Joker the Hero

 

            The joker is portrayed as a lying psychopath in the Dark Knight. However, he is the hero in the film due to different reasons. Before the Joker, Gotham is characterized by madness, rampant crime, and corruption of the majority of the city officials (Lesnick 12). The city is a mess and most of the sections are not operational due to the chaotic situation. However, with the introduction of the Joker in a short period, crime rate went down completely, corruption was no more because the corrupt were killed or imprisoned. The Joker was behind the transformation of Gotham in the shortest period possible. The Joker collaborates with other great men to save the soul of Gotham in the best way possible. He goes to the extent of robbing a mafia-controlled bank because it is the only way to ensure that the entire team of expert bank robbers is eliminated. He robs the bank to lure a criminal from the hiding, which is depicted as a brave act.

The joker manages to put in place a team of experts who worked together for the good of Gotham. At the end of the film, Gotham is clean and free of vices. It cannot be associated as Batman’s achievements or any other heroes such as Harvey. The safety of Gotham can be credited to the Joker who was responsible for the cleaning up the streets, eliminating the corrupt, and destroying the organized crimes in the financial sector. He declared himself the protector of Gotham and he managed to achieve his goals at the end.

 

Work Cited

Lesnick, Silas. IESB Exclusive: Heath Ledger Talks the Joker. The Movie Reporter. Web. April 17, 2016.

The Dark Knight. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart. 2008. Warner Bros., 2008. Film.

 

 

 

Everything Burns

 

The Heath Ledger’s ‘Joker’ is incredibly special mainly due to the psychological approach to the character. Heath Ledger spends significant amount of time studying the comics that the joker appeared in. The essence of this obsession is to study the psychology of the Joker. In different areas, the Joker appeared to be a psychopath, schizophrenic, mass murdering machine, and non-empathetic individual. In the film, the role of the joker are assigned because he is fearless (Richards 8). Heath is presented as a scary psychopath. He is a lovely person and his joker is a hell of revelation. Heath Ledger transformed greatly in a bold and terrifying manner. Some of the fans reacted as though it was the first image of Ledger’s Joker because he was not the same old villain. There was the omission of more traditional aspects of comic’s greatest villain; hence, becoming one of the greatest take on any comic character that has ever appeared on the screens.

Ledger, the film director, and the co-writer incorporated great characteristics of the joker and ensured that the character stayed true to the source material in different ways. First, there is the aspect of his lack of the past, which intrigue the audience to a great deal. The other aspect is the association with Batman, where he found true purpose in being his true antithesis. The greatest mission in the film was setting schemes for Batman in order to terrorize him emotionally and other ways of association. This part of the comic that draws great attention for having a chronic love of terrorizing Batman shows that Batman completed the Joker. Lastly, there is the sense of humor that the Ledger’s Joker possesses. He has maniacal objectives that make the film more outstanding because of his character and relationship with other characters.

Work Cited

Richards, Olly . World Exclusive: The Joker Speaks: He's a Cold-blooded Mass-murdering Clown. Empire. April 18, 2016 .

Nizzinny. "The Dark Knight: Everything Burns." Youtube. Google, May 7, 2013. Web. April 18, 2016.

The Dark Knight. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart. 2008. Warner Bros., 2008. Film.

The Psychology of Batman

 

The film about the ‘Psychology of Batman’ has different claims about the nature of Batman’s behavior and mental capacities. One the claims are that the mind of Batman is not stable. According to the ideas of the psychological experts, Batman was affected by the death of his parents, which occurred when he was at a very tender age (Richards 10). Consequently, he continually blames himself for their deaths and his sidekicks are a sign of depression. The claims that the acts of Batman are because of psychological effects of the past may not be the truth. Based on this claim, Batman is expected to intervene in the situations that are similar to that of the death of his parents. However, with reference to the Dark Night Film, we find that Batman does intervene in a case where he is not affected and even offers to kill rather than save life.

