Response #4

Sean Demme

9.19.12

English 1510

McCloud Questions

Before You Read:

Try to recall what your favorite cartoon was or still is. Do you relate to a character and find yourself connecting? What features do you think help you connect?

-        I’d say the cartoon character I relate to is SpongeBob. SpongeBob was one of my cartoons I watched when I was younger since episode one. I can relate to him in the sense that, often time, I take things too far. In an episode of SpongeBob, titled “ripped pants”, SpongeBob rips his pants, gets embarrassed, and makes a joke out if. Then takes the joke too far and everybody in his down gets upset. That is the story of my life. I make people laugh, and then take it too far and upset people. Also, SpongeBob laughs a lot – and so do I.

QDJ:

(NOOOOO, I DIDN’T HAVE TO DO #1) (Oh well)

#1 Humans can relate to cartoon characters so much because of their simplicity. With another human – they have a family, a job, a mole above their lip and their favorite sport is golf. In the case of Cartoons so much is left up to the viewer. So I say that, no, there is no age where cartoons and comics becomes inappropriate, they will always have that sort of special part inside our hearts. My guess is that McCloud would likely agree with me in that there is no age to stop caring for your favorites. I will show my kids SpongeBob even if he’s way outdated and boring because, to me, it’s just like sitting on the carpet watching cartoons with a Capri Sun and a box of Cheez-its.

#2 McCloud chose the use of a comic book in order to show his audience a ‘character’. He wanted us (the readers) to personify the man in the comics, give his a voice, and bring him to life. If McCloud had not used the comic book layout the reader wouldn’t have read it in a different voice. He’s like a con artist in the way he has us going the whole time with the question, ‘What is real?’ just to, in the end, remind us that the whole situation isn’t real – we are merely just reading out of a book.

#3 I agree with McCloud in saying that if the comic book creation he gave birth to was very specific looking it would give us no room to create our characteristics for him. I disagree, though, in that we aren’t filling in the blanks with our own characteristics – but with our own imagination. We are putting in what we want to see come out of said character.

AEI

#4 The concept of the map deeply confuses me. If a person’s body, including their face, is not considered “them” then what is. You’re not you without that mask, that mask is what makes you, you. I think we would not be aware of others if it wasn’t for that mask because like I said, the mask is what makes you, you. And if you are not you, then others can’t be aware of you. Woah, that was confusing.

Summary:

McClouds Vocabulary of Comics is an article written like a comic strip where Scott McCloud explains the difference between what is real, and what is …well, not. He goes into depth about how our minds tend to forget the fact that symbols and cartoons aren’t actually part of the real world – they just symbolize it. Lastly it brings it to a personal level and introduces us to our own mask, that our face is just something we use to communicate and to look though.

Synthesis:

I like what McCloud has to say about this topic but at the same time I don’t like the way that he introduces it. The fact that the picture of a pipe is not an actual pipe does not fully relate. McCloud says that we relate to cartoon characters so much because of the basic characteristics that they have – after reading the whole thing I wondered what his point had to do with the beginning.

Reflection:

Personally, I did like what McCloud had to say; I think it was interesting. McCloud brought in light a point that I had never even though about before. It’s never crossed my mind that I see myself in simpler, cartoon characters. I like that I can relate to characters in this way – I feel like I can more closely understand a main character in a plot more now. Also, I am more conscious about my mask.