My New York Diary

Part B

Literary Analysis

By: Rachael

Woodward

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Group Members: Misha Sharifi, Rachael Woodward, and Xiao Mei Jia

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My New York Diary

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Slowness Movement

By: Julie Doucet

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• An idea Doucet created with Benoit Chaput, while sitting at the kitchen table one evening
• Doucet printed little posters (her first silkscreen printing experience)
• She then put them up around Montreal, every week for 6 weeks
• Surprisingly it really got people’s attention!
• People were collecting them!
• Doucet stopped because Montreal was getting too cold, and she couldnt ride her bike around anymore (Nadel, 2007)

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Interviews

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A GOOD LIFE: THE JULIE DOUCET INTERVIEW (Nadel, 2007)

http://dnadel.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/TheDrama007_JulieDoucet.pdf

Mixed Media: An Interview With Julie Doucet (Davies, 2016)

http://www.rookiemag.com/2016/03/an-interview-with-julie-doucet/

The Compulsive Artist: An Interview With Julie Doucet (Rollman, 2016)

http://www.popmatters.com/column/the-compulsive-artist-an-interview-with-julie-doucet/

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Today

Her Influences

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Her Style

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Retrieved from: http://dnadel.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/TheDrama007_JulieDoucet.pdf

‘Fumetti’

Italian series of comics,

originally started as a spin off from Batman,

in ‘60s and ‘70s. (Rollman, 2016)

• Doucet now lives in Montreal
• Retired from comics in 2000
• Reason#1: "Comic work was hard work, with little pay" (Good Reads)
• Reason#2: "She is sick of making them" (Good Reads)

• Work style: candid, funny, shocking, artistic
• Autobiographical cartoons, prints, engravings
• Common themes: feminism, sex, violence, menstruation, gender issues

Doucet's Early Life

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Word Art. Retrieved July 10, 2016, from: http://lemonhound.com/2013/02/19/words-into-pictures-an-interview-with-julie-doucet/

Short Film: MY NEW NEW YORK DIARY

Julie Doucet & Michel Gondry (2008)

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Adult Life

• Canadian cartoonist & artist
• Born in Montreal, on December 31, 1965
• Attended all-girls Catholic high school in St. Lambert, QC
• Studied fine arts at Cégep du Vieux Montréal
• Earned a BA degree in printing arts, from Université du Québec à Montréal

She moved around a lot!

Today

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Fumetti images retrieved on July 16, 2016 from http://hartter.blogspot.ca/2010/09/italian-fumetti-style-crowhead-vignette.html

New York

1991

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Montreal

1998 - current

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Seattle

1992

• Is active in the local arts scene (exhibition, committees)
• Creates: silkscreen books, collages, animated short films, engravings, prints, books (mavie-mylife)

• Style: her old themes, powerful lines, sense of color, and meticulous design to function (mavie-mylife)

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Berlin

1995

Word Art. Retrieved July 10, 2016, from: http://lemonhound.com/2013/02/19/words-into-pictures-an-interview-with-julie-doucet/

Image of Julie Doucet

Retrieved on July 10, 2016, from: http://zinewiki.com/File:Julie_Doucet.jpg

Reviews & Reception

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"Few artists or writers deal with the hassles & ironies of being female in such novel and bittersweet ways" - The Village Voice (Doucet)

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Famous Publications

"A dramatic roller-coaster ride" - Chicago New City (Doucet)

Part A

Biographical & Contextual Information

By: Misha Sharifi

• Dirty Plotte, 12 series (1988-1998)
• Lift Your Leg, My Fish Is Dead! (1992)
• My Most Secret Desire (1995)
• My New York Diary (1999)
• The Madame Paul Affair (2000)
• 365 Days, Journals (2003)
• Long Time Relationship, Engravings & Prints (2001)
• My Most Secret Desire, collection of works (2006)

• Revered as one of the most influential cartoonists to come from Canada.
• Described as "punk Sylvia Plath"
• Meant to be read out loud (Julie Doucet: How I wrote Carpet Sweeper Tales, 2016)

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PART C

Technical Aspects

By: Xiao Mei Jia

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Historical Content While Growing Up

Montreal in the 1960s

Cover of "My new York Diary". Retrieved June 6, 2016, from: http://durhamcomicsproject.org/blog/page/3/

Doucet grew up in the 1960's, at the start of Hippie culture:

• Associated with rock music, hallucinogenic drugs, and long, flowy hair & clothing
• Beliefs: peace, anti-war & violence, liberal policies, freedom of personal expression, social harmony (Clark, 2016)

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Awards

Her Influences

As a child, Doucet loved Tintin, Asterix,

"Rubrique-A-Brac", by Gotlib,

"Le Concombre Masqué", by Nikita Mandryka.

1991: Harvey Award for best new talent, Dirty Plotte

2000: Firecracker Award for best graphic novel, My New York Diary

2009: Nominated for Doug Wright Awards, 365 Days: A Diary

TinTin Covers. Retrieved from http://en.tintin.com/albums/show/id/28/page/0/0/cigars-of-the-pharaoh

References

Thank You

Annotated Bibliography

Clark, H. I. (2016). Hippie Culture. Retrieved from blastfrompast.wikipspaces.com: https://blastfrompast.wikispaces.com/Hippie+Culture

Davies, R. (2016). Mixed Media: an Interview with Julie Doucet. Retrieved from rookiemag.com: http://www.rookiemag.com/2016/03/an-interview-with-julie-doucet/

Doucet, J. (1993). My New York Diary. Richmond, BC: Drawn & Quarterly.

