REVIEW: Crumb (film)

Crumb (film)

Crumb film released 1995

Crumb (film):

·         It is of interesting note that Crumb reluctantly allowed this movie to be made

·         It is also of note that the sisters did not wanted to be interviewed for the film

·         Finally, of the points of the Crumb family’s reluctance to be documented, it is of note that one of Crumb’s brothers committed suicide some time after the interview and the other brother giving up on cartooning altogether

·         The mother is also noted to be in her own depressed state during the film’s duration

·         While Crumb is sometimes seen as a cartoonist who draws the proportions of his women with overemphasized features, there are women who praise said style for the apparent bluntness of sexuality towards less skinnier women to be a socially acceptable thing

·         It is of interest that R. Crumb’s children have artistic talent, be it from the nurture of being raised by a cartoonist who disciplined him or a continued lineage of cartoonist given that Crumb and his siblings seem to display artistic prowess

·         For Fritz the Cat to be killed off due to the nature of Crumb’s disdain for the film is an interesting one, as he took the action of violence against his art as a means to get back at the media industry who he saw as perverting his works in the ways he didn’t want it to be

·         Despite noting himself not to be one assertive to his sexuality, it is of note that he did date several quite attractive women and did show up in a porn magazine feature shot with noted attractive women

·         Given his disdain for the modern aspect of consumerism, Crumb constantly criticized the consumer nature of America in one scene where he sat sketching while other people walked by with their brand logo shirts and loud boom box music (given that this film was being made during the 90’s, people were carrying boom boxes around)

·         During the duration of the film, Crumb aimed to move him and his family to Europe, where he saw difference not in what Europe held but rather in what it didn’t had in comparison to Midwest America

·         It was noted that Crumb did take some drugs in order to gain the inspiration for his works, especially for his works with Zap Comics

·         He was noted to even be shocked with his own work, as with the case of his tale of Mr. Natural with a headless women, which was given to his male friend to be a sex object despite the protest of the young man, who would later have sex with said body of a woman yet feel guilt for it afterward

·         His artistic styles of telling the racist Black American comics were interesting in that he didn’t held back in depicting harsh black face representations in his drawings. While objectionable, it does convey his own voice in his racism: as it is not flattering or anything but a personal opinion for his view of Black Americans

·         The Crumb family as children notably lived in “the Projects” of their neighborhood and had many issues with their father. They also notably formed their own comic book group where they drew comics. With this, it can be seen that even at a young age R. Crumb and his brothers had artistic talent

·         It is to note that R. Crumb consistently turned down fortune opportunities to maintain his personal integrity of having his works unabridged and unaltered for the viewing audience, a view that he claimed happened with the “Keep trucking” phenomenon and the animated adaptation of “Fritz the Cat.”

·         The film also provided views from other underground cartoonists on their opinion of R. Crumb, most praising him yet some female artisans criticized his later depictions of women being sex objects when he previously depicted women as sexual yet independent and strong in his previous works

·         It is also interesting to see R. Crumb’s son and his opinion of his father, as both a mentor and someone he notes as eccentric despite being his son

·         R. Crumb also notably loves his daughter over all other women, consistently noting in the movie how he felt no love for most women he knew (past sex objects) yet he felt intimate with his daughter

·         R. Crumb notably shows features of xenophobia towards the development of the American culture as opposed to people moving in. He criticized people building houses at one point where he lived in California yet it was due to the advancement of development in the area and the destruction of the natural surroundings. This is also prevalent with R. Crumb’s critique on how consumerism took over the American mindset

Bibliography

Crumb. Dir. Terry Zwigoff. Perf. Robert Crumb. Sony Pictures Classics, 1995. DVD.

REVIEW: The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb

Graphic novel by R. Crumb 2009

Authorized King James Version of the Bible translated 1611

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb:

· As this is an illustrated version of the biblical text of Genesis, R. Crumb took many liberties in the depictions of the text in its pictorial representation

· Furthermore, the use of the King James Version would further note the work to have translation biases

· The text and dialogue of the work are taken word for word from the King James Version with no alterations

· Crumb took many liberties to depict God in an anthropomorphic fashion, akin to the depiction of Greek deities. This is notable since he chose to depict God in a non-representational manner and in a more literal sense of being the template to man’s form (Chapter 1, Crumb)

· It is of interest that Crumb also included the two depictions of man’s creation, though both versions are in Genesis it is to note that he depicted them as two versions of the same story as opposed to sequentially one happening after another (Chapter 1-2, Crumb)

· As with R. Crumb’s style, he didn’t held back when depicting sex in the Bible. An example of this would be the ‘pure’ reproduction between Adam and Eve that depicted no sin, as they are seen mating in plain site with such excitement on their faces. In addition, Crumb took many liberties in emphasizing the fertility of female characters by his reflection on their bodily design, as with the perky large breasts of Eve in her full nudity. (Chapter 2, Crumb)

· Crumb also took it to himself to illustrate sequence for the numerous lineage births and rise of nations that were included in Genesis, as with the case of the lineages being told after the murder of Abel by Cain (Chapter 4-5, Crumb)

· It is of interest that Crumb made a little homage to another tale, the Epic of Gilgamesh, in the depiction of heroes of old. (Chapter 6, Crumb) This follows with the text “The Nephilim were then on the Earth… had entered the daughters of men, who bore them children. They are the heroes of old, the men of renown” which follows the depiction of Enkidu and Gilgamesh slaying Humbaba as depicted in the Epic of Gilgamesh. (George, A.R.)

· In Crumb’s style to the grotesque being almost comical, his depictions of unspeakable horrors that mankind had did out of sin in Genesis are commonly depicted in almost a parody form in how inhumanely gross the violence is. An example of such would be the drowning of people in the flood, where people are floating around and looking comically horrified in the face of Armageddon. (Chapter 6, Crumb). This is also seen with the destruction of Sodom by the rain of fire, which has a comical depiction of death in that some people are being burnt in the butt and people are piling over one another with no logical reason to how they got in that state (Chapter 19, Crumb)

· For the Tower Of Babel depiction in the book, it is to note that when the people of the world finally gain different languages, they are speaking in legitimate languages in the Middle East, such as Egyptian hieroglyphs for Egyptian and Sand script for Sumerian. Whether or not they actually translate to something I cannot be certain but if so then R. Crumb took many steps into making this one panel (Chapter 11, Crumb)

· Crumb didn’t held back with the depiction of sexuality in questionable terms in Genesis, as with the incest of Lot’s daughters to him to carry on his name (Chapter 19, Crumb) and the old yet still fertile-looking Sarah with her husband Abraham (Chapter 21, Crumb)

· Interesting is the choice of design for the household gods that are relevant to Genesis, as Crumb chose to depict them in a more pagan design as opposed to the humanistic look of the messengers of God and God himself in the work (Chapter 31, Crumb)

· The grotesque style of Crumb doesn’t limit to people as he depicted the cannibalism of the cows and wheat in Pharaoh’s dream to be just as gross as his depiction of humans (Chapter 41, Crumb)

· An interesting depiction of subtle differences in culture in the time of Genesis was Joseph’s use of Egyptian words and his Israeli translator when Joseph was meeting his brothers. As opposed to merely showing Joseph speak directly to his brothers, it is to note that Crumb kept to the text in that Joseph kept his deception to even this minute detail (Chapter 42, Crumb)

· The looks of terror was worked well with Crumb’s depiction of horror or amazement in Genesis, as with how Joseph’s brothers looked upon him in amazement when they discovered the true fate of their brother (Chapter 45, Crumb)

· When depicting the various persons in Genesis, R. Crumb took it to himself to depict the many details of individuals by designing each person named to look distinct onto his own look. An example would be the lineage of Israel/Jacob who came to Egypt, which included up to forty-eight individuals to be compared to one another as kinsman (Chapter 46, Crumb)

· Ultimately, the series ends with Joseph’s death with implication of continuity. This stays true to the book of Genesis as one is expected to read Exodus afterwards. This means that Crumb took the dedication to even end his series the same way as with the original text (Chapter 50, Crumb)

Bibliography

Crumb, R. .. The Book of Genesis: Illustrated. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009. Print.

George, A. R. The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.