Week 2: Response to “Understanding Comics” by Scott McCloud- Cara Chang

Generally, comics have this stereotype in society that labels it as something bad, or not useful in comparison to books or novels. The generic reasoning as to why comics are not knowledgeable is because it is seen as a book of “fun” or a series of mostly images with very little text, therefore having others believe that there is nothing to truly learn from comics. But McCloud sees comics in a different light: as artwork of another medium. A series of pictures with little to no text leaves the reader to their own imagination on how the artist’s story unfolds. The artist creating the comic may have their own interpretation of their work, but unlike many other artistic mediums, comics are pretty open to interpretation, allowing many different perspectives of the same story to take place. Many people undervalue the worth of comics simply because it is not detailed enough, but in McCloud’s argument, less is more. Pictures offer a narrative point of view, while the color and detail within those images portray the mood of that specific scene. Comics offer much detail, but unlike texts, the detail is within the images. It is a visually captivating art form that gives the reader a chance to become the character within the comic, as McCloud describes. This can be related to our own class, as we all have different art forms that we choose to express ourselves with, where our classmates may interpret our own work differently than how the original artist sees it, but the point of these art forms is that there is no right or wrong answer, because everyone has their own opinion and their own way of interpreting certain components of art. Comics give plenty of room for one’s imagination and creative side to explore and venture, whereas typical books or texts are so defined to the point that there is no room for the reader to form their own thoughts on the piece they are studying. No two people are the same in regards that their interpretations of one single art form would be identical, because the way that one person views a certain color, expression, or motion, will not be the same as another individual. I believe that within this class, similarly, we as students are able to create anything we feel expresses our own creative side, able to receive multiple perspectives on our own work. 

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