Doucet, J. (n.d.). Cover Page, My New York Diary. Drawn & Quarterly.

Fagundes, J. (2014, Nov). Colour. Retrieved from mynewyorkdiaryproject.wordpress.com: https://mynewyorkdiaryproject.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/colour/

Good Reads. (n.d.). Julie_Doucet. Retrieved from goodreads.com: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/92471.Julie_Doucet

Irving, C. (2010, Mar). Talking Comics with Scott McCloud . Retrieved from nycgraphicnovelists.com: http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2010/03/talking-comics-with-scott-mccloud.html

Julie Doucet: How I wrote Carpet Sweeper Tales. (2016, Apr). Retrieved from cbcbooks.ca: http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/04/julie-doucet-how-i-wrote-carpet-sweeper-tales.html

Kramer, R. (2010). Moral panics and urban growth machines: Official reactions to graffiti in new york city, 1990–2005. Qualitative Sociology, 33(3), 297-311. doi:10.1007/s11133-010-9154-0

mavie-mylife. (n.d.). Retrieved from juliedoucet.net: http://juliedoucet.net/mavie-mylife

Nadel, D. (2007). A Good Life: The Julie Doucet Interview. Retrieved from dnadel.com: http://dnadel.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/TheDrama007_JulieDoucet.pdf

Rollman, H. (2016, Mar). The Compulsive Artist: An Interview With Julie Doucet. Retrieved from popmatters.com: http://www.popmatters.com/column/the-compulsive-artist-an-interview-with-julie-doucet/

Gondry, J. D. (Director). (2008). My New York Diary - a short film [Motion Picture].

The video chronicles the making of the short film based on the book “My New York Diary”. It consists of Julie Doucet playing herself, and her visit to New York during the filming by director Michell Gordon. All parts of the film are cartooned by Doucet herself, but the artist is shown in the live form while filmed. The strength of this video is that it provides the viewer with adequate information about the production process and paints a clear picture of Doucet’s personality; it is also a great example of her artistic style. The film is relevant to our research because it makes it easy for viewers to understand Doucet’s art form and style. The only weakness is that the video does not contain information about influences on Doucet’s style, which would be cherished by her fans.

Scott McCloud - Understanding Comics.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved July 22, 2016, from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0vtKqkt0q-bNTk1MzlhMmYtMmMyNS00Yzc3LTgzMDEtMjEzNDI3ZmZjMzAx/view?pli=1

The author illustrates what comics are in a logical and simplified fashion. It helps readers incredibly to know what comics are and enriches people’s comic book reading life in a fun and easy way for understanding. The author discusses aspects of comics and comic book art through the theoretical ideas of the art form and one medium of communication. In the book, the author explores the formal aspects of comics by way of giving a definition of comics; the historical development of the medium, its most fundamental vocabulary, and the methods of the medium of comics, in a wide-range. In an attempt to formalize the study of comics the author uses different styles of comics/graphic art as a tool to explain in detail how to read the characters and strong emotions offered in comic books/graphic novels. The author uses realistic representation, iconic representation, abstraction of images and cartoon art to effectively help viewers/readers to make an emotional connection with those elements used in various ways in the comic book. Finally, it shows the readers how comics work in the way of technical aspects, by explaining how the various styles work through color and action, outstanding scene and characterization. The author also explains the difference between Japanese and American styles of comics.

Graphic memoir analysis. (2013). Retrieved July 22, 2016, from https://graphicmemoirassignment.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/graphic-memoir-analysis-2/

The writer of this article offers an analysis of “My New York Diary”. The writer

expressed her opinion on many aspects of her life in the ’big city’ such as “the plot, purpose, themes, structure, voice and tone, the significance of the title, historical, social and cultural context “. According to the writer, the graphic memoir of “My New York Diary “is so much different from what she used to read. It is an incredible storyline, to say the least. According to analysis, the graphics in “My New York Diary” strongly assist the reader in understanding Julie Doucet’s emotions during different time periods; as a young artist who experienced living in New York, then with drugs, and sex, and relationship struggles erupting in her, then associating her increased health concerns of epileptic seizures. The write admires Julie, the author of “My New York Diary”, her incredible courage in creating this graphic memoir, telling readers about the most personal intimacies of her life and her sexual relationship.

Kramer, R. (2010). Moral panics and urban growth machines: Official reactions to graffiti in new york city, 1990–2005. Qualitative Sociology, 33(3), 297-311. doi:10.1007/s11133-010-9154-0

In the 1990's the city of New York declared war on graffiti and vowed to make the subways graffiti-free by spending millions of dollars every year on anti-graffiti programs. Graffiti went above ground and started a moral panic in the city as it violated social norms. The public and media became obsessed with graffiti and a subset of artists developed who pursued the work on a more legal avenue. A social conflict arose in regards to the proper use of urban space and the city became divided on the issue. Hostility grew towards graffiti artists as the public dubbed them uncivil and artists were issued unnecessarily harsh penal sentences. The author concluded "Given that the moral panic over graffiti contains a rhetoric that bears an uncanny resemblance to an ideology that is central to negotiating social contradictions that accompany how space will be put to use, it is reasonable to conclude that the panic in question ultimately serves the interests of the city’s growth machines."