Author: hrm305

In his book, “Understanding Comics,” Scott McCloud argues that Comics are about the form and not the content, and that comics are a vessel through which to obtain content. I like McCloud’s definition of Comics, because it argues for the “medium as the message” and leaves room for a broad range of material which increases the likelihood that a greater variety of people will read and enjoy comics. Before reading McCloud’s arguments, I too considered comics as somewhat of a narrow genre targeted to a  younger audience. However, by defining comics through their form and not just content, McCloud is leaving room for a wide range of material and target audience. 

In Chapter Two about the language of comics, I found the “this is not ____” page to be quite engaging. All of the “this is not” statements together caused me to reflect on precision of language and how language plays a role in what we consider to be reality. The “this is not my voice” caption was particularly interesting, because it brings up the question of what we define as our “voice.” Clearly the author’s point is that we are not actually hearing his voice speak words. However, if we go beyond this very literal definition, I do think that we are indeed hearing his voice on some level. In every-day language, we use the term “voice” to mean an expression of someone’s ideas/thoughts, whether that is in person or through the written word. For many of these examples, our use of language is not precisely accurate in the literal sense, however it often is a representation of the literal object. 

I don’t have any experience with photoshop, so this image combination assignment was both challenging and interesting. I started off by using the pen tool to outline the image of a burger, and then got rid of the background so I could put only the part of the image I wanted into the other images. I then found a picture of rainforest deforestation and cropped it slightly. I added these two layers to my third image and re-sized the two photos as needed. The final change I made was to use the erase tool to make the forest image fit in “behind”the glass. 

In his article, “The Medium is the Message,”  Marshall McLuhan argues that, “The effects of technology do not occur at the level of opinions or concepts, but alter sense ratios or patterns of perception steadily and without any resistance” (159). This sentence struck me as significant because of the enormous role technology plays in our day-to-day lives. While the content each person sees on their smart phone or computer on a day-to-day basis is likely different, technology, as a medium itself, has altered the habits and perceptions of all of us. I myself have noted the role technology has played in my life and how it has changed how I interact with the world. Before getting a smart phone in my Junior year of high school, I was much more likely to focus on talking to people in person, and would often get my news by talking to adults around me. However, since obtaining a smartphone, I rely on it for my informational, communication, and entertainment needs. While the content was the same before and after my purchase of a smartphone, the medium changed, which in itself altered my perceptions and habits. This shows clearly how often, a medium itself is the message, and the content itself is not always as significant as the medium in terms of the effect on our lives. 

Overall, I found “the medium is the message” argument to be quite convincing. While content of a medium is often touted as the “message,” we often ignore the medium as the message itself and the effects different mediums mediums have no our lives and culture. In our technology-driven age with constantly changing and evolving mediums, this “medium is the message” theory is one we as individuals and as a society should keep in mind in order to monitor the effects the medium’s message has on our lives and society.