The enacting of emotions in two picture books: Interpretations through a multimodal discourse analysis

This article examines the emotional dimension in both image and text in two Swedish picture books: Gittan och gråvargarna and Stackars Pettson. To this end, a multi-modal discourse analysis (MDA) model, developed by Painter, Martin and Unsworth (2013) is used. The analysis illustrates similarities, but also differences, in the way the two picture books draw on visual and verbal interpersonal meaning-making systems, and how they use text and image as narrative elements. This should partly be seen as an outcome of the picture books’ different drawings styles (generic versus naturalistic drawing style), and that they address different age groups. The emotional level is examined in light of how each picture book may challenge the reader’s/viewer’s Theory of Mind capacities and knowledge of literary/artistic conventions. For example, intertextuality and a psychological/symbolic dimension are incorporated into one of the picture books, whereas the other involves characters’ intentionality and multiple shifting emotions.