Where the Wild Things Are

Hi everyone!

I have news, there is now an Instagram page for The Little Bookworm! Check it out @the.littlebookworm

I'm hoping to post all kinds of interesting things there, and maybe even do some live story times too! 

This post has been inspired by my lastest Insta post, which was to celebrate the birthday of the marvellous Mauric Sendak! His picturebook Where the Wild Things Are really ignited my passion for picturebook analysis, and my interest in the relationship between words and images in the picturebook format. There is so much more to a book than meets the eye and I find this so incredibly exciting! Once you know all the little codes and tricks you never look at another picturebook in the same way again! 

So for this post I thought i'd do something a little bit different and share some of my academic writing with you, on the subject of Sendak's Wild Things. The extract I want to share with you is all about the 'Picturebook Codes' as created by William Moebius. It is all about how the positioning of images on the page help to tell the story, and how text and image can work together, or indeed against each other, to create a narrative. I hope you find it an interesting insight into what it's like to study children's literature at a higher level. 

The centre spread (above) of Maurice Sendak’s celebrated picturebook Where the Wild Things Are (1963) is a clear example of what Moebius terms as ‘semic slippage’. This occurs when the images and text presented to the reader contradict each other, creating differing perspectives (Moebius, 2009, p.313). The image shows Max’s first encounter with the mythical creatures of his imagination (Sendak, 1963). The accompanying text says ‘they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws’ (Sendak, 1963). This creates a frightening image suggestive of other magical or fairy tales, in which the monster is a threat to the child protagonist. The emphasis placed on the frightening physical features of the creatures is not unlike the dialogue between the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood in the classic fairy tale. The text takes the conventional stance expected of a fantastical tale, but the illustration presents a contradictory image. Max is actually greeted by four friendly looking monsters that appear to be smiling and waving. They are not ‘terrible’ at all, and it is clear that Max is not scared of them. This juxtaposition between classic fairy tale text and the surprising imagery creates irony.

The text tells us that Max has arrived in ‘the place where the wild things are’ (Sendak, 1963). But as William Moebius points out, ‘What is a wild thing?’ (Moebius, 2009, p.313). By not capitalising ‘the wild things’ Sendak creates confusion around this phrase, sending ‘contradictory messages about the ‘who’ or the ‘what’ of the story’ (Moebius, 2009, p.313). On one hand it implies that the creatures are the wild things, but on the other it could be referring to Max whom the creatures later name ‘the most wild thing of all’ (Sendak, 1963). In the illustration the creatures look quite tame despite their fangs, horns and claws, and have big wide yellow eyes. Angry looking Max seems more of a threat to the creatures, than they are to him, despite their frightening textual descriptions. In fact Max looks rather unimpressed with their appearance, particularly as they are figments of his own wild imagination. By applying ‘the code of position’ as set out in Moebius’s essay Picturebooks Codes, it can be suggested that Sendak’s placement of the image in the top two thirds of the page is indicative of a ‘dream-vision’ (Moebius, 2009, p.316-17), a world from Max’s imagination. This imaginative quality is suggestive of the fairy tale or legend that the text seems to embody, but again creates confusion as they do not correspond.

The illustration shows us a more complex story of arrival than that of the text, which simply tells us ‘he came to the place’ (Sendak, 1963). The ‘code of position’ can again be applied to the image, in reference to the direction in which Max and the creatures are facing on the pages. Max has arrived from the left hand side, indicating that his journey has finished and that he is ready to continue his adventure across the page to the right. His left hand arrival also suggests that he has come from the stability of home and is continuing into the unknown. The stability of home, however, is tainted by Max’s anger and frustration, which is signified through the turbulence of the sea. This is contrasted with land, which is solid and much calmer. The monsters approach from the right hand side, indicative of their wild lifestyle, and move towards the stability of the left hand page and Max whom they will soon appoint as their King. Max wants to escape from the confines of home and become a true ‘wild thing’, whereas the monsters want some stability in their wild lives. These ideas are not conveyed at all in the text, which focalises Max as the child protagonist of a conventional fantasy. Whereas it could be argued that the illustration focalises the creatures and their emotional needs. The contrast between the text and image of this double page spread creates two varying perspectives.

So, as you can see, what seems to be a conventional fairytale story has a lot more layers once you know where to look! If you're interested in finding out more about William Moebius's 'Picturebook Codes' there's a great slide show here outlining all the codes in an easy to understand format! Or, you could track down the original essay 'Picturebook Codes' and give it a read.  

I hope you've enjoyed this little insight into the study of picturebooks, and can understand why I find it so interesting!!

I challenge you to pick up a picturebook and have a look for a few of Moebius codes, and see how it transforms your reading! 

Thanks, L x 

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