Multimodal. Sounds Kinky.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Below are some examples of multimodal literacy in its spectrum of utility.
Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of American Empire is an example of how graphic novels are moving beyond entertainment and leisure reads to become tools for education and social action. Another notable political graphic novel is the The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation, adapted from the 9/11 commission’s report of 12/2005. It’ll be interesting to see how this genre will grow in years to come.
One of my early experiences with multimodal literacy was Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions. The book’s story and humor was greatly enhanced by Vonnegut’s sketches.
A lover of mixed medium literacies myself, my own early zines played with the elements of text and images to deepen the reader’s experience… all three of them.
Another emergence of multimodal literacy is within quippish television programs:
The mainstreaming of foreign films is also quite multimodal…
As well as web comics: xkcd, Bob and George, A Lesson Is Learned But the Damage is Done
And of course there’s the streaming ticklers that invade the t.v. screen.
Postscript:
My first car, in all its idealistic anti-imperialist feminist splendor, made use of bumpersticker literacy, short and biting statements (“I’d Rather Be Smashing Imperialism”, “U.S. Out of My Uterus”, “Love Animals Don’t Eat Them” and, interestingly, “Question Technology”) along with ethereal images of butterflies and bulldogs. What a confusing juxtaposition!
