“The vocabulary of Comics”, Scott McCloud

IWA: 2/18/13

Summary: In his cartoon, “The vocabulary of Comics”, Scott McCloud attempts to tell his audience, students, that icons and pictures are really simple, meaningless drawings. He argues that our minds take images and icons we see on a daily basis and transforms them into some sort of universal concept. In addition he believes that icons help mold our daily lives.

Synthesis: This article really reminded me a bit about “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty” because both talk about symbolism. This article was more about basic drawings and what they represent while the other was more about ad layouts, but they both dealt with how our brains receive and interpret images and placements of them.

QD 1: I think adults still like cartoons and their simplicity for two reasons. One being it makes them feel better knowing their awful drawing skills could be put into a story and two (and perhaps more important) is that it takes them back to their childhood and makes them realize how much simpler life was and perhaps how much happier it was too. Although I do not believe there is an age where it is inappropriate to read/watch cartoons, I do believe there is a time it becomes inappropriate for that to be a major part of your life. I don’t think McCloud would believe it’s ever inappropriate since he uses a comic to share his ideas and discusses how we always use symbols to represent broader ideas in our everyday lives.

QD 2: I think McCloud uses the comic book format because it’s so appropriate for a cartoon of him to be explaining that we see simplistic images and draft them into a larger meaning. As I read I kept seeing him telling me these things and I realized it helped me get more on a personal, one on one level as opposed to simply reading his thoughts. I think his writing would’ve suffered if not done this way because the reader may not have seen his point as clearly had it not been drawn out for them.

AE 2: McCloud says we see ourselves in simplistic faces because it is something everybody can relate to, we’re selfish and apply emotions to things that are emotionless, and our brains just naturally do it. I have looked at a photograph/portrait and identified with the subject because of the emotion they seemed to be expressing and the reason why they were expressing that. I don’t believe everybody would’ve shared the same emotions I did.

Afterthoughts: I really liked this article because it was totally different from anything we’ve ever read. I liked how he put his thoughts into a visual representation because it helped me focus more on what the point was he was trying to make. I’m also slightly jealous of his creativity and ability to put such a strong idea into something so simplistic.