Technical Aspects

## Outstanding Scenes

### Craig and Raina Becoming Intimate

The art and narration that was used to describe and illustrate the intimacy between Craig and Raina successfully captured the beauty of the moment. Craig was in this moment able to embrace his sexuality, accept his own views on his faith, and truly love Raina.

### Dream/Imagined Sequences

The dream and imagination sequences in Blankets are beautiful images that capture the thoughts that Craig has at that particular moment. The image of Craig's father opening the mouth of a dragon in the cubby hole successfully captured the fear that Craig held for the cubby hole and helped to emphasize his guilt for causing his brother to be sent there. This was an example of a negative imagined sequence.

A positive imagination sequence involved Craig and Phil pretending they were weathering a storm on their bed. This moment captured the closeness of the brothers and the imagination of youth.

### Falling

Throughout the memoir there scenes where Craig is seen following through scenery. These scenes illustrate the hopelessness and despair that Craig is experiencing at that moment. These scenes are perfect examples of showing how the character feels rather than telling the audience.

## Characterization

Throughout the memoir, characters who are seen to have power in Craig's life are drawn much larger and appear to be dominating figures. Characters who embody these roles include his father, authority figures in his church community, his teachers, and his babysitter. These characters are often portrayed as being rude, angry or dismissive.

Very few people receive a positive portrayal from Craig's perspective. The majority of Craig's interactions with other people are negative. The only person who receives a positive portrayal is Raina who he illustrates as an angel.

## Images

The images/illustrations in the memoir are used to portray how Craig's mind saw the events of his life. These images are heavily exaggerated and very imaginative. This can be seen early on in the memoir when Craig's father opens the cubby hole and Craig imagines his father fending off a dragon. This can also been in Craig's vision of how terrifying the real world is.

Amritorupa Kanjilal described the graphic novel as "beautifully drawn."

## Action

While action is fairly limited in Blankets, when it does occur, the character in power appears large and intimidating. This is especially evident in scenes with Craig's father, his teachers, his babysitter, and the kids who bully him. Craig unfortunately never has power in these scenes, which help to emphasize the weakness of his character.

A particular scene of action occurs when Craig decides to purge himself of his memories. During this scene, the action is emphasized by heavier line work and helps to portray Craig's anger. This scene culminates with simple drawings spilling out of Craig's face to represent the memories being purged from him.

## Colour

Blankets does not feature any colour pages and is illustrated completely in black and white. The choice to not use colour helps to create the tone for this story by not distracting the reader with vibrant visuals. It helps keep the focus on Craig's perspective of the events unfolding around him.

The lack of colour is especially noteworthy in the patterns on the quilt. The quilt is exceptionally detailed and still appears to be varied even without colour.

It is also of note that during scenes when Craig is happy, his use of white becomes more prominent. In scenes when he's not happy, black becomes used much more prominently.

## References

Thompson, C. (2003). *Blankets: A graphic novel* (pp. 40, 42-43, 52-53, 57-60). Marietta, Georgia: Top Shelf.

Kanjilal, A. (2012, June 4). Blankets by Craig Thompson: A Graphic Novel Review. Retrieved November 23, 2015, from http://riversihaveknown.com/blankets-by-craig-thompson-a-graphic-novel-review/