Wednesday, September 23, 2009
"There is no life here except that which you give to it."
In our discussion of "animation" this week, I connected the McCloud quote above to the idea of a continuum of an active viewer/spectator/reader/gamer/participant of a text. McCloud also argues that "Icons demand our participation to make them work" (p. 59). Comment on this if your birthday falls between day 1-15 of the month, and if it is between 16-31, then write a blog entry that others can comment on.
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It seems what McCloud means when he says Icons demand our participation is that we as the viewer see this character, continually recognize it and then become able to recognize it in slightly different forms. For example, the character Mickey Mouse is associated with Walt Disney, but even when presented with no more than three circles placed together the right way, most people will see the character and think of Disney. If someone who'd never heard of the character saw the same image, chances are they'd just see three circles.
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ReplyDeleteI know that I cultivate an idea in my mind for myself when I read text, and look at images or icons and symbols, by relating what I see to my own personal connotations that I have with those images. For example, the typical scenario of a group of people gazing at the clouds and reading different clouds as different things. It is possible that one person may see the image of a guitar or violin in a cloud, whist somebody else may have seen 'Magneto'. It is also interesting that although initially we may have our own unique ways of participating with icons, we can usually all relate to each others somehow.
ReplyDeleteI liken McCloud's statement about the 'icon' to the old question, "If a tree falls in the forest, and noone is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" This might not be clear at first, but consider the fact that all the elements of sound making are in place - a large object, broken by gravity, crashes violently into the earth, sending millions of waves of air pressure blasting off in every direction, yet no sound exists. These waves are the reason for sound, but they are not sound until they are taken into an ear, where through a lightning quick yet physically complicated process, the energy of the waves gets transferred into the concept we call sound. Without an ear to hear and a brain to perceive and actively give them meaning, the waves will remain what they are literally.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, an icon can have all the elements of resemblence - take for instance the classic icon of a face made up of a circle, two dots and a line. It could be on a poster somewhere, or in a book or spray-painted onto a wall. It could be anywhere, but without an eye to see and a brain to perceive and actively give it meaning, it will remain what it is literally: a circle, two dots and a line.
on pg 63, McCloud says "In Recognizing and Relating to other people, we all depend heavily on our learned ability closure, In an incommplete world, we must depend on closure for our very survival." Why is this true, why do we need closure to feel as if we are "complete." In everything, such as a movie, relationships with people, or even books, we need closure to keep our sanity. If there is none, we tend to feel incomplete, like there was something more supposed to happen that we got cheated out of. For example, my grandmother passed away a few years ago, but it was expected. My family and I saw her in a nursing home up until she passed away, and it was an expected occurance. When my cousin passed on last year, it was very tough for everyone in my family, it was very unexpected. Why is it that we need closure to feel that we can then go on to whatever is next in life?
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