| Abstract [eng] |
This master thesis examines how schizophrenia is depicted in a multimodal Swedish children‘s book Flickan, mamman och demonerna by Suzanne Osten. The aim of this study is to find out how depiction of schizophrenia is executed through language and image. Analysis is based on theoretical approaches within narratology and multimodality, thus both the text and the image, as well as their relation, are crucial. Theories regarding focalization, unnatural narration and picturebook‘s multimodal nature are also important in the work. Text analysis shows that focalization allows one to depict subjective experience of schizophrenia, as well as impact of mental illness. Moreover, focalization within focalization shows how schizophrenia can influence others‘ mindset, world view and behavior. Fragmentic depiction of time suggests a distorted understanding of time that people with schizophrenia experience. Image analysis reveals that with dark sombre tones and shadows convey an emotionally heavy atmosphere and suspense between the characters regarding schizophrenic experiences. However, analysis also reveals that there are not enough developed terms to describe and explain certain deviations regarding narrator, focalization and relation text-image relation, which opens opportunities for further research and elaborations within theory. |
