Full transcript
0:04[music]
0:09[music]
0:17Hello everyone. I welcome you once again
0:19to this course introduction to medical
0:21humanities. We have reached the end of
0:24week seven and we are at lecture 35. And
0:27in this lecture we are going to talk
0:29about something very interesting and I
0:32think some of you will also go back to
0:34your childhood because I talk about
0:35comics. So creating comics in the age of
0:38post infection India clearly indicating
0:41that I am going to talk about how during
0:44the covid times comics became form which
0:49was used to spread information. But
0:53before I go ahead and discuss a quick
0:57overview of what I'm going to do today,
1:00I am going to talk about why comics uh
1:03became popular during and after COVID
1:07because the potential of comics as a
1:10medium was
1:12not just explored but highlighted during
1:16and after COVID 19. So co
1:21related all four comics we are dealing
1:23with we have kids wu and corona who wins
1:27the fight we have priya's mask India's
1:31first female superhero
1:34nagra strikes the attack of coronaman
1:37and finally be aware of droplets and
1:40bubbles we talk about their key aspects
1:44how they decimated the information
1:48around COVID 19 pandemic and do
1:52comparative analysis with the framework
1:55in which the visual storytelling
1:58is complementaryary to the cultural
2:02narrative of that particular country.
2:07Quickly uh why comics? How medium is the
2:10message? Six points on your screen.
2:14The first one is accessibility. So
2:18because comics is a combination of image
2:21and text with very less texts employed
2:25mostly uh accessible for different range
2:30of age groups. We find that anyone and
2:34everyone can read it. And that is why
2:36probably somebody who is 10 year old
2:40enjoys reading comic book as much as
2:44somebody who is probably 70. So the
2:47visual meaning precedes textual
2:49understanding and that's why it enhances
2:52the accessibility quotient. In a country
2:55like India where the education
2:57percentage was less during COVID time,
3:01this was a method employed by the
3:04Ministry of Health and Welfare to create
3:08comics that were talking about the
3:12corona virus pandemic
3:15engagement because there is visual and
3:17there are verbal components. So they are
3:21more engaging. You can see you don't
3:23have to completely imagine or speculate
3:26the creative forum in itself
3:30is very engaging and that is why you
3:32find that the multi-panel
3:36narratives
3:38they
3:39deal with aspect to aspect sequential
3:42thinking. Uh this is Scott McCloud's
3:45term and it's his famous comics
3:47theorist. You will find that he talks
3:50about one the whole sequential aspect of
3:54the images used in the comic books the
3:59retention part because
4:02what you see through your eyes have more
4:05capacity to retain in your mind. So the
4:08retention when there is a combination of
4:11word and image there is a retention
4:15and in the case of these comics that I'm
4:18talking about if they are around social
4:21issues they also can lead to behavioral
4:23change.
4:25So just for example, the moment you see
4:30probably a cigarette with a red sign
4:34there, you automatically are reminded
4:37that this is a no smoking zone. There
4:40are no words but the image in itself is
4:44so powerful
4:46that there is a message in that. So it
4:49leads to behavioral change is what Pluto
4:52points out. uh the narrative format uh
4:56is shown to improve health knowledge and
4:58attitude. There are many studies that
5:00have gone ahead and u inferred this
5:04metaliteracy.
5:06So meaning beyond what you know. So
5:09somebody who is not having aptitude to
5:14understand the verbal component that is
5:16there in the comics, they can also
5:19interpret it through the images. And
5:21finally scalability. All these comics
5:24were shared on Facebook, Instagram and
5:27other digital platforms
5:30in India. Four comics I will quickly
5:34talk about them again. We had kids wu
5:37and corona. This is by Dr. Raindra Kwal
5:41and Dr. Suman Moore.
5:44This was about superhero and it was
5:48educational in nature.
5:51We have another one Priya's mask
5:54American
5:56graphic novelist Ram Devinani along with
6:00Shubra Prakash and Syadfini. This also
6:03came out in 2020. It's around
6:07superhero and it is also enhanced
6:11through augmented reality. I'll come to
6:13that a little later. The third one a
6:16very familiar name Nagaraj. Nagarat
6:19strikes is the third we are going to
6:21discuss and this is by Manoj Gupta and
6:24Aayosh Gupta again in 2020 it's about
6:27dual hero for adults and youth both and
6:31finally be aware of droplets and bubbles
6:35by Argamana. This also came out in 2020
6:39and it's very microbiological or
6:42scientific in temperament. I will show
6:44you through the images as in when we get
6:46there. Let us come to the first one
6:49right now which is kids wu and corona.
