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
Ahmad, good job on really explaining every detail that was included in the comic! It was very easy to understand what you concept you were trying to explain because of how in depth you went in your explanations. I liked reading your blog because your concept that you had to explain about backgrounds was not the same chapter that I chose to write on. I think that the comic strip that you chose really exemplified the concept of backgrounds in that the objects in the backgrounds did change where as I find that most comic strips that are commonly seen are just blank in the background. Pointing out that the background in the panel where the text was threatened to be sent and had lightning in it was a good point because it shows how stressful and serious a situation is. Overall good work on this blog!
ReplyDeleteAhmed, you did a good job explaining the McCloud quote and applying it to the comic you found. I would like to have seem a bit more on how the lines in the background (or lack there of) affect emotion. Your McCloud citation is missing the medium and your citation for the comic is completely wrong. At this point in the term you should either know how to cite a website, or where to look it up.
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