In “Understanding Comics”, Scott McCloud offers us a very taking analysis of the comics, which is the art form that is usually ignored by mainstream art. Though being a comic lover, I have not really considered this art form with that much. Thus, McCloud’s work does let me understand both from the side that how this medium conveys the information and also how do we readers receive it.
Take the definition that McCloud gives to the comics, for example, he defines it as “juxtaposed sequential art” (9). I just found this concept is quite interesting that comics have a special way to explain the idea of spacial as well as the time. Not like film or other art forms such as photography and sketch, comics tries to express the timeline of a story in the same panel, the same space (on the same paper). Time-passing is expressed by the sequential pictures that might describe the process of a movement (the blood bleeds, the change of facial expression…). Besides, another interesting concept that he has mentioned is the idea of”gutter”. This is a typical way of information indication in comics. Just like McCloud says, though there seems to be blank, you just know that something must be happening. It’s actually a smart way to deal with the change of time and space. Something is omitted, however, even better expressed. This is a way for the readers to involve themselves in the work——to fill this blank with their own imagination and emotion. Or in other words, “closure”, as McCloud says. This method is also common in other forms of painting and drawing. For instance, in the traditional Chinese paintings, the artists love to apply this skill to create a touching atmosphere and invite others to fill in this blank with their own thoughts. I think probably this also accords with what McCloud explains further in the later part——the core purpose that the comics to convey the information is to get people themselves in the story.
Like he discriminates pictures from the writing as the former one is “received” information, while the latter one is “perceived” (49). What makes comics distinctive is that it combines both of the above. It applies the iconic items to let people put themselves into the characters and their experience. This also reminds me of the reading in last week “The Medium is the Message”. As McLuhan believes that the medium itself also has a great effect on the conveying and understanding of the information it takes. The objects just extend our self-consciousness, they also indicates the information. The icons in comics exactly prove this idea. That’s the reason why the characters would be simplified—— it’s because the more general they are, the more people could be represented by them. To this extent, the way they dress, the words they speak could all be a symbol/icon to understand the general identity of them.