6:52Who wins the fight? Now wu is a Hindi
6:55word used here which means god and it
6:59has a lot of mythical reference to
7:02saving to being a savior. Uh so that
7:07aspect of vayou was utilized in this
7:11particular comics. The comics was made
7:16by Dr. Dr. Rabindra Kibal and Dr. Suman
7:18Moore on the
7:21instruction
7:23by Union Ministry of Health and Family
7:26Welfare. So it was primarily a
7:28government enterprise you can say three
7:31acts and how does it go? In the first
7:34act, three children panic after seeing
7:37corona virus pandemic news. And in that
7:42state of panic, they start invoking Wu,
7:46the wind god superhero who is going to
7:49descend from the Himalayas. So you see
7:52on your screen there is a corona virus
7:55pandemic and the wind god is coming and
7:59they will kind of combat uh the corona
8:02virus. In the act two vou educates
8:07children about the virus using everyday
8:10examples. He talks about transmission
8:13symptoms and differences from other
8:15viruses. So this leads to the
8:18understanding that
8:21information is power.
8:23Information is the first
8:27stage of combating.
8:30Information is also the first stage of
8:34finding some kind of solution. So that
8:37is what act two talks about. And then in
8:41act three we have why you sharing WH
8:45aligned preventive measures in which all
8:48of us know hand wash, social distancing
8:52and hygiene was indicated.
8:57The key aspects of this
9:00particular comics you will find that it
9:02is polychromatic.
9:04So contrasting colors were used for
9:06effect and create an emotional response.
9:10So the colors also were used in such a
9:13way that could create an emotional
9:15response. Speech bubbles and uh thought
9:19bubbles were employed as metaliteracy
9:22device. So you know uh if you see comics
9:25there is a kind of a bubble made. So
9:28within those bubbles there was something
9:30written and uh that was employed by both
9:35the gestures were also shown. So if you
9:40are on your screen you see this image.
9:44If sick call doctor
9:47physical distance and use face cover
9:51stay home. Follow cuff etiquets. Avoid
9:56gathering and traveling, hand hygiene,
10:00yoga and meditation, healthy diet. So
10:04everything that is shown here had a
10:08multi-ensory
10:09literacy which means what you see is
10:12what you recognize and register and that
10:15is what you end up following. This was
10:18translated into Hindi and Punjabi for
10:20broader access and it was distributed
10:23like I said earlier by India's Ministry
10:25of Health and Family Welfare. In the
10:28comics too, we have Priya's mask,
10:30India's first superhero and uh the
10:35American film documentary maker Ram
10:37Devinani and Indian writers Shubra
10:41Prakash and Siadfini collaborated to
10:44create Priya's mask. If you see uh this
10:49image, you find Priya as a superhero.
10:52Now, she's the first female superhero
10:55and learns from nature that a virus is
10:59threatening
11:00humanity. And then she comes to rescue.
11:04So what does she do? She becomes friends
11:07with young girl Mina whose mother is a
11:11frontline worker. Now what is a
11:13frontline healthare worker? somebody who
11:16is not a doctor but within the health
11:19care space.
11:21So they are witnessing community
11:23reluctance to wear mask or follow social
11:27distancing again around the idea of
11:31information. So uh Mina organizes a bell
11:35ringing event to celebrate her mother's
11:37courage and echoing if you remember at
11:41one point of time PM Modi's national
11:43appeal to clap ring bells and blow con
11:46shells as an act of solidarity. So that
11:49gets reflected in Priya's mask as well.
11:53So her role as a superhero as the first
11:57female superhero is to sensitize the
12:01society. Now I'll come to superhero
12:03trope a little later which is
12:05interesting and you'll find uh and she
12:08goes on to decimate this information.
12:10She urges everyone to follow the WH and
12:14government of India guidelines regarding
12:16hand washing, maintaining social
12:18distance, hygiene, all those things that
12:21were required at the time of COVID 19
12:23pandemic features
12:25augmented reality. So what does this
12:28this means that there is this RT vibe
12:31app? So if you just
12:36download that app and look into the
12:39pages of the comics, you will find that
12:45you can read more content. But if you
12:49read the book through RTY app, you can
12:53actually get more information.
12:57It is a feminist narrative where woman
13:01becomes
13:04the main character and testament to
13:08how
13:10the frontline worker Mina the superhero
13:14employed all are female and that kind of
13:18celebrates
13:19the idea of how women's participation to
13:23combat coid9 pandemic was equally
13:26important.
