Les misérables

visual expressivity as a semiotic strategy for the creation of meaning in manga media

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between the use of multimodal elements and the construction of meaning in the manga Les Miserábles (2015), by Takahiro Arai, volume 1, adapted from Victor Hugo’s homonymous novel. The argument centers on the ways the manga presents Jean Valjean’s personal tragedy through visual expressivity. In addition, the paths of construction and emotional rhetoric at play in the interaction of visual expressivity are examined from the moment the character is introduced in the narrative until his imprisonment. The main theoretical framework for the study is provided by Lechenaut’s theory of visual expressivity (2013), Elleström’s theory of intermediality (2017), and studies on language construction in comics and manga (Groensteen, 2017; Sigal, 2006).