Cecil C. Castellucci,
in den USA geborene kanadische Romanautorin, vorwiegend für junge Erwachsene, Sängerin und Regisseurin.
Zitat:
Comics
The P.L.A.I.N. Janes (2007)
Castellucci wrote the inaugural graphic novel for DC Comics's Minx imprint, which targets the YA audience. A long time comic book fan (she invited Batman to her fourth birthday party), Cecil jumped at the opportunity when contacted by Group Editor Shelly Bond.
The story follows a girl named Jane who moves to suburbia after a terrorist attack in her hometown of Metro City. In the chaos after the attack, she finds a “John Doe” and his sketchbook. He serves as an inspiration for her to spread art to others. Jane's family decides to move away from Metro City in favor of a more sheltered, quiet community, where Jane spends a lot of time drawing in the sketchbook. This book becomes her inspiration to form P.L.A.I.N. (People Loving Art In Neighborhoods). At school, she rejects the popular girls, and instead finds her "tribe" with three other girls named Jayne (aka Brain Jane), Jane (Theater Jane), and Polly Jane (Sporty Jane). Even though each girl embodies a high school stereotype, as the story progresses, readers see how each girl grows out of her mold and presents her other interests and abilities. They band together to form P.L.A.I.N. and commit "art attacks" to fight against their individual hardships and emotions but end up fighting against the social hierarchy. They eventually inspire other teens to use art as their weapons as well. At the end of the story, when Main Jane tries to admit that she was behind the P.L.A.I.N. attacks, the police dismiss her confession because they believe the attacks were too labor-intensive to be done by a girl. This part of the story challenges the notion that anything involving physical labor is exclusively for men.
Jane refuses to be defined as a victim of her terrorist attack experience, unlike her parents who are shackled by their fear; instead, she transforms her trauma into art through P.L.A.I.N. The Plain Janes’ message of “art saves” embodies the idea of giving people permission, even inspiration to face their fears and to move forward, while in addition aims to challenge conformity and to bring back life and spirit into the town of Kent Waters. The story shows how Jane (Main Jane) is comfortable with her own identity as an individual and refuses to conform to what society defines as “cool.” An example of this would be the first P.L.A.I.N “attack” which protest the building of the new shopping mall, challenging what the students defined as “cool.” By participating in these “attacks,” the Janes are able to empower both themselves and their community by pushing the boundaries of normalcy and bringing a sense of imagination and spontaneity to the otherwise monotonous suburbia.
A Canadian citizen, Castellucci won the Joe Shuster Award in the category of "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer" for Janes.
A sequel, called Janes in Love, was released in 2008. The sequel follows P.L.A.I.N as they play Cupid, become entangled in affairs of the heart (both their own and others), and procure a spot in Metro City Museum of Modern Art Contest.
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Fanny Britt,
kanadische Theaterautorin. Verfaßte mit der Zeichnerin Isabelle Arsenault die Graphic Novel
Jane, the Fox & Me (Groundwork Books 2011).
Olivier Morel, französisch-amerikanischer Filmemacher, Regisseur und Cutter. Schrieb aus Frust über einen Dokumentarfilm, den er nirgendwo unterbringen, für seinen Freund, den Zeichner Maël das Szenario
Revenants (
Futuropolis 2013), in dem es um einen Afghanistanheimkehrer geht.
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Ruhm ist relativ, und nur den wenigsten gelingt das Kunststück, weltweit anerkannt zu werden. Außerdem ist Ruhm vergänglich. Bestimmte Branchen stehen im Mittelpunkt der Öffentlichkeit, ein akademischer Ruf beispielsweise zieht nur in den seltensten Fällen die Medien an. Hinzu kommt, daß viele Leute nur in bestimmten Regionen berühmt sind - über die möchte ich nicht voreilig den Stab brechen.
Top Dogs wie David Lynch, Patricia Highsmith und Margaret Atwood sollten natürlich in der Liste vertreten sein, aber der Schwerpunkt liegt mittlerweile auf einem gewissen Ruf, den sich spätere Comicautoren woanders erarbeitet haben. Je weniger diese Branchen mit den Comics zu tun haben, umso besser.
Die Liste sehe ich als Grundlage für weitere Forschungen.
Historische Entwicklungen über Jahrzehnte lassen sich leider nur mit einem gewissen Aufwand erspüren, sonst verlieren sich mögliche Strukturen im allgemeinen.
Und wie bei jedem Text, der zunächst einmal wachsen muß, möchte ich abwarten, bevor ich zum ersten Mal Schlüsse ziehe. Dann sollte die Liste in einem zweiten Schritt wieder ausgedünnt werden, damit sie sich nicht in Details verliert.