This week in class we read a piece called Show and Tell by Scott McCloud. This piece showed (and told) the importance of pictures in readings. It started off with a short anecdote of this kid in front of his class explaining how his robot toy transforms into an airplane. He uses a mixture of words and plain showing how it does what it does. This develops the author's main argument that "words and pictures have great powers to tell stories when creators fully exploit them both," (McCloud 809). I believe that images in books don't make a work of literature any less intellectual. If the content is meant to be intellectual, pictures aren't going to make it any less. Actually, images bring a different dynamic and can allow for more intellectual content. If an author were to include a statement where there could be many interpretations, that would be considered intellectual, but if you add an image to that and turn it into a comic, there could be an infinite amount of interpretations making it even more intellectual. Comics, while relaying the same information, could make the content easier to understand than traditional, picture-less reading. The same way people are different types of learners, visual, auditory, tactical, etc. there can be different types of readers. Comics can make the reading more understandable for some people. If a person were to read a book and kinda understand what the purpose of it was or what was happening, if they had an image to go along with the words, then maybe it would push them over the edge of fully understanding. For me personally, I feel that comics are an easier and overall a more enjoyable reading experience.
The most relevant topic that I have learned throughout high school is the idea the importance of consistency, discipline, and time management. In middle school I had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted. Especially during the summer. We would bike around for hours and just hang out. I thought that this would end in high school. For the most part, it didn't. Freshman year I had a lot of free time. I would hang out with friends, go to the gym most nights, play basketball, all while doing extra curriculars. I had cross country in the fall and basketball in the winter. This, in addition to clubs like DECA, student government, and eventually NHS, I thought I would be super busy. Maybe my course load wasn't demanding enough and easing into high school is not too difficult, but sophomore year would be hard, right? Sophomore year was a bit harder for me, but it seemed to be nearly impossible for some. I took AP Calculus BC and AP Chemistry my sophomore year and...
Hey Kyle! I remember once you told me you love reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Big Nate and I think that is great. I totally see where you are coming from, pictures do sometimes simplify things making them easier to understand. I never really liked those two titles very much but I am sure they are very interesting. I personally enjoy the comic Calvin and Hobbes a lot. It can be a very intellectual read.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you when you said that comics make reading more enjoyable and easier to understand because the pictures stand for a deeper understanding of the writing. Also I thought that you made a good point when you said that in a comic, the pictures allow for the readers to interpret the piece in many different ways depending on their perspective.
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