McCloud and Closure

The human race, for the most part, possesses a very visual mindset. Television, fashion and art are some examples of very prominent factors in today's culture. Through our visually-wired mindset, the human brain often seeks patterns. It is because of this "visualization by association" that McCloud's term "closure" permits even the most abstract of icon (primitive "stick-figure" face) to come alive through the dialogue on the page. "There is no life here except that which you give to it" (McCloud 59) The more abstract the icon, the more personal it reflects in the reader's mind. For example, scrying is defined as "a magic practice that involves seeing things psychically in a medium". This definition deals more with the act of "crystal ball gazing", however "cloud gazing" is also an example of scrying. Finding shapes in clouds is very subjective, as the clouds swirl in very abstract shapes. When different individuals' brain tries to detect patterns, one's results often largely differ from a fellow participant.