It seems like the words in cartoons are used mostly as narration and dialogue, and that events and people are described in pictures. Both words and images work together to create a cohesive idea of the story. This goes back to something I was talking about in my SCD, that language is not only made up of words, but that images are language too. Pictorial icons are just a different type of word; less abstract, and perhaps more active and immediate. Perhaps it's not the way that words signify that's different in cartoons, but the way that they are placed in time. There is a level of remove between the word and the mental image it calls up that there is not with an image. Therefore, images are more present, more "in the now" than words are. This would explain why having images is so effective in a story; because they can show events that seem all the more real to an audience.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Pictures and Words in Persepolis
We've talked about the images that make up cartoons, but I find myself wondering a little bit about the text that they used. Does the way that the words signify ideas/things change because they are coupled with images and icons? I'm not sure I really know the answer, but it seems that the way that words are used is certainly different. For one thing, they don't have to describe everything that's going on, because images are used to do part of that work. For example, in Persepolis, Satrapi describes the beginning of violence in Iran. The narrator states, "For the first time in my life, I saw violence with my own eyes" (76). Below the text is an image of an angry-looking bearded man stabbing a woman in the leg. In the foreground is the narrator looking horrified and yelling, "Dad!" The text in this instance is fairly vague, not pointing at any specific instance. It is the picture that does the work of describing here, which allows us, the readers, to see things as they happen, rather than reading a report of events after the fact.
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After reading Persepolis, I have thinking more about the relationship between images and dialogue too. McCloud's discussion of icons did not go much further than to explain their function and significance, which leaves some room for interpretation. The way I see it, when there are images matched with a written text, the pictures function as the style aspect of the piece. The written portion is stripped down, and the pictures take on the emotion; but if there is no picture, a written description is required and the style is more in the voice of the author.
ReplyDeleteThis happens again and again in Persepolis especially as Marji gets older and her emotions are more nuanced. The pictures that depict her facial expressions account for most of the style and the feel behind the words. One part that stuck out in my mind was the scene in which she smokes the cigarette. The cartoon reads, "With this first cigarette, I kissed childhood goodbye. Now I was a grown-up"(117). The words themselves are impactful, but the defiantly sure look in her eyes tells a whole other story and sums up much of the pain that she has already endured. In this way, I think style definitely shines through the image as it works together with the text.
This unit on signification of words and the recent SCD has forced me, and I'm sure everyone else, to reevaluate the way that I view language and its function. I agree with Miranda in her assertion that language itself is not just made up of words, but encompasses images and other forms of communicative signs and symbols. In short, language is NOT just a collection of words. When reading Persepolis and McCloud, I began to question exactly what the difference was between a word (or even a letter)and a picture or icon. Do words and graphics not share common characteristics and goals. They are used as communication devices to represent and transmit an idea or imply meaning. While we have been taught that words and pictures are different, I have started to question this widely regarded assumption. Words, and letters, are icons, representatives standing in place for idea. I think that this is something that McCloud would back up, as he states in his essay "Understanding Comics" regarding an icon "For the purposes of this chapter, I'm using the word 'icon' to mean any image used to represent a person, place, thing or idea" (McCloud 25). While we may not typically think of words in this manner, they are images in written form, they are indeed icons.
ReplyDeleteThis speaks a lot to what McCloud brings up in his works based on the two realms of of human experience. He talks about the realm of the concept as well as the realm of the senses, and his argument makes a lot of sense. Words as part of language appeal to the thought process of being human. They stimulate your brain, but human beings are more than just brains, they are bodies as well. McCloud somewhat discounts the human body as nothing more than a vehicle for the brain, but I think his own argument makes it out to hold a lot more importance. The realm of the senses is half of what goes into making the human experience, as McCloud might say. A body can't function without a brain, but a brain can't function without a body. It only makes sense to say that the best type of language, or at least the easiest to understand, should appeal to both of McCloud's realms in order to signify as best as possible. I also think that Persepolis is proof that this idea resounds with multiple cultures and societies. It seems fairly basic to humanity altogether.
ReplyDeleteGoing along with the themes you all have brought up, I find it important to highlight how some characters in Persepolis have distinct facial features, while others, such as soldiers or women, are drawn with the same face and same clothes. It's interesting that the political divide marked such an enormous gap between people she cared about and people she did not know.
ReplyDeleteAlthough she is surrounded by her countrymen, most of the characters outside of her family carry the same simplified face. This reflects what McCloud says about the smiley face, about the ability of the human mind to draw information from such simple caricatures.
From the reading progress I have made so far, it seems as if Marji felt alienated from the society because of who her parents were. This attribute makes her experience unique, and the style with which she chooses to lay out her story compliments the mindset and understanding of a confused childhood.