EAD565_FIRST ASSIGNMENT_ANALYSING CARTOONS & CARICATURES PDF

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UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARAFACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIESEADCARTOON AND CARICATURE STUDIESINDIVIDUAL WORKSSTUDENT NAME: NUR ARTEKAAH AINA BINTI ABD RAHIMSTUDENT ID: (2019229598)CLASS: MC245S4ALECTURER’S NAME: SIR ADLEEN HAIQAL BIN AB AZIZASSIGNMENT DUE: 9TH MAY 2021iTABLE OF CONTENT 1. Int...

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UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES

EAD565 CARTOON AND CARICATURE STUDIES INDIVIDUAL WORKS

STUDENT NAME: NUR ARTEKAAH AINA BINTI ABD RAHIM STUDENT ID: (2019229598)

CLASS: MC245S4A LECTURER’S NAME: SIR ADLEEN HAIQAL BIN AB AZIZ

ASSIGNMENT DUE: 9TH MAY 2021

TABLE OF CONTENT Title

Page 1

1.

Introduction

2.

History of Save Me

2-4

3.

Synopsis of Save Me

5-6

4.

Biodata of the LICO

5.

Theme of the Save Me

6-7

6.

Styles and Influence of Save Me

8-9

7.

Characters

9-11

8.

Impacts on Society

9.

Conclusion

12-13

10.

References

14

6

12

i

1.0 INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS CARTOON AND CARICATURE Cartoon is a word that shows us a clear progression in meanings from the concrete to the abstract in several stages. Nowadays most of us frequently use cartoon to mean “a humorous drawing,” “comic strip,” or “animated film or TV show,” But back in the day cartoon definition is another meaning and much more accurate where In painting, a design drawn on strong paper, to be afterward calked [rubbed] through and transferred on the fresh plaster of a wall, to be painted in fresco. Also, a design colored for working in Mosaic, tapestry etc. (Editors of Merriam-Webster, 2017) A caricature is a painting, or more usually drawing, of a person or thing in which the features and form have been distorted and exaggerated in order to mock or satirise the subject. The word caricature is first recorded in English in 1748, the year, as it happens, that William Hogarth painted his great anti-French satire O the Roast Beef of Old England which includes caricatures of a French monk and French soldiers. Later in 18th and early 19th century, James Gillray use caricature as the political cartooning which a form of ca ricatures that appears everyday in our newspapers until today.

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2.0 HISTORY OF SAVE ME

Figure 1 shows the cover of Manhwa Save Me upon released The cartoon that I chose is Save Me or its alternative title, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt. 0: Save Me, is a Korean Manhwa. Manhwa term is actually originally from the Chinese term, ‘manhua’ which means ‘impromptu drawings’. Originally, these terms were used as precise terms for all comics and graphic novels, regardless of country of origin, within Japan, Korea, and China, respectively. Nowadays, internationals reader would use these terms to refers to comics published in their country; which manga refers 2

to Japanese comics, manhwa refers to Korean comics, and manhua refers to Chinese comics. (Peralta, 2020) This manhwa even before released has been anticipated a lot by all its own fans, as this manhwa is a collaboration project of Naver Webtoon with Big Hit entertainment. The collaboration is about the adaptation of the BTS Universe into a webtoon storytelling series. The storyline originally come from the series of unfolding the universe that form through the music videos from the boyband BTS that known as BTS universe or in short BU, this BU has been the subject of much debate and theorizing amongst BTS fans. LICO which is a Naver Webtoon subsidiary, is the one who adapted and produced the BU universe story plot into a webtoon. This manhwa was release on 17 January 2019 through the Naver Webtoon platform itself and ended on 11 April 2019. This manhwa has 16 chapters including the prologue. Total of the readers for each chapter is estimated to be 140K readers which has become a total of 2.1 million readers of this manhwa. This manhwa at that time is uploaded once a week and since it is a premium and original storyline therefore this manhwa needs gold coins to read a few upcoming chapters in advance. There are also rules where readers cannot screen capture the manhwa to protect the originality of the manhwa, but these rules are only limited to Android users of the Webtoon. A bit uproar and chaos happened in Twitter at that time among the fans as the boyband members of BTS, Jimin uploaded a screen capture of some scenes publicly on their official Twitter account on 17 January 2019. This manhwa has 25 translated versions in the webtoon including the official translation and fan translations. This manhwa has been simultaneously released in Korea, U.S., Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia; they are using many kinds of hashtag to promote the manhwa;

#BU_Official

#BU_webtoon

#SAVEME

#BTS_theory

#BTS_Universe

#BTSWorldwide. This is to help boost the manhwa popularity in Twitter platform at that time as well as making the readers connect with other readers through the hashtag. As this manhwa is a part of BU universe many fans use this hashtag to share their stories and theories and opinions about this manhwa.