13:27and superhero otherwise has been mostly
13:30male genre. So Priya was a significant
13:33intervention. It's very multilingu
13:35Tamil, Canada, Mallayalam, English and
13:40this meant that from the Hindi English
13:43belt domain. It went into also other
13:46languages and also there was an animated
13:50film that was produced for Priya's mask
13:52with Yabalan Mural Takur and Rosanna
13:55Arquet gave their voice for that. This
13:58is not something important but I just
13:59thought this extra information would be
14:02helpful. Uh the third comics that we are
14:04taking is Nagaraj strikes the attack of
14:06Corona men. Nagaraj started in India in
14:101986 if some of you don't know. uh and
14:13uh it's basically a person who has
14:18supernatural snake based powers and he
14:22operates from the fious city called
14:25Mahanaga.
14:27Now
14:28this particular issue is ninepage
14:32special issue and created by father son
14:35creators Manoj and Aayosh Gupta
14:38and here is where you find also the
14:42striking feature of Priya's mask and
14:45Nagarat strikes back in both these
14:49comics the element of superhero is there
14:55but at no point of time the comics
15:00suggest that they are capable of
15:03combating it through their powers.
15:07So in both the comics you will find that
15:12it's the knowledge decimation that is
15:16reflected as power so to say. So in case
15:21of Nagra strikes back we have virus as
15:25an invisible enemy and therefore no
15:28superpowers can stop. So what happens
15:32again in this comics as well we find
15:36the citizens of Mahanagar are urged to
15:39wash their hands and follow WH
15:42guidelines and government of India
15:44guidelines to do hand wash maintain
15:47hygiene wear mask all these things
15:52corona man says I am never coming back
15:54to this city because everybody is now
15:57sensitized in Mahanagar so he's not
16:00coming back. The comics was tribute to
16:03frontline workers, doctors, delivery
16:06workers, grocery store owners, everyone
16:10who made the survival of coid9 pandemic
16:14possible. In terms of uh visual and
16:17cultural analysis,
16:19there is a statement who which says we
16:23don't need a superpower to beat corona
16:25men. We just need to stay home. So when
16:29Nagaraj comes and spreads this
16:31information around covid-19 pandemic how
16:35to deal with co covid-19 pandemic
16:37finally when everybody knows about it
16:39they say we don't need a superpower to
16:42beat corona man what is it that we need
16:44we need to stay home
16:47work from home is one phenomena that we
16:50talked about stay at home uh was
16:52something that was another so that is
16:55the main information that has gone into
16:58their uh knowledge system and therefore
17:01you find that there is no place for
17:05corona men any longer in Mahanagar
17:07because everybody is aware it follows
17:10aspect to aspect panel transition I
17:13mentioned it earlier one after the other
17:15so that there is a slow gaze that's
17:19possible color coding uh also takes
17:22place corona men's toxic palette mirrors
17:24TV news imagery of the virus So whatever
17:28images were used to show corona virus in
17:33TV same kind of images same kind of
17:36color palette was utilized also by uh
17:39Nagaraj. It also uh highlighted the
17:43efforts of common people over superman
17:46power
17:48because
17:50ultimately
17:51it is through the participation of
17:53everyone that covid-19 pandemic was
17:57combed. So that is what this there is no
18:00superpower that can combat coid9
18:02pandemic. It's the effort of each and
18:04everyone. It was freely available on Raj
18:07comics Facebook page. You can go there
18:09and find it in English and Hindi.
18:12Finally, the fourth comic book, Be Aware
18:14of Droplets and Bubbles. Uh like I said,
18:17it's a microbiological comics and it's
18:21by Arana. I also happened to interview
18:23him four five years ago. So, Mana is
18:26basically a cancer researcher and he's
18:30took up cartooning as a science
18:32communication tool. So this particular
18:35comics is 20 page and uh is very much
18:40there on his personal blog.
18:43Several accolades but I mention Jamas
18:47primarily because uh they said it's the
18:50best graphic medicine of 2020 because it
18:55was so helpful in decimating the
18:58scientific knowledge around corona
19:00virus. What did Aragamana focus on? Spit
19:04bubbles. So if you look at the image,
19:07it's very much there. You can go and
19:09read it in entirety as well. They were
19:12filled with saliva and mucus and the
19:14mucus acts as an elastic fluid polymer.
19:18How does corona virus pandemic spread?
