Pinho Barros The Clear Line in Comics and Cinema

A Transmedial Approach
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-94-6166-443-3
Verlag: Leuven University Press
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 10, 266 Seiten

Reihe: Studies in European Comics and Graphic Novels

Historical and theoretical analysis of the “clear line” style in comics and cinema

The “clear line”, a term coined in 1977 by Dutch essayist and artist Joost Swarte, has become shorthand in the field of comics studies for the style originally developed by Hergé and the École de Bruxelles. It refers to certain storytelling strategies that generate a deceptively simple, lucid and hygienic narration: in Philippe Marion’s words, it is a style “made out of light, fluidity and limpid clarity”.

By cataloguing and critically analysing clear line comics from historical and theoretical perspectives, this book offers a new outlook on the development of the style in the 20th and 21st centuries, especially focused on the context of the European bande dessinée. In addition, it pioneeringly expands the concept of “clear line” to other artistic domains by introducing and defending its transmedial use, which is particularly relevant for the understanding of the oeuvres of certain filmmakers of the 20th century working in the postwar period, such as Yasujirô Ozu in Japan, Jacques Tati in France and Frank Tashlin in the United States. The Clear Line in Comics and Cinema is therefore a key theoretical work for both bande dessinée enthusiasts and comics scholars, as well as a fundamental contribution to present-day film studies and transmedial narratology.

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pinho Barros, David

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Design Comics & Cartoons (Design)
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Animationsfilme, Zeichentrickfilme
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Gattungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part
One: Clear Line Comics

Opening
remarks

Chapter
1: Hergé’s clear line

From Totor to Tintin: Trace and narrative as constraints

The clear line finds its Oriental history

The clear line facing new formats

Chapter
2: The clear line of the École de Bruxelles

Edgar P. Jacobs’s
naturalist clear line

Between individuality and standardisation: Jacques Martin, Bob De Moor and Roger
Leloup

Chapter
3: The clear line after Tintin et les Picaros

The postmodernist clear line: From Tante Leny presenteert! to (À Suivre)

The neoclassical clear line: From Professor Palmboom to Blake and Mortimer 2.0

Philip, Francis and friends: Contemporary parodies and pastiches of the clear
line

Closing
remarks

Part
Two: Clear Line Cinema

Opening
remarks

Chapter
4: Cinema as a graphic-verbal medium

Film’s media combination: A theoretical perspective

Film’s media combination: An analytical perspective

Film’s media combination: A stylistic perspective

Chapter
5: Clear line cinema

“Dire juste”: Density, simplicity and stylisation in cinema

A few directions for a history of clear line cinema, from Louis Lumière to Wes Anderson

Closing
remarks

Part
Three: Case Studies

Opening
remarks 153

Chapter
6: Yasujirô Ozu

Ozu’s clear line frame composition and storytelling strategies

Red teapot, yellow teacup: Clear line colouring in Ozu’s late films

Chapter
7: Jacques Tati

This fits here,
that fits there: The clear line in the Hulot comedies

Minimal sounds for maximal effects: Remarks on Tati’s clear line soundscapes

Chapter
8: Frank Tashlin

Tashlin’s clear line ink: Comics, advertisements and animation

The clear line at the service of comedy in Tashlin’s feature films

Closing
remarks

For a
transmedial use of the concept of “clear line”: A conclusion

Sources

Notes

Über Autor(innen)

Pinho Barros, David
David Pinho Barros is a researcher, curator and assistant professor of literary, cultural and interart studies at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto.