Gender Through Comics: Progress and Comic Book Project

     

    For five weeks I have been taking an amazing  course through Canvas :     COURSE DESCRIPTION

Gender Through Comics: A Super MOOC is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) coming Spring 2013 that examines how comic books can be used to explore questions of gender identity, stereotypes, and roles. This highly engaging learning experience is designed for college-age and lifelong learners.

The course, led by Christina Blanch of Ball State University, uses a study of comic books incorporating video lectures, online discussions between students, and real-time socially driven interviews. Interviews with the comic industry's biggest names such as Terry Moore, Brian K Vaughan, Mark Waid, as well as others address questions of gender representations and constructions involving both men and women

   

I've learned such amazing things from this course and I will find the time at some point to do a wrap up of all my experiences. One of my  assignments for class  is to : "make a comic based on a story you experienced regarding gender". Since I have zero artistic skills I decided to tell my story in pictures using the Halftone app and Lego's.

About the story: When I worked at a yoga studio years ago there was a female teacher that people always underestimated because of her look. She was five feet tall, and had a bit of a belly. Since I worked at the studio I knew how strong she really was. One of the biggest fallacies  Yoga marketing persists on reinforcing  is that only for average to tall, thin, men and women.

Many times I would see new students look at this teacher and think that they could easily  take her class. After a while it became fun to see the results of their misconceptions.

You see she taught a very strong level 2-3 class, one even I didn't take. So when checking new students into her class it was important to check their practice level and inform them of the classes difficulty.

The two men in the comic did have the (slightly exaggerated I'll confess) reactions when I checked them in . And they did leave 20 mins later :) Also I know Yoda's speech isn't consistent through out the story but that was mostly a time saver, besides I'm sure at the studio he was using his professional voice :) I hope you like it!

Judge Not. Lest You Feel Pain.