I was amazed at what I could discover by reading from afar, seeing Climate Changed as a whole book instead of just specific moments. It was amazing to find patterns, and honestly the hardest part was to pick one.
I settled for the one that struck me the most: the cameraman who falls to his death as a metaphor for our current position in regards to climate change (cheery, I know). You can see how I mapped that out here.
But then I noticed other things, like how the author’s dog is present several times, then dies, and then another appears towards the end of the book. I started thinking of all the things that could mean, as well as the times he’s staring contemplatively into space, or the use of the “perfect” image of planet Earth, there were dozens of patterns, and worst of all, it made me go back and wonder what other books I’d read had these kinds of patterns. Not only comics (though I am certainly going to go back over the books we’ve read so far), but novels, plays, even textbooks. Did the author begin repeating a phrase or image or event and did it mean something and did I not notice? It’s insane, and if there’s one thing this assignment will make me do, it’s a lot of re-reading old favorites.
Of course being visual helped, but the words in the pattern I chose, “How long was he falling?”, repeated as well and helped explain the meaning just as much as the repetition of images, and I have no doubt that texts with no images will have patterns that can be found as well.
The Secret Language of Sabrina 