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The contents of th is webtoon span from a Korean group BTS Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa (The Most Beautiful Moment in Life) in short HYYH album to LOVE YOURSELF and Map of The Soul series. There are so many contents has been released throughout this series; the small notes that are provided in each version of the BTS album, along with the release of prologue video and the publications of The NOTES books which contains four versions.

Figure 2 shows that a member of BTS uploaded a screen capture of the scenes that contained his character

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3.0 SYNOPSIS OF SAVE ME On January 7, 2019, Big Hit Entertainment made an addition to BTS’s BU (Bangtan Universe) storyline along with the sudden appearance of a Twitter account called “Smeraldo Books’. According to the first post on the account, Smeraldo Books is derived from Smeraldo, which holds the meaning of “the truth untold” in the language of flowers. It also added, “The book created by ‘Smeraldo Books’ will do its best to express sincerity. Thank you.”

Figure 3 shows the first tweet that sign the opening of Smeraldo Books Twitter account A huge journey of The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt. 0: Save Me can be seen along with every tweet tweeted from this account. The fans of this BU would always anxiously wait for the update as this account always tweet a random note from a random time in the universe. As a note has been tweeted, tons of fans will start making theories and connecting the said notes to every scene they could remember. In this manhwa, there are seven boys. Best friends. Their fates intertwined through the good times together, but also the tough times, as they have gone their separate ways and suffered greatly as a result. When all is almost lost for these boys, one is given a 5

special chance to go back in time during every 11th April and help his friends fix the mistakes that led them down this path. He will do anything to save them, but can he? Or is he too late? 4.0 BIODATA OF CREATOR/CARTOONIST Life is a Comic or in short (LICO) is a Korean Animation and a Webtoon studio created back in 2017 by NAVER company. LICO is a digital content company that tests and produces various digital work based on animation, videos and images while staying on top of fast changing trends. Their first work started with ‘A Day Before Us’ which is a series of short animation films and followed with a Refund High School webtoon and then a Save Me manhwa. LICO production team is made up of about 20 people in their company. There are so many different jobs that they participate in, which are planning, setting, production, animation, sound, and editing. Production team in LICO are not just people who draw. LICO is that kind of company where people are gathered together to create interesting contents. With a shift in direction, LICO already have the capability to make movies, dramas, comics, or even work as illustrators or graphic designers in their team. 5.0 THEME OF THE SAVE ME The theme in this manhwa contains heavy themes such as friendship, suicide, and depression in it. For the friendship themes in this manhwa, it shows where the main character, Seokjin reminiscing his memories with his six other friends, where they used to go to the same school, and they are being punished together for being tardy and that is how they develop a deep friendship during that time after keep hanging out together in their secret place, which is the abandoned classroom. There is also a scene where Seokjin trying to save all his friends from their ill-fates and to stop them doing suicide. The theme for suicide and depression in this manhwa is kind of heavy themes and always need trigger and content warning for their readers. In this manhwa, they are highlighting that Jimin in this story is having mental health issues and were admitted in the hospital because of his seizures and traumas from his parents. Jimin, he has been 6

suffering a lot while staying in the hospital and as the last resort to end the pain, he try to drown himself in a bathtub. There is also Yoongi who have issues in his life. Due to Yoongi’s dad opposition of him to pursue music in his life, he has been having suicidal thoughts since then and trying to kill himself by burning the motel room he is staying in.

Figure 4 shows that Seokjin and his friend are having fun in the abandoned classroom while getting punished to clean the class

Figure 5 shows that Seokjin trying to save Jimin from drowning in bathtub

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6.0 STYLE AND INFLUENCE OF THE CARTOON As this manhwa is a whole adaptation from the BU and HYYH series, thus the style of the drawing is reincarnated into a whole webtoon characters. Most of the scenes in this manhwa is coming from the music videos of BTS, The HYYH Prologue video, and The Red Bullet Concert VCR. Also, as this is a joined project of Big Hit entertainment with LICO, thus the whole plot and storyline is provided by their team company to make this manhwa webtoon more realistic.

Figure 6 shows that a snippet of the manhwa that is in parallels with the music videos

Figure 7 shows that a picture of polaroid in manhwa that was drawn according to the highlight reel of the music videos

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Figure 8 shows that a snippet from The Red Bullet Tour Begin VCR that has been used as referenced in the manhwa 7.0 CHARACTERS There are seven main characters in this manhwa, who is Seokjin, Namjoon, Yoongi, Hoseok, Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook. The protagonist and narrator also the prime mover in the story’s plot. He returns home two years later, only to find his friends plunged into their own miseries. He gets trapped in a time loop, from which he could escape only if he could save all six of his friends from their ill fates. In the end, he is killed in a struggle with Taehyung, who has turned murderous against his own father due to violence in the family.

One of Seokjin's best friends, the fourth eldest. He began working in a gasoline station in this 2 year. He is destined to meet a rude and arrogant customer that will make him go to jail for fighting back his rights.

