Final Paper

The illustrations in Pride of Baghdad were stylized to evoke emotions of anger and sympathy in the reader. In McCloud's book he describes the various styles in which illustrations can be drawn that will influence different emotions. He also explains the types of lines used in illustrations that possess the ability to set a mood. An interesting comparison to Pride of Baghdad are the illustrations in the 9/11 Report that contain the same bibrant hues and detailed lines. Another point is the feelings one gets when simply reading the book and taking in the pictures.
A picture holds a thousand words. Nothing could be closer to the truth in McCloud's book, "Understanding Comics", where he explains how pictures can be reduced to words. On page 46 of his book McCloud asks the question, "Can any configuration of ink on paper be more abstracted from reality, yet still represent a face as clearly as this one?", he goes on the answer, "I say the answer is yes. Here's part of the solution. Just draw a line straight down from each of the dots to this height for the answer. Meaning retained, resemblance gone. Words are the ultimate abstraction." McCloud means that words are simply an abstraction of pictures. On a scale pictures can be abstract, such as words and sentences, or they can be detailed like the illustrations in Pride of Baghdad. The illustrator, Niko Henrichon, uses detail to depict numerous emotions; curiousity, worry, frustration and outrage are just a few but, the two main emotions that are evoked in the reader are anger and sympaty. McCloud covers another topic that describes this further.
This chapter is about lines and how an artist uses lines to stir up an emotional response from the reader. The specific term for this is called expressionism. With a bend, a straight line turns into an arched eyebrow expressing pain and anguish. Lines don't always have to be in place, such as the are of Rob Liefeld on page 126 of McCloud's book. In this panel drawn for a Marvel comic Liefeld illustrates a face up close with severe angles. There is no doubt that this person is angry. Along with it Liefeld uses jagged lines all over his face that accentuate the emotion of outrage. In Pride of Baghdad Henrichon makes great use of lines for his illustrations. Similar to Liefeld Henrichon depicts emotions in the characters with arched eyebrows, wrinkled foreheads and upturned mouths, but Henrichon steps out of creating emotion in the characters and uses simple lines to signify physical traits that create emotions in the reader. An example of this can be found on page 36 in Pride of Baghdad. On this page is an illustration of the older lioness named Safa. Her eyes are squinted, her nose is crinkled and her teeth are slightly bared showing that she's preparing to attack, but another detail reveals other information. Along her chest, legs, back and torso are random lines that range from a quarter of an inch to and inch in length. Some of them appear to define her muscle and where her joints bend, but a lot of them resemble scrapes and wounds from the past that have healed and scarred. These simple lines speak a lot about her character and past life. By looking at her the reader gets a sense that she's tough and unafraid to stand up and fight. The amount though also shows that she's probably been in a lot of fights and has led a tough life, which perhaps has bardened her.
Throughout Pride of Baghdad there are countless instances that cause the reader to feel sympaty for the lions and other animals. Towards the beginning when the zoo is underfire there are expressions of panic on the lions' faces. Other animals escape and just when a giraffe believes it's free its head is blown off by amunition. The graphic panels make a reader cringe and almost feel quilty. Another example of sympathy is when Safa, the older lioness, and Ali, the cub, come face ot face with an old snapping turtle while getting a drink. They've recently escaped from the zoo and have no idea what's going on. The turtle explains shat he recalls from the last war. He's bitter and cynical as he tells them how he lost all that he loved when the revers filled with oil from the previous war. There is a detailed illustration of all these turtles surfacing from the oil and trying to breathe, there's one on shor that appears dead and others coughing from ingesting oil.
Along with sympathy, anger is also evoked when the reader sees what people are doing to these animals due to their careless actions. At the end of Pride of Baghdad the lions as it appears have beaten all the obstacles, only killing in defense or to eat. As the sun sets over the city Ali, the cub, rushes to the top of a building to see his first sunset. The others follow anxious as well. They sit quietly thankful to be alive, and then out of nowhere Zii, the male lion, is shot and dies. Instinctively Safa charges the shooter in defense, but is shotdown, her body riddled by bullets. The next illustration shows Ali and his mother, Noor, instantly gunned down to death with blood spilling from everywhere. The U.S. soldier who shot them appears to feel guilty. He justifies that they charged him and he was left with no choice. Although none of the lions were even aware of their presence.
I do believe that the purpose of Pride of Baghdad was to stir up emotions in the reader and that sympathy and anger were definitely two prominent feelings I had throughout the book. These lions were simply attempting to survive in a foreign land and then the U.S. soldiers come marching in and masacre them. I believe a point that Vaughan and Henrichon were striving to prove is the inability for people to take responsibility for their actions, particularly U.S. soldiers. After shooting down all four lions he uses the excuse that one was charging him and he didn't have choice, as opposed to he was too scared and overreacted. Also on the next page following that scene it's written, "There were other innocent casualties as well." There are other examples of this neglect in the book. In the beginning everyone is fleeing the city and they throw a donkey carcus into the lion's den and leave them to fend for themselves. Which obviously didn't turn out too well.
Overall Pride of Baghdad is a very contraversial book about a contraversial issue. It provides several lessons yet to be learned in times of war and does an excellent job in expressing numerous mixed emotions that war conjures up. While pressured to side with humans because they are our own species, an honest mind has to take into consideration the potentially irrational decisions of the U.S. soldier and also all the innocent lives that are sacrificed during war. Like the war in Iraq, it is a mental battle that will never end. One thing is for certain though, the illustrations in Pride of Baghdad evoke emotions of anger and sympathy.