Week 8: March

The story of the Civil Rights movement is always a powerful and important one, so I think adapting it to any medium could make for something engaging and thought-provoking to the audience. March is unique however, in that we see it from the perspective of John Lewis, who was shaped and influence by it in some incredible ways that eventually led to him pursuing a career as a U.S. Representative.

The raw, energetic and often rough (in an appealing way) nature of the art in the novel lends an incredible human aspects when telling the stories and depicting intense events like Bloody Sunday. There is not a focus on creating realism, or traditionally dynamic character. Instead the loose, and rushes feeling pen strokes lend to the energy and life that was present in the civil rights movement. This "energy" is what led to the violence and change that would define that period. When I noticed this, I started to realize that a graphic novel format for this kind of autobiography seemed like the only way to tell the story in such a vivid and impact way.

March is also a great auto-biography that mixes historical and personal aspect in an engaging way, much like Persepolis (these 2 novels are very similar in a lot of interesting ways).