I've never thought about how our brains work when we read comics. It's pretty remarkable that a blank space called a "gutter" in between two frames can represent the passing of time or can set us up for a completely different scene. We're able to read so much more than what is actually on the page because we're able to make assumptions and fill in the blanks with what we perceive to be possible. The illustrator may have a completely different idea in mind when they draw the frames, and yet every reader can interpret it in another way. One of the quotes that stuck with me after reading was this:
“All I can do is make assumptions about you and hope that they're correct—just as we all assume, every day, that there's more to life than meets the eye.”
Comics are visual, but we can see the images and hear sounds; we can read from left to right and infer that minutes have passed. We assume there's something going on behind the scenes, that there's more to the story than what we're actually seeing. I think this is a really neat idea. I wasn't consciously aware that I assume "there's more to life than meets the eye," but I want to adopt such a belief because it embodies so many possibilities and hopes. The next time I read a comic strip I'm definitely going to look more carefully at the shape of the panel to see how it influences time. I'm going to pay more attention to the transitions from frame to frame and try to understand why such a technique was used. Or, maybe I'll just enjoy the world of Luann without making her fictional teenage girl life more complicated with McCloud's theories...
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