Understanding Comics, Chap 3

1. Please discuss how McCloud uses the term "closure" in regard to how visual meaning is created in:

• sight – He states on page 63, “In our daily lives, we often commit to closure, mentally completing that which is incomplete based on past experiences”. For example, if we saw half of an object, then we can assume what the whole of that object will look like. He also says on page 89, “Comics is a mono-sensory medium. It relies on only one of the senses to convey a world of experience”. He’s referring to our sights.

• a single image – Again, he says if you see a face with 2 dots and a line, you will associate it to be a face. This association will bring you closure. On page 61, he states, “In this panel you can’t even see my legs. Yet you assume that they’re there.”

• between image and text – There is more reader involvement, because not only is the reader to visually interpret the image, but the reader must understand the meaning of the words that represent the image.

• between one image and another in sequence (what are all the possibilities of this one?) – He says the space between the panels is called the gutter. Our minds combine these sequences and do the following:

1. form them into a single idea

2. builds a continuous story

3. based on our experiences, our mind makes up what is missing

Also he list different types of image sequences such as:

1. Moment-to-Moment – each image shows some of the previous image

2. Action-to-Action –each image shows a part of the same action

3. Subject-to-Subject – the reader uses his imagination to piece together the images

• between film frames – Closure is continuous, involuntary and so fast that you may not notice it. He states on page 68, “The closure of electronic media is continuous, largely involuntary and virtually imperceptible”.

• between scenes (what are all the possibilities of this one?) – He list several types of closure that displays great time and motion:

1. Scene-to-Scene – these occur over time

2. Aspect-to-Aspect – different similar scenes that can relate to each other

3. Non-Sequitur – shows no relationship between scene

2. What is the effect of closure in creating meaning with moving/sequential images?

It allows you to make sense of the moving image, and lets your mind create it’s own interpretation of the story of the moving image, by putting the comic strip pieces together through association.