GNG Discusses the Morality of Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees
By Dan Brown SPOILER WARNING: This column contains plot details about Patrick Horvath’s Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, so if you value surprise, stop reading now. Here’s the rundown on the latest meeting of the L.A. Mood Graphic-Novel Group, which took place on Saturday, March 8. The book: Patrick Horvath’s Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, which publishing house IDW describes as Dexter meets Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town. It’s set in Woodbrook, a community of anthropomorphic animals who do all the things humans do, including serial killing. The main character is Sam, a bear who runs a hardware store and is hiding a dark secret about what she does on visits to a nearby big city. Her double life is threatened when one of Woodbrook’s residents meets a grisly end. The discussion: Most members of the group liked the book, although some had reservations about its morality. I was heartened that Beneath the Trees does not portray Sam as a genius because I’m sick of the “charming serial killer with a high IQ” trope that happens in so much pop culture when the reality is many of them are of average intelligence. Hannibal Lecter is not your typical serial slayer, yet that idea is pervasive. Some of the members of GNG were unsettled with the juxtaposition of cute animals doing human things while also being savage to their fellow creatures. This is definitely not a story for kids! The cuddly animals are tool users, with some of those tools being instruments of bloody death. One of the main points of our discussion was how Horvath has animal characters who are like humans, but additional animal characters who are animalistic animals. For example, near the climax of the story Sam, who walks on two legs and wears clothes, meets two “wild” bears in a forest who are fighting over a deer. She attempts to communicate with one of them. Is Horvath saying human beings are nothing more than animals? Is he saying some people Mccan use their reasoning faculty, but not others? We pondered those questions.In another part of the graphic novel, a pig character peers into a butcher-shop window, where a pig’s head is displayed. On a subway, an upright dog holds another dog on all fours on a leash Horvath inserts these images but leaves the reader to interpret their meaning.We also discussed the degree to which order, or rules, can be placed on savagery. The wartime treaty the Geneva Convention came up – is there a point to putting a moral structure on war, when the whole goal is to impose cruelty on the enemy until they submit? One thing we didn’t spend much time on was the difference between the rural and urban settings in Beneath the Trees. The ending of Beneath the Trees is also challenging because the reader sees that order is restored to Woodbrook. But is that a good thing? Is it really a storybook “happy ending,” or does the conclusion promote a nihilistic view of morality? We agreed the book was a good pick for GNG. Further reading; If you’re interested in reading a graphic novel about a real serial killer, GNG covered the Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case book Green River Killer: A True Detective Story a number of years ago. It’s about Gary Ridgway, a man of average IQ who has the most confirmed murders of any real-life serial killer. L.A. Mood’s Graphic-Novel Group meets the second Saturday of each month. Next month’s book is the graphic-novel adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel The Road, with illustrations by Manu Larcenet. We’ll be meeting April 12 at the gaming tables in the store at 11 a.m. At 11:30 a.m., Byron graphic novelist Derek Laufman will be coming for a visit to talk about his new project, Crimson Fall. All are welcome to join the discussion! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
