Sunday, September 9, 2012

Mccloud and Berger Reading


Mccloud Reading

Before You Read:

                My favorite cartoon is definitely “Scooby Doo: Where Are You?”. This has been my favorite since I was a child and I think will always be.  The character I relate to the most I believe would be Scooby Doo himself. He is such a fun character, he’s silly, always looking for food, can be fearful at times but always has his mystery ink friends close to him! He is so relatable to kids and I think that’s why I fell so in love with him and he was genuinely a figure that kids could look up to.

 

                Mccloud’s demonstration of showing us his ideas rather than telling us was awesome. I can so much easier connect with that reading that sitting there reading 60 pages of constant writing. Mccloud has an awesome point to prove and I think he completely proved in such an effective way. We’re surrounded by cartoons our whole entire life and I have never thought of them in such a way that he frames them to be, let alone in an education way. It is so much easier to react to a visual representation of information than a simple writing or stating of information.

 

Discussion and Journaling:

1.       Cartoons are a part of your life from the moment you are old enough to sit up on the couch in between pillows, always surrounded by young people in your life or simply through advertisement, cartoons can be anywhere. If you had an adult a 600 page book to read, it is such a huge undertaking but if it is a 600 page book of cartoons it becomes fun. I think you can never be too old for cartoons or a little silliness in your life. I’m 19 years old and I still love to watch Spongebob Squarepants and so does my mom, who is 53! I think Mccloud would definitely appreciate that and would not criticize. Cartoons and drawings can be a learning experience that maybe sitting reading a book could never give you.

2.       In my opinion, when I opened up the book to see the cartoons I was excited, it is a change of pace from the normal English homework and it is something more creative. It gets the audience excited to read before they have read the first sentence, it is a way of drawing your audience in and getting them interested. The actual core of what he is trying to prove is extremely confusing and a huge idea to grasp your head around. When you add pictures and give the ideas life, it is so much easier to have an idea in your mind and you physically can see what he is trying to get his audience to understand. Without that, his ideas definitely would have suffered.

 

Applying and Exploring Ideas:

1.       I see myself as a hands on learner than a sit down read 60 pages and try to put it all together in my mind learner. This change of pace helped me stay on the edge of my seat, so to speak, and keep me  actually interested in what I was reading.  In my opinion, I think every teacher should include visual imagery in their lectures, writings, speeches and notes. It is a way of taking a huge topic and breaking it down into easier and smaller ideas with an image already in your mind. Images can be put into any lesson, math, science, history, art, English, writing, there is endless possibilities.

2.       The brain has a special power, to turn anything that could possibly look like a face into a face. A special part of our brain that’s job is to simply recognize faces. If I showed any other person in the world my face no one could relate to it. I don’t look like anyone else and nobody looks like me. When you begin to simplify faces that’s when similarities come into the picture. He says that when you look at a cartoon you begin to see yourself. When I look at a photograph or realistic portrait of a person the only thing I identify to is the emotion. I can’t see myself in another face, the only thing that registers is the emotion of the picture.

 

Berger Reading:

Before You Read:

                 I know I pretty much suck a drawing but if I was going to draw a picture of a woman I think she would be facing forwards. It’s a simple way of showing empowerment, control and independence. She would be in front of a simple scene but the only real object in the picture so all of the attention automatically goes to her. She doesn’t need to be fancy or the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen but she is dressed classy. She doesn’t need to be nude or have anything degrading put on her, she’s simple and independent.

                If I look at two pictures of celebrities, let’s take Channing Tatum and Angelina Jolie. Channing Tatum is depicted as a sexy, muscular, athletic piece of meat basically. While Angelina Jolie looks like a different type of sexy, an independent, strong, role model woman. Channing Tatum is a figure that millions of women look at only for his body and dance moves. Angelina Jolie is looked at for her amazing heroin roles in movies and the great work she has done in other countries. Not every celebrity female and male is made to look out like this but it is a strong depiction in Hollywood in my age.

 

Discussion and Journaling:

1.       In this day and time, I think artists knew what they were creating and the purpose but at the same time I think they did not understand what affect these arts would have on the future of nudity and woman in art. Every picture drawn had a purpose and specific audiences it was addressed to, sometimes they weren’t addressed to anyone except the person who was drawing the picture or the person it was being drawn for. Artists new what they were going for and what they were creating and I think Berger would agree with that.

2.       You can’t walk anywhere and not see an image of women in advertising. It is everywhere you go, buildings, signs, posters, magazines, music, television, movies, online, billboards, woman are plastered in modern day advertising. These images are completely different from the images discussed by Berger in a sense but at the same time they are almost the exact same portrayal and idea behind them. Clothing, hairstyles, back grounds have all changed but the sexual purpose behind the images has not changed a bit. The vision is more modern but the sexual tension and release behind the images is always there. Women are portrayed to be sexy and are portrayed to be looked at by a certain audience. Women who want to be her and man who want to be with her.

Applying and Exploring Ideas:

1.       If I think of modern artwork of men I think of posters or pictures in magazines, men in movies or men in music. Men have come a huge way from the view of Berger. Men are still images of strength, muscle and control but there is now a different twist. Women can now look at men in a sexual way and express their feelings in a sexual manner. When men look at women as what they would do to them, women can now look at men in the same way. Women are now aloud to express their sexuality to men and men can now show theirs off. The generation gab causes a whole new view to the way women now look at artwork of men.

 

3) I definitely see a similar determining factor in modern images of women and it all has to do with different levels of sexuality and strength. It seems if a woman is dressed nicely in a forward pose with her chin raised, we see a sexual independence and strength; she seems to stand on her own no matter what is in the background. When a woman is slightly turned to the side or even more to one side, the image becomes more sexual than classy. If the image is completely from the back side, the focus than switches to completely sexual image for a specific audience. Position sets the whole picture, painting, drawing up for a specific idea and an audience.

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