19:22So he
19:25showcased that particular phenomena in a
19:28very scientific way. Now these droplets
19:32carry viral particles and can remain
19:35airborne enabling transmission. So uh it
19:38can be transmitted through air. The
19:41comic explains the generation travel and
19:44decay of each spit bubble in a visual
19:48sequence. So if you look at it here, how
19:50does it go? It decays here and how does
19:54it spread? All those features are
19:57illustrated through images.
20:01The segment two is the marangoni flow
20:04effect and it's based on the research by
20:08Lydia Borobia. Pathogen loaded bubble
20:11can delay its decay. So very scientific
20:16thing also Aragamana tried to explain on
20:20a surface level the tension creates a
20:24water molecule layer on the bubble but
20:27evaporation normally collapses it. So
20:31maragoni flow says it can delay this
20:35collapse keeping the virus airborne
20:37longer. So this image talks about that
20:41process of marangoni flow. This explains
20:45why covid-19 pandemic
20:48in crowded humid environment was
20:51especially dangerous
20:54because
20:55the whole process in which scientific
20:58process in which covid-19 pandemic could
21:01spread India was a fertile
21:05place for that spread.
21:09Quickly I'll compare the Indian and
21:11western superhero comics in terms of
21:15dimension. Western superheroes will have
21:18supernatural abilities but Indian coid9
21:22pandemic heroes were primarily making
21:24public compliance what is beneficial for
21:27public and collective action. So each
21:29one of us is responsible. The enemy is
21:32human villains or alien threats. The
21:35virus itself rendered visual a corona
21:38man
21:40role of science often secondary to
21:42action but here you find who government
21:47of India guidelines central to the
21:49narrative the hero model is there where
21:52there is one person who's individually
21:54exceptional but here there was
21:56collective heroism be the hero of your
21:59city is what happens here culturally I
22:03mean all These four comics that I'm
22:07talking about were culturally customized
22:12to
22:13reflect an Indian story. So you find in
22:18western superheroes genre western urban
22:21settings but in Indian coid9 superheroes
22:26we find Hindu mythology like Wu and Di
22:29cities like Mahanagar.
22:32The gender in western superheroes is
22:34predominantly male but in Indian coid9
22:37superheroes you at least have priya
22:42inference. I have already spoken about
22:44it in in some detail earlier as to how
22:48edutainment take place where education
22:51and entertainment merges.
22:54I have spoken about it in the context of
22:57what Sarah Hama talks about infotainment
23:00and multi-ensory metaliteracy is there
23:04which means that comics engage readers
23:08cognitive levels simultaneously
23:10involving visual decoding narrative
23:13interference and behavioral instruction.
23:16So all this is fused together and
23:19most importantly we can infer that they
23:23are all culturally customized
23:26to make us be familiar with the contexts
23:31of India. So each episode that we choose
23:35to read does not have a quotient where
23:38we think it is from somewhere else. So
23:41the familiarity quotient that I also
23:43mentioned in my introduction that
23:46all the texts that I have chosen are
23:49primarily with the intent that
23:52we know what is happening. The context
23:55is always Indian. It might differ from
24:00urban to rural to some other context.
24:04Maybe geographically or maybe regarding
24:07gender or maybe regarding class. It
24:10might have different intersections
24:11within India but primarily they talk
24:13about a slice of what Indian society is.
24:19In terms of conclusion, we can say that
24:21uh comics proves to be a medium which
24:25has a long global history in health
24:27communication and it is just an addition
24:31that coid9 pandemic also
24:36has been subject of many comics. The
24:39four I selected here in particular. It
24:42is more visual and less statistical and
24:45therefore a fact that mere statistical
24:48data is not enough to drive uh
24:52behavioral change. You need policy and
24:55in some cases you need comics.
24:58Digital equity matters. Sometimes some
25:00comics will also have augmented reality
25:03and therefore digital literacy is
25:07important. But with 54% internet
25:10penetration and free distribution of
25:13these novels they uh these comics they
25:17were widely read across India and
25:20beyond.
25:21The genre is still in its naent stage.
25:25Uh so it only started in 1990s
25:30to become very prominent academic field
25:34of study and therefore lot of work still
25:38to be done. So some of you can
25:40definitely take it up and
25:44to add that interdisciplinary edge I
25:47think it's important that it is also
25:49mapped with empirical research because
25:52it's talking about social issues and
25:54therefore if there is some mapping that
25:56will happen with empirical research it
25:58will add more grounding to the issues
26:02that comics reflect. On that note I
26:05think we have come to the end of week
26:07seven. I'll see you in the final week of
26:10our course introduction to medical
26:12humanities. Till then please take good
26:14care of yourself. Thank you.