Psychologically, if Batman was affected by the death of his parents and was mentally unstable, most of his acts may have been revenge missions. However, this is not the case for Batman because sometimes, he acts as the person who saves the vulnerable while in other cases, he acts as the bad person. If batman was psychologically affected as the claims assert, most of his acts may be aimed at revenging for the vulnerable and protecting them. At some point, Batman lives as a free man from the happenings in his childhood. It may be true that Batman’s acts are encouraged by the happenings in his early life. However, there is little to attach to the psychological attachment that is claimed by the psychologists.

 

Work Cited

 

Thomas, Sidney. "Batman Unmasked The Psychology of The Dark Knight Documentary."             Youtube. Youtube. June 1, 2015. Web. April 15, 2016.

 

The Dark Knight. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart. 2008. Warner Bros., 2008. Film.

 

 

Batman as a Loner

          Batman is a clear depiction of a lonely man. Bruce Wayne has no friends, and he is not the best when it comes to the romantic relations (NKY96). However, there are particular reasons that stand behind the fact that Batman prefers to stay alone. First, the tragedy of the childhood made him a loner. Bruce was attached to the parents, and when they were ripped from him, Batman decided that it is better to stay alone not to repeat the tragedy and feel a loss.

            As to the romantic relationship and friendship, one can say that Batman lives by the credo, "The less friend you have, the less can be hurt." There are many scenes where Batman was depicted as a loner. However, the most vivid are when Alfred ascends on the elevator to the Batman's secret vault, and a viewer can see Bruce Wayne sitting all alone, stitching his hand (Nolan). The fact that Alfred noted, "Whenever you stitch yourself up, you are making a bloody mess," confirms that Bruce is always alone, and nobody could even stitch him up because doing it on your own is tough (Nolan). The setting of the scene, one man in a huge room, is a clear depiction of loneliness. Additionally, there is no music or some on the background. Silence always was a vivid sign of loneliness.

            Moreover, in the other scene, where Batman confronts criminal and his successors, dressed as Batman, tried to help him, Bruce tied them up and left. One of the fake-Batman said, "We were trying to help," and Batman replied, "I do not need help" (Nolan). Those words illustrate and support the idea that Batman prefers to stay alone and perform as a lonely hero.

Works Cited

The Dark Knight. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart.                  2008. Warner Bros., 2008. Film.

NKAY96. "Batman Character Analysis: He Ain’t Crazy but He is Complex – Girl-On-Comic-Book-        World." Girl-On-Comic-Book-World. N.p., 17 Feb. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

Gotham Mobsters and Panama Papers

            Recently, the world was shocked by the events called Panama Papers. It was a leak of almost 11,5 million files from the database of one of the world's biggest offshore law firms (Harding). The leak showed the scale of the illegal money laundering that many world leaders and influential people did.  Overall, the documents revealed the secret accounts of 142 politicians among which there are twelve national leaders (Harding).

            Similarly to the Panama Papers events, in The Dark Knight, there is a depiction of the scale of black market of money laundering performed by mobsters in Gotham City. The scene, where mod leaders gathered to discuss financial matters and talked that a small amount of money (68 million!) was stolen from them, is a perfect depiction of the scale of criminal activity performed by influential people (Nolan). The scene setting shows that mobsters gathered in some in a kitchen of the restaurants to hide their criminal intentions. Similarly, people, involved in the Panama Papers crisis hid their money from everyone, to avoid paying taxes and supporting the world's economy. Furthermore, a viewer can make a parallel between the scene, where people load the truck with bags of money, and how politicians and some world leaders move their money to the other side of the world to hide them. It is interesting that in some sense, Joker, who ruined a criminal financial system is similar to people, who stand behind the leak.

 

     Works Cited

The Dark Knight. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart. 2008. Warner Bros., 2008. Film.