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Yoongi is one of Seokjin's best friends, the second eldest. He is expelled from school when he fought a teacher who was about to beat Jung-kook up. He is pursuing music but is met with opposition by his father. He is destined to die after setting fire to his motel room due to his suicidal thoughts.

The youngest of Seokjin's best friends. He is having problems with his indifferent stepfamily. He is destined to be beaten up by strangers and fall to his death from a building.

Ji-min is one of Seokjin's best friends, the third youngest. He is fated to be indefinitely, perhaps forever, confined in a hospital when his parents gave up on him due to him suffering from seizures. He is traumatized by his parents' neglect. He would frequently see dark images of his younger self, which could be linked to his painful past. As a last resort, he attempts suicide by drowning himself in a bathtub.

Ho-seok is one of Seok-jin's best friends, the third eldest. He is afflicted by narcolepsy since childhood, and he would sometimes collapse and injure himself during narcoleptic attacks. He is an orphan, abandoned by his mother. Despite his narcolepsy, he is working in a fast-food restaurant. He is supposed to be confined in a hospital where he shall meet his fate due to falling down a flight of stairs after mistaking a woman for his mother. 10

Tae-hyung is one of Seok-jin's

best

friends, the second youngest.

Since

childhood, he and his older subject

sister to

were

physical

abuse by their father, who is a drunkard. During their father's tantrums, his older sister would tell him to hide while she takes all the beating. Due to his family problems, he ends up becoming a

delinquent

would

often be

and in

police custody. He is destined to become a murderer upon killing his father by stabbing him with a broken liquor bottle. He is the last to be attempted to be rescued from this ill fate, at the cost of Seok-jin's life.

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8.0 IMPACT ON SOCIETY It has been said that and observed for long that, the impact of this manhwa not only on society but as well as economy. It is because the theme and stories that are used in this manhwa bring up the topics that seem taboo to society, which is suicide, depression, and mental health. Back in the day these issues are seen as something we should not even be talking about in public or even within family members. Ever since the release of th is manhwa and the whole series of HYYH in B U Universe it could be seen that most of the fans of the boyband BTS has been more open about these mental health issues and even advocate about it most of the time. 9.0 CONCLUSION In conclusion, despite being seen as a webtoon that are made just for a boyband fans, but this manhwa really does touch every aspect of issues in society that barely spoke and drawn in most comics or cartoons. People might see the making of this manhwa as part of money-making strategies to the entertainment company but the whole BU is eventually beyond than that. This BU shows that during teenagers’ years, mental health issues are important and should not even be taken lightly. Therefore, a whole HYYH journey is created to spread awareness among younger fans and other people too that it is okay to not be okay. The contrast of this manhwa is that a few complaints from readers were filed as this manhwa lacks trigger and content warning where victims from all sorts of violence that happened in this manhwa could trigger them. As this manhwa also shown to young people and all age groups, this manhwa is not suitable for people that are suffering from the traumas as the graphics in this manhwa have shown ways on how to commit suicide and an act of extreme violence that shows what object is used to kill people in this manhwa. Therefore, this manhwa has it owns pros and cons, and it is up to the readers either to keep going reading it while admiring the real messages that are trying to be delivered to other people or just reading it for fun. The drawn versions of storytelling for BU are what fans mostly needed and always expected as this can help them to solve most of the 12

never-ending theories in this BU. Therefore, it could be said that BU is one of the wellplanned stories with a good in hand producing teams.

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REFERENCES 1. Ederlyn Peralta. (2020, July 24). The Differences Between Manga, Manhwa & Manhua, Explained | CBR. CBR; CBR. https://www.cbr.com/the-differencesbetween-manga-manhwa-manhua-explained/ 2. Editors of Merriam-Webster. (2017, August). The Evolution of Cartoon. MerriamWebster.com; Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-atplay/cartoon-definition-evolution 3. Fatima. (2018, June 12). INTERVIEW | A Behind the Scenes Look with the Creators of “A Day Before Us.” OH! Press; https://blog.onehallyu.com/interview-abehind-the-scenes-look-with-the-creators-of-a-day-before-us/ 4. Webtoon. (2019, January 17). Naver Webtoon X Big Hit Entertainment Reveal | 'The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt.0 ’ | A Web Comic Set in the BU (BTS Universe). Prnewswire.com. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/naverwebtoon-x-big-hit-entertainment-reveal--the-most-beautiful-moment-in-life-pt0save-me--a-web-comic-set-in-the-bu-bts-universe-300779945.html 5. Smelrado

Books.

(2021).

Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Smeraldo_Books/status/1082094224709902337 6. Tate. (2017). Caricature – Art Term | Tate. Tate. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artterms/c/caricature 7. Wikipedia Contributors. (2021, March 24). Save Me (webtoon). Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_Me_(webtoon)

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