I thought the discussion on Wednesday about where Asterios Polyp should be displayed was really interesting. I didn’t really have much to add to the discussion during class, but now that I’ve thought about it a bit more, I’ve formulated an opinion. I don’t think Asterios Polyp should be displayed in a museum. Why? Well, partially due to the fact that it would be displayed in a manner in which it was not intended to be read. For example, to display them on a wall, it is likely that they wouldn’t simply be placed in a line in order from left to right on the wall because, well, that’s a supremely inefficient use of space. Even if it was displayed in nice rows and columns from left to right, top to bottom, due to the lack of pagination it could be read in any number of ways. Some may read it left to right, top to bottom, others top to bottom, left to right, others may (as Alfred would say) just want to watch the world burn and read a page here and there, skipping around in a random order. This I don’t really have much of a problem with. I think it’s a really interesting and valuable exercise to mix pages and see if the order truly matters and to look into the numerous ways it can be read. My real problem with this stems from the fact that we view museums as being official. This could lead many people to believe that however the museum has the book displayed is the way the book was originally intended to be displayed. This gives a false impression of the book and ultimately alters the original authorial intent. For that reason, I don’t think a museum is the right place to display the book, unless there is a hard copy of the book on display that the patrons can flip through alongside the display itself.
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It is important to note that Mazzuchelli does proclaim his ‘intent’ for his graphic novels to be portrayed in museums.
And to say that ‘Asterios Polyp’ should not be put in a museum is to ignore the fluidity of identity that any fine art piece is subject to. Indeed, each and every panel in ‘Asterios Polyp’ can be appreciated as simply visual art, separate from the story entirely.
‘Asterios Polyp’ is not just a graphic novel, it is separate examples of fine art connected only by the reader’s action of ‘closure’. And, if Mazzuchelli intends for his novels to be displayed without pagination (as said fine art), then I see no issue with ‘Asterios Polyp’ being presented in a museum.