Harding, Luke. "What Are the Panama Papers? A Guide to History's Biggest Data Leak | News | The Guardian." The Guardian. N.p., 5 Apr. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

Reelchanger. "The Hero We Need: An In-Depth Analysis of Batman in Post-9/11 America." Reel Change. N.p., 6 July 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dark Knight (The Tough Choice)

The Dark Knight is a movie about struggle. Specifically, the struggle against corruption; the struggle for fame; the struggle for survival, and, most fundamentally, the struggle between good and evil, both in the outer world and the inner world of characters. Harvey Dent is an excellent depiction of the struggle between good and evil. In one of the scenes, Dent noted, "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see you become a villain" (Reelchanger). In the initial stage of the movie, Harvey Dent is depicted as an attorney who is not afraid to fight the mob leaders, as well as face armed criminals. Additionally, a scene where Dent tells to the media that he is a Batman is an illustration of the sacrifice of the hero. However, there are scenes, where a viewer can see a clear manifestation of Harvey choosing between either standing on a path of a hero or becoming a villain.

There is a scene, where Harvey Dent caught a fake cop, who started shooting during the funeral in the center of Gotham City. Harvey took a fake cop to beat information from him about who was a mastermind of the negative events happening in the city. Harvey Dent picked up a revolver and wanted to play with a fake cop a kind of Russian roulette and took a coin to decide man's fate (Nolan). The scene clearly depicted something negative going on, both outside and inside the Dent's soul. The sound was dark and daunting. The lighting was such that Harvey's face was half lighted and half darkened. Also, Batman interrupts Harvey, and a viewer is unable to see the ending of the scene.

The next decisive moment is when Harvey is in the hospital and faces Joker (Nolan). Joker intended to manipulate Dent on the dark side. One can see the same action with the revolver and a coin. The musical support is intense and ascending. The focus is on the Dent's face, one part healthy, one burned. Additionally, the viewer does not see the ending. However, the fact that Joker appeared in the latter scenes confirmed that Harvey Dent became a villain.

Works Cited

The Dark Knight. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart. 2008. Warner Bros., 2008. Film.

 

Reelchanger. "The Hero We Need: An In-Depth Analysis of Batman in Post-9/11 America." Reel Change. N.p., 6 July 2012. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.

 

 

Bruce Wayne’s Death and Batman’s (Re)Birth in “The Dark Knight Returns”

            Batman was re-born when Bruce Wayne died. It is an interesting concept that requires being continued. It would be appropriate to point at the change of Batman’s attitude to the criminals. Bruce Wayne always intended to solve problems by means of either the disarmament or intimidation of his putative enemies. Meanwhile, Miller’s Dark Knight tends to make his rivals suffer and feel doomed.

Unconditionally, it would be appropriate to represent some direct examples of this polymorph. For example, in “The Dark Knight Returns” a news anchor says, "What about due process — civil rights?"(Miller). Nevertheless, a couple of pages later, the Dark Knight says a person who already possesses a broken leg and apparently is about to be smashed through a window, "You've got rights. Lots of rights. Sometimes I count them just to make myself feel crazy" (Miller). It directly points at the death of Bruce Wayne, as well as the distinguish between the Dark Knight and old Bruce Wayne.

The next sign of the death of Bruce Wayne and re-birth of Batman is the attitude of Batman to people. In other words, Bruce Wayne always was a leader who inspired people to do their best and become better. However, the Dark Knight is a manipulator, who tends to use people as a weapon in order to reach own goals. He would rather train a little girl so that she be able to serve him, instead of preventing prospective harm to her and sending her home. I reckon that it is no less powerful and persuasive sing of the distinguish between these two personalities. The Dark Knight is not Bruce Wayne anymore.

                                                            Works cited

Miller, Frank. Batman The Dark Knight Returns. DC Comics, 1986. Print. Limited Ser.

Ditto, Nicholas. "Bruce Wayne's Death and Batman's (Re)Birth in "The Dark Knight Returns". Reading Between the Lines: A Closer Look at the Graphic Novel. February 6, 2013. Web. April 6, 2016.

Batman versus Superman (BOUNS)

            In the last chapter of the Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns”, the reader encounters with the battle of two significant superheroes in the DC comics universe. It signifies the fight between Batman and Superman. If take into consideration the fact that previous rivals of the Dark Knight were various criminals and anti-heroes, the appearance of Superman seems strange and creative. In my opinion, there is a few reason of such a decision of the author.

First of all, in Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns”, the world had already changed significantly and became crueler and sadistic. In this world, the values of superheroes changed for the worst. To be more specific, Superman became a servant of the government, Green Arrow turn into a terrorist, Batman polymorphic into a cruel manipulator with a split personality and so forth (Miller, 1986). In this world, there are not common objectives of the heroes for good anymore. Their objectives now are contradictory and lead them to fight.

The next reason is that during “The Dark Knight Returns”, Batman shows different mental disorders. He changes his values and brakes free from the shackles of Bruce Wayne (Miller, 1986, 25). Meanwhile, Superman became a puppet of the government. His secret is publicly known and everybody knows that Clark Kent is Superman. He lives in the self-contradiction as he scorns his pliability. It is the battle of two frazzled people, who live self-contradiction and cannot live in such a manner anymore. They seek the resolution of their problems, which they eventually find at the end of the book. It is the reason why Superman becomes a final antagonist in Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns”.

    Works cited

Miller, Frank. Batman The Dark Knight Returns. DC Comics, 1986. Print. Limited Ser.

Caped Crusader, Or Cruel Sadist? Miller Makes One Fan Wonder

           Undoubtedly, there is a significant change of the Batman’s character after his return. Furthermore, I agree that the Dark Knight is more severe than the old Batman. Nevertheless, in my opinion, there are not reasons to say that the new Batman is an indefensible sadist. At least, the reason is rooted in his main purposes. To clarify, Batman is still aimed at reduction of crime in Gotham. It signifies that his personal goals are concluded in the improvement of the society.  Frank Miller just intended to say that Bruce Wayne had become exhausted and disappointed in the system of justice.

Primarily, I would like to repel the accuse with regard to the fact that Batman provoked Joker to return. I am deeply convinced that Batman had thought that his return would have summoned Joker. Unconditionally, his values and moral standards had been changing in the course of time but the world experienced the huge alteration, as well. For example, the actions of the U.S. government with respect to sending Superman to beat The Dark Knight. This decision was caused by means of the fact that Gotham had become the safest city in the U.S. after the electromagnetic impulse due to Batman’s remaining Mutants and Sons of the Batman into a non-lethal vigilante gang (Miller, 1986, p.156). This gang interferes with looters during the unstable conditions.

The government literally envy as Batman had been making people doubting in the system. Therefore, I believe that Batman changed as the world had altered. “Old Batman” would not be able to exist under such circumstances. The Dark Knights is not an indefensible sadist; he is the light in the indefensibly sadistic world.

Works cited

Miller, Frank. Batman The Dark Knight Returns. DC Comics, 1986. Print. Limited Ser.

Fu, Kim. “Caped Crusader, Or Cruel Sadist? Miller Makes One Fan Wonder.” Npr Books. Kim Fu. 12 Jan 2014. Web. 5 Apr 2016.

Analysis of a Villain

The article by Edgar analyzes a villain from a diversified perspective of the villain’s personality and the environment around them. Through the article, the audience can draw a deeper understanding of the villain and why the villain chose to become a problem in the society. Through a similar, approach, and this blog will review the villain character of Jordan Belfort in the film The Wolf of Wall Street. The article by Edgar gives a deep analysis of how the villain of Darth Vader the dark lord fits into the context of the film. The article further examines the role and importance of the villain in shaping the hero of the film.

In The Wolf of Wall Street, Belfort is cast as handsome, tricky and wealthy financier amid the expectation of the people. The context of the film is related to the historical resemblance of the 2008 American recession. In the film, Belfort is illustrated as womanizer, bully, killer, opportunist, corrupt, consummate liar, and thief: a typical evil man that would bring down the economy. To develop the villain character of Belfort, the film relies on bringing around a context of suffering. The economic background of Belfort is portrayed to be suffering from an economic imbalance between the rich and the poor. More so, the villain enjoys the protection of the law enforcers and the mighty in the society. Under such context, the villain would require a strong hero willing to sacrifice their life due to threats of the mighty in the society.

 

 

Works Cited

Edgar. "Darth Vader: Academic Writing Assignment, Villain Analysis." Our Place in the Universe. N.p., 27 Sept. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

The Wolf Of Wall Street. Dir. Martin. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie. 2013. Paramount Pictures, 2013. Film.

The Evolution of Villains

Mk1982 observes that great heroes are born out of the existence of a dangerous villain. For a villain to become great, Mk1982 considers that the villain holds characteristics of based on wicked motivation, curse and need for sympathy. A great villain is considered by Mk1982 as a person or entity that can force the society to hope and wish that someone can rescue them from the villain entity. More so, the villain must pose as a phenomenal danger that the society could not solve. As such, the villain must not be just an ordinary personality or entity that the society can solve easily. Unfortunately, in the revolution of villains, Mk1982 finds that the villain has been able to draw more sympathy and love as opposed to the hero. The villain is illustrated as someone or situation reacting to solve a curse or a fix. Mk1982 argues that the reason for the above is that in the modern age, some people have come to find themselves in an economic, political, or social fix.  As such, Mk1982 argues that in the modern age, villains do not have to be ugly monster-like as opposed to the traditional observation of villain.

I agree with Mk1982 that the characteristics of a great villain have highly changed over times. In this case, I would consider a comparison of the Medusa villain character in the article with a modern cast of DiCaprio as the villain of Wolf of Wall Street. DiCaprio is cast as a handsome looking investor and financier who bring the American economy to its downfall. The character falls into the Mk1982 article description of the changing face of villains.

 

Works Cited

Mk1982. "The Evolution of Villains.” IGN. N.p. . 19 Apr. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

The Wolf of Wall Street. Dir. Martin. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie. 2013. Paramount Pictures, 2013. Film.

 

What Makes a Hero

             Brett articles revolve around the importance and the roles of hero in the society. To illustrate the importance and roles of heroes in the society, Brett focuses on the quality of heroes being based on someone who the society can respect or owe their success to. Brett cautions that the role and importance of heroes in the society should not extend to worship of heroes. However, Brett traces the importance and roles of heroes to the ancient times and the impact the heroes played in changing their society. More so, Brett argues that heroes have an important role in families and communities of helping people “to take a stand on issues, help out a neighbor, and be kind, loving and generous to other people” (Brett, web). Brett does not encourage hero worship as he does not find it important, but rather find heroic acts as a source of strength, get direction for people’s lives and inspiration to the people. The qualities of a hero are thus summarized by Brett as being courageous, face challenges head on, generosity, and kind, compassionate, generous, risk-taking, and ready to sacrifice their resources for the larger good of the society.

    Based on the heroes qualities defined by Brett and the disqualification of hero worship, I support his concepts. I agree that the society needs someone to set standards and act as an example of respectful life in the society. I support Brett ideas because heroes have helped change bad history to good history without necessarily asking for recognition or payment. More so, in my life, I have been inspired to make several achievements based on the reflection of some past heroes.

Works Cited

Brett. "Podcast: What Makes a Hero?" The Art of Manliness. N.p., 14 Feb. 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.

The 9/11 Report

             In ‘The 9/11 Report’ one of the most important features is the description of the plane crash in New York. Basically, the author used quite colourful images which could deliver the information towards cruel moments of this crash (Jacobson & Colon 8). Although a considerable amount of research has been dedicated to this problem but few attention has been paid to the usage of color.

