 6 ~ Analyzing a Postmodern Picturebook

Voices in the Park

Voices in the Park

"Voices in the Park" can be defined as a true post modern picturebook due to the fact that it is a multimodal ensemble that encompasses visual and verbal narratives the reader can bounce back and forth between as they interact with the book.  In fact, the visual images enhance the wording and the wording can enhance the visual aspects (Serafini, 2014).   Serafini quotes L.R. Sipe in his book as saying the dynamic of the visual and verbal aspects together can actually take on new meaning every time the reader "re-reads" the story.  This I find fascinating.  "Voices in the Park" was a unique book in that the reader was able to identify with each character from a different point of view within the story.

Three examples of picturebook codes utilized in "Voices in the Park" are:

• Codes of the Frame - Each reference point serves as a different frame.  Some characters have definitive frames for their images while other characters have no frames or are "full bleed" images.  Characters freely walked in and out of the frame depicting where they began in the beginning of the page and where they ended.  
• Codes of Position and Size - The perspective of each picture changed as the 4 main characters "spoke" their part of the story.  The character who was speaking at the moment was centralized and other characters where not as pronounced until it was their turn to "tell" their portion of the story.  At that point the perspective changed to them being the centralized character.  This helped to change the readers perspective of the story from the first characters displeasure of another dog playing with her dog, to the second character's admiration for his dog's energy to play with another dog.
• Codes of Color - The picturebook overall had very brilliant coloring.  It captures the eye of the reader.

Voices in the Park

In this particular picture I found the interplay between the wording and the picture interesting.  First the wording his from the perspective of a little girl who is relaying what she sees.  The print on the page is much different than during the other perspectives.  Her written perspective does have a childish look.  The image follows her storyline.  The little boy disappears out of the view of the picture with his mother.  In other words, this is only a capture of the image.  He actually walks out of the view of the picture in the story.  He does look sad as he looks over his shoulder towards his new friend.  

While I was trying to decipher the type of artwork used for "Voices in the Park", I decided to google just to see what I could find. I actually came across a Webpage View that I found interesting. First, I didn't realize the season changed with the perspective of the character (Children's Literature Book Reviews, 2011). It does! In fact, this plays in with my statement above that the reader can re-read a picturebook several times and pull away new information. I had watched/read "Voices in the Park" three times before I realized this.

• Character 1/The mother - is always shown in an Autumn type atmosphere.  The leaves are reddish orange.
• Character 2/The dad - is surrounded with a very Winter type atmosphere.  The trees are devoid of leaves and occasional characters dressed "Christmas-y" saunter through the images. 
• The dogs often have very summer like backgrounds with flowers and bright colored trees.  This summer feeling gives a playful appearance.  The children have the same summer-y feel during their playtime, until they are separated at which time the image turns fall or winter-like.

The changing of seasons and the brilliant changes of color combined with a central view of the main character depict the art form - Impressionism (Wikipedia).

It is also important to note that in some imagery during the story, characters such as Smudge and her dad have odd backgrounds.  Large fruit represents trees and statues of gorillas in swim trunks are the artwork for a fountain.  Images also change with the character's mood.  The father is unhappy about his unemployment hence a wintry, dreary background.  These peaks of imagination and revealing the subconscious mind through artwork are part of - Surrealism (Surrealism.org, 2009).  

Ideological Analysis

After the title page the image disappears and reappears as a student/teacher reference. The intent of the book can be seen as either leisure reading or as a class assignment. A leisure reader will interpret the book much differently than a student who is guided by a teacher's interpretation.  Having had to interpret a story in a classroom setting before I understand how a teacher's influence changes the students perspective.  However Browne states in his teaching section, "…. intention is that children should be encouraged to make their own response to the text and should give their justifications for choices and ideas."  

Voices in the Park

There is an undertone of socioeconomic status as well.  The mother is obviously of higher economic status than the father.  Her snobby attitude and dress plus jewelry are very stereotypical representation of her status.  Plus at one point she begins to worry about the "Frightful types" in the park.  The background sound becomes ghostly, frighting as well to add to the panic.  

Voices in the Park

The Father's socioeconomic status is highlighted by a gloomy appearance.  In fact, when he leaves the house the images are very sloppy or messy with liter spread across the ground.  The Mother's background depicted clean housing which was much different.  The images for him do change by the time he and his daughter walk home.  People are dancing in the street.  It is still winter but the mood is lighter suggesting that his daughter is more important to him than money.


Structural Analysis
As the point of view for each character changes, the emphasis on who is highlighted in the picture changes.  For example:

Voices in the Park

Voices in the Park

The picture on the left is meant to emphasize the little boy.  Not that it is the same picture as the picture on the right but focusing on him instead of his mother.  The picture emphasizing the little boy is also more brilliant representing his summer like qualities.  You can also see the Surrealism art in the background - the large fruit trees.  The mother's point of view on the right side is definitely focused on her but that is because she is telling the story.  Her picture is duller, like her personality.  Something else to note is that she doesn't make eye contact with the reader.  Maybe she is too good for the reader?

Citations

Browne, A. (1999). Voices in the park. Retrieved on June 28, 2014 from 

          http://research.kingston.ac.uk/booksalive/flash/book.html

Children's Literature Book Reviews. (2011). Voices in the park. Retrieved on June 28, 2014 from 

          http://reviews-of-childrens-literature.pbworks.com/w/page/10581746/Voices in the Park

Serafini, F. (2014).  Reading the Visual:  An introduction to teaching mulitmodal literacy. New York, 
           NY : Teachers College Press.  

Surrealism.org. (2009). Surrealism. Retrieved on June 28, 2014 from http://www.surrealism.org

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Impressionism. Retrieved on June 28, 2014 from 

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism