Friday, January 15, 2016

First formal discussion post--Weigh in by the end of the weekend!


McCloud's definition of comics is quite broad.  Do you think it's too broad? Why do you think he leaves his definition so open? Would you include the examples he does under the category of comics? Why/ why not?

One thing we can all agree upon, however, is the centrality of his theory of the icon to his idea of comics.  How does McCloud use the term "icon"? How does it relate to the comparative imporance of the cartoon to comics?

Finally, what is the gutter in comics? How does it function, like more iconic/ abstract images in McCloud's estimation, to encourage reader participation? What is the concept of "closure" relative to the gutter?


Obviously, there's no need to engage with ALL of these questions, but try to weigh in on the three topics in some regard by the END OF THIS WEEKEND! Our next (formal) post will be on Tuesday.

11 comments:

  1. 1.) The definition of what a comic is needs to be broad. McCloud's definition seems to be similar to what "sequential art" is. Comics don't have to have words, be in a specific order, or have to entertain necessarily. It just needs to be understood, like most story-telling mediums.
    2.) McCloud uses the term "icon" as a representation of reality. The cartoon icon can illustrate to the view an idea, thought, or concept while the comic icon tells a story or gives detailed information.
    3.) The gutter in comics is the space between panels. Its primary function is to separate on scene from another. It also invites the viewer to "fill-in-the-blanks" (so to speak) and use their imagination as to what is happening in between scenes. Closure is the opposite of gutter where you see is something incompletely, but use your imagination the fill in as a whole. Both have the viewer read beyond what is seen to understand the whole message.

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  2. 1. The definition of comics must be broad because the genre itself is broad. Comics range from silly two frame snippets to sweeping graphic novels that rival some of the great novels of our time. Defining a word that includes that entire span of those works without that definition becoming "broad" is impossible.

    I'm not sure that I would include things such as Mayan screen fold. The images in the manuscript are hieroglyphs, they represent words in place of a written language. For that reason I don't believe you could truly place these type of works in the category of comics.

    2. Icon, in the author's definition, is any visual depiction that allows recognition of an object or idea. Cartoon icons can become anything that the illustrator wants them to be. These icons can be used expertly to force audiences to feel a certain way about characters or scenery. By using certain styles or degrees of realism, the tone and feel of a comic can completely change. What is humorous in a stick figure comic can be horrifying in realistically drawn comic. The icons chosen to represent the objects and ideas in a comic are the most important part of the comic. Imagine Maus with colorful, Mickey Mouse style mice, the tone changes and the comic would likely be looked at with disgust. Instead the icons chosen allow the comic to reach the status it has.

    3. The gutter in comics is the space between frames in which the imagination is called upon to fill in the blanks. The gutter is essential to the comic experience and to the enjoyment had by the reader. It is likely that some of those who simply cannot enjoy comics lack the certain form of imagination and personal connection that occurs within the gutter. One may look at a frame of a planet and then the next of that planet exploding and say, "oh, that planet exploded, next frame." Others may imagine the lives that were extinguished and visualize the final moments of the inhabitants of that planet. Two different, but equally correct, responses to the same frames.

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  3. 1. I think it is important that the definition of comics are presented to be broad. I feel like if the definition were specific it would become really hard to be artistically different in the genre and it would be way to streamlined. I think just how broad it is leaves it up for interpretation by others. This allows them to provide how they see it should be presented, while staying in the genre.

    2. I thought his chapter on icons was interesting. What I got from it was that all images in a comic are used to resemble a subject that people reading a comic would understand. They can define anything from a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.

    3. I like the idea of gutters, because it makes it easy for the reader to understand that each panel is separate from the other. I feel the purpose of it is clear. It was something that was created and has become a staple to the experience people expect when reading a comic. The gutter makes it so that people are able to understand a scene and use their imagination to fill in the gaps. I feel like it allows each reader to have a different experience while reading. This is similar to reading a standard book. It is up to the reader to fill in the gaps of what is not able to be produced on paper. Closure makes it so that the reader is able to take the whole picture, panels, images, gutters, and fill in the gaps to produce the full idea.

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  4. 1. The definition of comics is broad because there is no limitation of what can be expressed with media. It is a form of expression in which ideas are conveyed with images in a deliberate sequence. As an artist I feel that leaving the definition of comics so broad is important to expand the boundaries of comics of a medium. I feel like based off of McCloud’s definition of comics that his examples could be considered comics as they are” images juxtaposed in a deliberate sequence to convey information.”

    2. It is important that an icon have universality. This is why the cartoon is so important in comics, when you see a cartoon you can insert yourself into the media. It is familiar yet removed from reality, allowing you to simultaneously suspend your disbelief and relate to the characters, locations, and issues.

    3. A gutter in comics is a catalyst to the reader that allows them to fill in the blanks and draw conclusions. Gutters are essential to comics and the art of their story telling. The space and transition between frames can be every bit as important and the actual content of the frames, these transitions help set the pacing in the story line as well as guide a reader through the frames in the correct order. I think that the gutter allows the reader to insert themselves into the comics even further by forcing them to use their own conclusions to “finish” the story. This encourages a more active involvement in the story.

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  5. 1. McCloud's definition of comics is broad for a good reason, what can be considered a comic is broad. For that matter, any art forms' definition usually is broad. Basically comics is defined by McCloud as being images accompanying words that form sequential collectives that express what the cartoonist is trying to say. It's very interesting how McCloud finds the historical precedents for our modern comics. Interestingly most of the examples he gave seemed to use the medium (in its infancy surely) as a means of creating a historical narrative rather than a creating a narrative deriving from one's imagination. They seemed exclusively to be utilized for recording history and capturing a mood that how we normally view comics today.

    2. McCloud's chapter on the "icon" was for me, the most thought provoking and it could probably use a second, more closer reading. What I gleaned from it is that why a cartoon is drawn the way they are. The more simplified a depiction of a person, for example; the more a reader identifies with that image and the greater impact it subsequently has on the reader. If a face is too realistic, the reader cannot engage as meaningfully with it (is McCloud's supposition and my simplified understanding.) Icons have a fluid meaning and are not static by any means, as opposed to symbols which have a fixed significance, that largely is not up to interpretation
    (an example could be the peace sign or a stop sign)

    3. The concept of the gutter is so fascinating to me and gets at the crux of comics. The space between the panels is the key to the comic, the reader's imagination is depended on as much as the cartoonist's personal aims. Closure refers to the act of "observing the parts and perceiving the whole" This is the mechanism by which the reader is able to navigate their way around the gutters in comics. If one panel is showing a boy holding a ball, and next panel shows the ball up in the sky; it can be deduced through closure that between the gutter a ball was likely thrown. The really cool part about the gutter is how many different approaches are taken in utilizing that all-important blank ribbon. I especially liked his analysis of the eastern vs western approach in comics. Being there vs getting there really does exemplify the way the two disparate cultures approach comics as well as their respective life philosophies in general really. A Japanese comic is high in aspect-aspect transitions whereas American comics are high in action-action panel transitions.

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  6. 1. I believe comics are broad because they can encompass a variety of stories. No one comic is the same and tells a different story in a different manner. I don't believe McCloud is too broad; in fact, I think McCloud was right to be that broad. It doesn't illegitimize comics, it makes them more fluid.

    2. McCloud uses the word icon in comics similarly to how we use the word symbol in literature. The icon can be viewed differently by each reader, but also is meant to engage with readers.

    3. The gutter is the space between frames of comics; essentially, the white space that acts as a buffer until the next frame. I think it functions as a barrier but also a blank space where readers can use their imaginations to create transitions within the comic.

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  7. McCloud’s definition of comics is appropriately broad. McCloud is right to point out that many forms of media which one considers capable of carrying aesthetic signification went unexamined. Given this understanding and McCloud’s intent to clear up all this confusion about comics a broad definition jives better with contemporary theory and the ethics of analysis. Had McCloud argued for a strict definition he might have spent the rest of his career responding to reviews of his work painting him as snobbish or narrow minded.
    McCloud uses “’icon’ to mean any image used to represent a person, place, thing or idea” (27). A cartoon is a type of icon that draws signifying potential from abstraction. Cartoons can amplify meaning in ways realistic images cannot.
    The gutter is space between panels (66). As the reader moves from panel to panel he fills in narrative gaps by making sense of the relationship between pictures, reality, and words. “Closure” refers to the perception of the whole through observation of the parts (63). The gutter fragments signification and opens a space for readers to perform closure.

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  8. Comics must be a broad definition because much like any other medium in art, it must encompass the entire spectrum of what could be considered a visual storytelling or sequential art. The question that could be asked is whether it is good writing/art, but that still does not exclude it from the definition.

    The icons are imagery that allow the reader to identify the visual in a more personal way. Even if the icon is not personal to each person, the recognizable features from imagery commonly seen by many allows interest and attachment to objects, characters, and whatever else the icons are used for in the comic. I think this is the most interesting topic from this reading since it is what people can identify with and connect with most easily in a comic. Even if it is somewhat subliminally.

    The gutter refers to the space around each framed composition of the sequence. Aesthetically, it allows breathing room, and again a nice boarder. As a function for a reader, it encourages the reader to mentally fill in the blanks between each panel.

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  9. Comics must be a broad definition because much like any other medium in art, it must encompass the entire spectrum of what could be considered a visual storytelling or sequential art. The question that could be asked is whether it is good writing/art, but that still does not exclude it from the definition.

    The icons are imagery that allow the reader to identify the visual in a more personal way. Even if the icon is not personal to each person, the recognizable features from imagery commonly seen by many allows interest and attachment to objects, characters, and whatever else the icons are used for in the comic. I think this is the most interesting topic from this reading since it is what people can identify with and connect with most easily in a comic. Even if it is somewhat subliminally.

    The gutter refers to the space around each framed composition of the sequence. Aesthetically, it allows breathing room, and again a nice boarder. As a function for a reader, it encourages the reader to mentally fill in the blanks between each panel.

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  10. Great points so far! I am glad you are engaging with icons and the gutter space--two of the central aspects of comics as a participatory medium.

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  11. I don't think his definition of comics is too broad because it is kind of a broad subject. Looking at comics as an art and trying to give art a definition is nearly impossible. I think there are qualities that make a comic a comic, like McCloud mentions like text placement spacing etc, but I don't see a black and white definition for it because it is still evolving. I think he leaves his definition so open for the exact reasons I said before, it is an ever changing art that is something that can't have a true definition yet.

    McCloud uses the word "icon" in this book as any image used to represent a person, place, thing, or idea. Talking about the importance of icons in cartoons to comics not only should be just considered for the cartoons. McCloud says that words are abstract icons as well.

    The gutter is the space between the panels. The gutter plays host to much of the magic and mystery that are at the very heart of comics. McCloud says that the limbo of the gutter is where the human imagination takes two separate images and transforms them into a single idea. Going off of McClouds idea of how the human imagination takes the images, it is also about connection of reading right to left, giving space for the mind to process, and moving on to the next step in the story. Thinking about it through this perspective gives much gratitude to the human brain which in turn is fascinating. The idea of closure in relation to the gutter, McCloud gives a great example of it... Since the blank space in-between the panels gives time for the human brain to catch up and move on is all related to the experience of humans. He later says, "If visual iconography is the vocabulary of comics, closure is its grammar. And since our definition of comics hinges on the arrangement of elements-- then, in a very real sense, comics is closure!" I think McCloud does a fascinating job relating the human intellect, human characteristics and qualities into helping us understand the true identity of comics, what do you guys think?!

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