Dog Man Unleashed

Anthropomorphism is when something non-human is portrayed as if it is a human being. Dog Man himself is anthropomorphized—although he has the head of a dog and the mind of a dog, he in many ways thinks and acts like a human being. Petey, Flat Petey, and Flippy are also anthropomorphized. Petey is a cat, Flat Petey is a piece of paper, and Flippy is a fish—but all three find a way to move through space mimicking human motion, have human emotions, use human language, and create advanced schemes that require a human-like intellect. Objects like the scissors and the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton are also briefly anthropomorphized when they seem to come to life and move around on their own. In Pilkey’s book, anthropomorphizing like this is amusing and ridiculous, supporting the motif of absurdity, the story’s comedic tone, and the theme of The Importance of Creativity and Silliness.

Emanata are the lines that radiate outward from or trail behind a character or object to visually indicate motion or emotion. They add visual energy to a comic panel, increasing the tone of excitement. Pilkey uses emanata throughout Dog Man Unleashed: for example, on Pages 94 and 95, as Petey finishes his treasure tank, hops aboard, and takes off, emanata flare out from the tank to indicate that it is an accomplishment of which Petey is proud. They radiate from around Petey’s head to show that he has a sudden realization when he thinks of taking his Love Ray along on the ride. Emanata trails behind him as he jumps onto the tank to show how quickly he is moving. The use of emanata in scenes like this conveys the excitement of the moment and how rapidly things are happening.

Eye dialect is a term that describes an unconventional spelling that reflects a common casual pronunciation of a word in a particular dialect. Pilkey uses this technique often in Dog Man Unleashed to convey the age of the text’s alleged in-universe authors, George and Harold, create a casual and humorous tone, and reinforce The Importance of Creativity and Silliness. Some examples of eye dialect are “‘cuz,” “Gimme,” and “Buncha.” In casual situations, speakers of Standard English will often abbreviate “because” to “‘cuz”—this is especially true of younger speakers. “Gimme” and “Buncha,” similarly, are abbreviations of “Give me” and “Bunch of” and are typical of young people’s casual speech. This increases the verisimilitude of the pretense that George and Harold are the actual authors of the Dog Man books and helps to create the books’ relaxed and comedic tone.

A kineograph is an image that appears to move when one views the pages of a text in rapid succession. This is accomplished by creating slightly different versions of the image on successive pages. Pilkey’s “Flip-O-Rama” is a simple version of this technique. These simple kineographs appear on Pages 25 and 27, 33 and 35, 83 and 85, 91 and 93, 111 and 113, 129 and 131, 137 and 139, and 181 and 183. Because they are a more dramatic way to convey motion than other techniques—such as emanata—they emphasize plot events. Sometimes this emphasis is for the sake of humor—as on Pages 25 and 27 when Pilkey portrays Dog Man’s exaggeratedly enthusiastic response to the pet store trip. Sometimes, this emphasis points to the significance of the action within the plot—as on Pages 111 through 113 when Dog Man grabs the ball on top of Petey’s treasure tank. At times, the “Flip-O-Rama” pages emphasize both humor and important plot developments. For example, on Pages 137 and 138, when Dog Man repeatedly licks the menacing animated Tyrannosaurus rex, the action is both funny and significant as it creates a change in the dinosaur’s allegiance.

When a word is used in a way that exploits two or more of its meanings, or when two sound-alike words have their meanings deliberately confused, this is called a pun—or “paronomasia.” Pilkey uses both kinds of puns in the story. This adds to its humorous tone and supports The Importance of Creativity and Silliness. After picking up the paper representation of Petey, one of the EMTs asks the other, “which doctor should we take him to?” (74). Confusion results when the other EMT thinks he is talking about a “witch doctor” and follows a sign to Dr. Boog E. Feeva. This is a pun on the sound-alike words “which” and “witch.” Another example happens when Dog Man barks into the phone on Page 88, but Sarah thinks he is guessing that the treasure chests were made of the substance “bark.” She is confused and replies, “No. They were made out of plastic!!!!” (89). The confusion these characters add to the absurdity and humor of the story’s action.