            First of all, the fierce moments of the airplane crash have been depicted by colors. For instance, when the airplane crashed a skyscraper, he used a red color in order to portray blood (Jacobson & Colon 8).

            Secondly, another section of visual information has been devoted to the terroristic attack. For instance, in the World Trade Center the man, who evacuated people, said that ‘Everyone’s running up to first class, I have got to go’ (Jacobson & Colon pp. 12).

            Thirdly, the aspect of dangerous situation has been portrayed by the author with such colors as red, black and grey (Jacobson & Colon 13). Hence, it appears that colors play an important role in the process of depicting leading information.

            To conclude, it seems that in order to portray dangerous moment the author of ‘The 9/11 Report’ managed to deliver main information about cruel and fierce moments of the terroristic attack towards the World Trade Center in New York. The author was successful in this effort because of the fact that the balance between visual and text information is kept in the comic book. The importance of such balance is well pointed out by McCloud who compares text and pictures in comics to “partners in a dance, and each one takes turns leading” (156).

 

 

Works cited

Jacobson, Sid, and  Colón, Ernie. "The 9/11 Report: A graphic Adaptation". Hill and Wang in New York. 2006. Pdf.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. New York: HarperCollons Publishers Inc, 1994. Print.

 

 

 

 

 

Fullmetal Alchemist

            In the comic ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ the most important topics are the aspect of time and how it could influence on events. The issue of time and sequence of events is indeed the easy one to be raised in a comic book because due to their use of both text and images “comics have become firmly identified with the art of storytelling” (McCloud 152). It goes without saying that the process of storytelling is all about depicting the causative relations between events as they unfold through the flow of time.  Even though a lot of investigations has been made in order to depict this feature, it appears that few attention has been paid to describe time and line in the comics.             

            To start with, in ‘Fullmetal’ the main theme was to deliver information about time-line which plays a crucial role on people’s destiny. As one of Arakawa’s heroes says ‘It’s already past the time to ring the bell’ (Arakawa 16). Hence, the issue of passing time is important in the process of defining destiny.

            In addition to that, the comic clearly shows that time and its measurement could be crucial and essential in the process of delivering information. Specifically, in the comic the author tries to invoke some emotions and attitudes in the readers towards specific events. Hence, this aspect is worthy of notice in the further investigations.

            To sum it up, the aspects of time is mainly used in the comics with the genres of fantasy. In addition to that, the issue of line could be also mentioned in the comics because of this reason. That is why, the features of time and time-line are essential in the process of delivering key messages in the comic.

Works cited                                            

Arakawa, Hiromou. Fullmetal Alchemist. Volume 1. VIZ Media in San Francisco. 2005. Pdf.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. New York: HarperCollons Publishers Inc, 1994. Print.

Fornication

           One of the most important features in the comic work is to deliver information through images. One of the greatest issues about the world of comics underlined by McCloud is that the combination of images and words with an aim of conveying information is “somehow base and simplistic” (141). It goes without saying that this “self-fulfilling prophecy” (McCloud 141) does not reflect the reality in a right way. In fact, such serious point about religious attitude towards abortion has been made in a comic way in the ‘Fornication’. Although a considerable amount of research has been devoted to this aspect, it would be thus of interest to investigate it in depth.

            First of all, in the ‘Fornication’ such issue as drug prescription could be led to unpredictable consequences. ‘I am going to refute to fill your prescription’, as a pharmacist said in the ‘Fornication’ by Peter Bagge’s creation (Bagge, pp. 190).

            Secondly, it is worthy of notice that the features of religion and mode of living are closely correlated with each other and the same it could be written about the correlation between imagined and real worlds. For instance, another pharmacist mentioned that religion does not accept abortions as far as it has been written in the Bible (Bagge 191).   

Thirdly, in the ‘Fornication’ the author writes in a comic way about contraceptives. In fact, he uses images which demonstrate how cruel and fierce these techniques could be (Bagge 192). In brief, the issue of prohibiting abortions has a lot of concerns in the American society because of religious prejudices.

            In conclusion, in the ‘Fornication’ the authors wanted to deliver acute society problems through . For this reason, comic images play a crucial role in delivering information about some dispute aspects of life and how authors could create heroes in the process of creating literature masterpieces.

Works Cited

 

Bagge, Peter.The War on Fornication Peter Bagge. In The Best American Comics pp 190-193.        Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in New York. 2010.            
 
 
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. New York: HarperCollons Publishers Inc, 1994. Print.
 

COLOR

McCloud is of the opinion that color use in comics helps keep track of characters because some comics use the same colors for characters continuously. Regarding costumes, the author says, “…costume colors remained exactly the same, panel after panel, they came to symbolize characters in the mind of the reader” (McClouds 188). Some comic artists have preference colors and they use these colors throughout their art. These colors carry certain themes that the comic artist aims to pass across every time he or she releases a piece of comic art.

This comic by Jim Davis illustrates the use of color to keep track of characters. As seen, the light blue color is attributed to the mother; the purple-green color is attributed to the daughter while the yellow color is attributed to the doggie. This helps the reader know who is speaking without having to recognize their faces. It also relieves the artist of the stress of having to include the entire body of the character. As seen in the three instances, only the lower body of the mother appears to match up with the heights of the daughter and the doggie. If the artist were to include the entire height of the mother, the image proportion would be unrealistic considering that the available space is also limited. Ideally, the mother would assume the same height as the daughter and the doggie or the heights of the daughter and the doggie would be suppressed highly to the extent of being invisible. In commercial papers, for instance, comics are allowed limited space, which prompts artists to maximize the use of space to pass on their message in the correct way. Color has turned out to be of great help in this regard.

Works Cited

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art. New York City: HarperCollins Publishers Inc, 1994. Print.

TvTorpes. "Depending on the Artist." 2 March 2016. Web.

Art

 

In chapter 7 McCloud defines art as “any human activity which doesn’t grow out of either of our species’ two basic instincts: survival and reproduction” (McCloud 164). The author gives examples of scenarios when human beings are idle (that is, no longer pursuing reproduction and survival) and engage in activities to which they do not pay much attention. According to the author, such activities amount to art. Although things have changed much of late, the author’s definition of art still holds true largely.

According to me, I would define art as the expression of human thought in a creative manner capable of being discerned using the five senses. In this regard, art must be thought of in advance before it can be expressed. Otherwise, it would be a meaningless art. In other words, the artist must have a goal in making any art. He or she must achieve this goal in the art to be successful. Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with reproduction and survival in McCloud’s sense.

Terence Koh is a famous Chinese-Canadian performance artist. An example of his performance art depicts how he creates concepts from mixed media work mixed monochromatically. At one time, the artist crawled for 25 days round a mound of rock salt in what he regarded as a minimalist rite. Similarly, the art below demonstrates ritualistic elements (Galperina 1). I would say that this art fits into my definition of art because the artist does not come up randomly with the concepts. He sits down and plans before starting to work on the art. Even the way he arranges his artifacts proves that greater thought has gone into the whole thing. The five senses can then discern the performance in various ways.

 

Works Cited

Galperina, Marina. 10 Contemporary Performance Artists You Should Know. Flavorwire, 2011. Web.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art. New York City: HarperCollins Publishers Inc, 1994. Print.

 

 

The World Of Emotion

 

McCloud is of the view that “background can be another valuable tool for indicating invisible ideas… particularly the world of emotion” (McCloud 132). Well, background is one of the ways artists use to emphasize their message. Words alone are insufficient to express a person’s emotions. The comic I found is called Candorville by Darrin Bell indicates just how background can be used to emphasize one’s emotions.

