Response to Comics Chapters 1 and 2

Our textbook "Understanding Comics" by Scott Mc Cloud is a rather dynamic textbook in the way it displays it's content. The book is very easy to read and has nice comic style illustrations to help with the concepts that are presented.

In chapter 1 the author addressed some of the critiques that exist about comics. They are ofter considered crude and inartistic non literature for young people or people too lazy to read a real book when in fact they are one of the oldest art forms of the world. People have always been inclined to tell stories over time with pictures in sequence. This fascinated me because anthropology is my minor and I had never heard about this before but it makes total sense and is very interesting. The comic form is a form that had been considered effective for many many years. It is also not unlike a movie which is also a narrative being told through a series of images occurring over time. Comics can fall into the genre of sequential art, but yet to have an actual well distinguished definition for themselves and creating one is one of the goals of the author.

In chapter 2 the author introduces the vocabulary of comics. The idea of amplification through simplification in respect to icons was so interesting. I had always been affected by icons in every day life as we all are but i had never realized why. This concept is so interesting to me. Simplifying the icon to the most basic elements such as cartoons do, make them relatable for us as humans to see the image of ourselves in them. Humans are very self centered organisms that see the devices that are part of everyday use as sorts of extensions of self. the line between self and tool is often blurred. Realistic art often creates an otherness separating the viewer from the viewed, while simplistic cartoons tend to unite them.It is not a lower form of art rather a form that functions in a completely different way. The use of these psychological concepts can be used and manipulated by artists to give their work layers of meaning.