As we discuss the roles of pictures and words in conveying a story, I become mildly conflicted in several aspects. First, and most obviously, which one does the better job? To me, both forms of storytelling allow for creativity and personal thought. But, while writing is both specific and yet very imagination-based, illustrations tend to be only the latter. A drawing calls for "broader topics" (McCloud 815) of assumptions. And while that may be seen as a good thing, I see it as a source of miscommunication.
Because images are open to so many different interpretations, often, the author's intended meaning is not truly understood. Similarly, I regularly find myself wondering if, as readers, we also look too much into the text and find meaning when the author actually had none. What if the author didn't really have a specific theme in mind and just wanted to write an amusing story? Of course, I may just be too simple-minded and unqualified, but I find myself doubting the extent of a product's depth. Another similar and more physical example is a memorial. During my research on the Korean War Veterans Memorial, I found an endless number of symbols and "hidden meanings." But I started to doubt. Is the memorial black and the text white to present a symbol of victory amidst darkness and evil, or is it just more aesthetically pleasing? And who claimed that this is the actual meaning?
So while writing is still at risk of being misinterpreted, because pictures lack explanations, the true meaning is much more likely to be misconstrued.
Because images are open to so many different interpretations, often, the author's intended meaning is not truly understood. Similarly, I regularly find myself wondering if, as readers, we also look too much into the text and find meaning when the author actually had none. What if the author didn't really have a specific theme in mind and just wanted to write an amusing story? Of course, I may just be too simple-minded and unqualified, but I find myself doubting the extent of a product's depth. Another similar and more physical example is a memorial. During my research on the Korean War Veterans Memorial, I found an endless number of symbols and "hidden meanings." But I started to doubt. Is the memorial black and the text white to present a symbol of victory amidst darkness and evil, or is it just more aesthetically pleasing? And who claimed that this is the actual meaning?
So while writing is still at risk of being misinterpreted, because pictures lack explanations, the true meaning is much more likely to be misconstrued.
I've also at times doubted the supposedly 'true meanings' of a story/picture. I definitely agree that there are so many ways to interpret things, which makes it hard sometimes to differentiate which one is the 'real' interpretation. Nice title to go along with the topic. Often times, we always agree with the more knowledgeable person (aka the professionals aka the teachers) when discussing about these certain themes or significances, since they're supposed to know more about it. But how can we be sure that they're right? Sadly we can't, because the original author/creator is usually dead. So, all we can do is trust them for now.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about novels (or articles, or blog posts, etc.) with only words is that it's easy to lose focus if it's not well written and engaging - but over the years, as we read those kinds of texts more and more, we get used to it. Then the thing about pictures is that interpreting them is so difficult! It's probably just me missing the obvious details and overthinking other parts but I never seem to get the exact meaning (oops some DBQs and SAQs lmao). It is true that pictures offer more freedom of interpretation which can be both a good thing and a bad thing, but maybe if society were more accepting of comics and we worked with interpreting pictures more in school, things would be different...
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting perspective! I've definitely found myself thinking that we too often overanalyze things. Whether it's overanalyzing novels (cough cough in class essays) or just overreacting to what someone said to us in conversation, it's almost as if we see what we want to see in a way? I feel like if we look for something hard enough in any medium (whether it be art, writing, or personal life), it will manifest because of confirmation bias.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree that sometimes we might be trying to look for a deeper meaning when in fact there might not be one. I also love that you rose the question about who "decides" the actual meaning of each piece of writing. This was a very interesting read!
ReplyDeleteI love how you tied in our discussion in class to your blogpost! I definitely think that writing has more structure and often the meaning is less understated in comparison to a piece of artwork. I think that the aspect of overanalyzing is also applicable in pictures too. Media often shows pretentious art critics trying to find the hidden meaning behind a paint splatter on a canvas. This is why I think that having a medley of artwork and words can sometimes be a good thing. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI really like how you wrote about how we are always trying to look for a hidden meaning, that might not even be there at all, and that the author maybe didn't have much to take away from the text. I also liked how you presented the question of the Korean War Memorial, and if there was a meaning or if it was just "aesthetically pleasing." Overall, this was a very interesting blog post that had me thinking the entire time!
ReplyDeleteur so smart i agree. sometimes i feel like motifs and themes and stuff are just like madeup lol
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