This cartoon is about a double date. Two workmate ladies eying the same guy. Apparently, this guy is a lover to one of the ladies. As it can be seen, the cheating lady is beautifying herself ready to date the guy behind the other lady’s back. In image one, the background can tell how the feeling of love has enveloped the cheating lady. She is all on makeup and facing a mirror. Then, as fate would have it, the owner of the guy suspects that there is some fishy move. A text message comes through into the cheating lady’s phone with the result of utter shock.

The shock is emphasized using a horror background. The cartoonist uses a thunderous background that evokes a tensed facial expression from the cheating lady. As it appears from the texts, the owner of the guy threatens to expose the cheating lady to the boss at the workplace using a draft text message. The cheating lady has to beg for mercy because she stands to lose her job if the text message goes through to the boss. Accidentally, the owner of the guy presses the send button and the message goes through to the boss. What a terrible day for the cheating lady!

 

Works Cited

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. William Morrow Paperbacks,      1994.

The Comic Strips. Cardoville. Accessed at

http://www.thecomicstrips.com/subject/The-Emotion-Comic-Strips.php 25 February 2016

 

 

The Idea of Closure

According to McCloud, “Closure” is the notion that the human mind fills in the missing gaps. Such concept empowers the readers to end the storyline or fill it since it is rhetorical. In chapter 3 of the book Understanding Comics, McCloud argues that one relies on sensory insight to experience certain events in the outside world. According to McCloud, one’s discernment of realism is an act of conviction (p. 9). As McCloud employs the concept of closure, he allows the readers to view scenarios in the bigger pictures.

In the story “The Necklace”, Guy de Maupassant employs the concept of closure wherein readers had to decide the ending of the story. He introduces a character named Mathilde who borrows a necklace from Madame Forestier. Then, he weaves his plot narratives in ways that he never provides an ending. The closure technique seems disappointing, but it allows the audience to fill in the missing gaps. De Maupassant utilizes the notion of closure idea that the ending of the story leaves his readers some determined and optimistic sentiments. With this, McCloud clearly shows how the concept of closures applies both in comics and in stories like the one revealed by de Maupassant.

Overall, McCloud also presents the concept of closure. He uses the idea to allow comics readers to interpret the events invisibly within space between individual panels. The subject that he use basically commits an entire chapter. As he aims to find an appropriate grammar of comics, his use of closure technique encourages the readers to understand and fill in the missing gap or meaning of the narrative.

Works Cited

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Northampton, Mass (1993).

De Maupassant, Guy. The Complete Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant. WJ Black, 1903.

Amplification through Simplification

         In the book Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud describes Magritte’s painting “The Treachery of Images”. In the painting, the subject clearly represents a common pipe. However, the message of the artist suggests that it is neither a pipe nor a painting of a pipe. Instead, this occurrence, as McCloud elucidates, connotes a concept of amplification through simplification. One should consider that McCloud’s primary pages that portray the painting embody and resemble one copy. He employs this technique to validate the use of images to characterize a person, place, thing, or idea.
       
          As mentioned by McCloud in Chapter 2, comics are cartoons. They are images that magnify traits by simplifying other figures and expressions. Using the same technique, McCloud visibly over-emphasized the images to mean something better than the other. The provided comic strip above, for example, illuminates the technique of amplification through the use of dark shade on the dialog with the picture of person with mouth wide open. While other strips are drawn normally, the third block of strip connotes a strong force or emphasis, which results in the fourth stating “What? You Don’t Have to Scream.” Truly, comics explain the method of amplification through implication, and they do that.
 
 
           Overall, McCloud clearly employs the concept of amplification through simplification throughout the sequential images and cartoons. In this discussion, the illustrated perception represents clarity of messages being conveyed. McCloud’s way of incorporating abstract pictures, signs, or figures in cartoons is genius as he clarifies his thoughts. As he asserts, he believes that artists can amplify and simplify those images to suggest its vital meaning.
 
 

Works Cited

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Northampton, Mass (1993).

Gibson, Andrew. The Celebration of Cartoons and Comic Strip Art. Smashingmagazine.Com. 28 Dec. 2008. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.