Comics as MassPopCultArt

Comics as a mass medium is almost precisely the same age as live-action movies, and as animated movies. All three media use similar approaches to storytelling by combining words -- or speech -- and pictures. After the introduction of sound into motion pictures, their paths diverge. Perhaps, prior to talkies, the comic strip was the most "literate" of the three. Since then, it has become the lowliest of the three.

The comic form can be found outside of comics, and comics themselves partake of other communication techniques. Comics are maybe like the blues, that other very North American hybrid of overlapping cultures, unsure whether it's singular or plural, a phenomenon or a movement.

Because they are "simple", comic panels, strip, pages, and books are -- or can be -- effective attention-grabbers. Indeed, because of their relative decline when compared to both their former glory and to other competing entertainments, they are able to leap back into the public eye every so often, and have renewed impact. If the impact of the comic form is therefore intermittent, well, that is a necessary feature over the long term for grabbing the eye. Nostalgia requires a cycle of both remembering and forgetting.

Mainstream North American comics are generally regarded as the visual equivalent of the knock-knock joke, hilarious to kids but becoming cringe-making sometime around puberty. Comic books are something you're supposed to grow out of.

Which means that adults interested in comics are often forced to regard them as guilty pleasures, validated only on the rare occasions that comic-book characters or stories leap a void to achieve status as "serious" art (that is, to be on display in a museum) or, far more likely, reprocess themselves into movie or television productions.

Most comics aspire to the condition of art, and their creators are usually called artists. Which raises the question of the definition of art itself and of the ways that art is used. According to Baxandall, at its core "Art" is a social practice used to seek (and maybe even capture) attention.

Attention versus distraction: The worlds in which we live make constant demands on our attention, and we spend a great deal of energy as well as time in sifting and classifying messages from our environments that we can give or need to give attention to. We are also distracted (diverted) by those messages.

Reading comics is an immersive experience, just the same as a short story in words alone. The act of reading requires both attention and distraction.

"Conclusion" #2 . . .

		Ephemeral landscapes: popular worlds? Conclusions, 1: comics as MassPopCultArt

`Settings and images` `Material values` `What is a comic?` `back to the beginning of the INTRODUCTION` `check out the REFERENCES` `LITTLE PICTURES`		Comics as a mass medium is almost precisely the same age as live-action movies, and as animated movies. All three media use similar approaches to storytelling by combining words -- or speech -- and pictures. After the introduction of sound into motion pictures, their paths diverge. Perhaps, prior to talkies, the comic strip was the most "literate" of the three. Since then, it has become the lowliest of the three. The comic form can be found outside of comics, and comics themselves partake of other communication techniques. Comics are maybe like the blues, that other very North American hybrid of overlapping cultures, unsure whether it's singular or plural, a phenomenon or a movement. Because they are "simple", comic panels, strip, pages, and books are -- or can be -- effective attention-grabbers. Indeed, because of their relative decline when compared to both their former glory and to other competing entertainments, they are able to leap back into the public eye every so often, and have renewed impact. If the impact of the comic form is therefore intermittent, well, that is a necessary feature over the long term for grabbing the eye. Nostalgia requires a cycle of both remembering and forgetting. Mainstream North American comics are generally regarded as the visual equivalent of the knock-knock joke, hilarious to kids but becoming cringe-making sometime around puberty. Comic books are something you're supposed to grow out of. Which means that adults interested in comics are often forced to regard them as guilty pleasures, validated only on the rare occasions that comic-book characters or stories leap a void to achieve status as "serious" art (that is, to be on display in a museum) or, far more likely, reprocess themselves into movie or television productions. Most comics aspire to the condition of art, and their creators are usually called artists. Which raises the question of the definition of art itself and of the ways that art is used. According to Baxandall, at its core "Art" is a social practice used to seek (and maybe even capture) attention. Attention versus distraction: The worlds in which we live make constant demands on our attention, and we spend a great deal of energy as well as time in sifting and classifying messages from our environments that we can give or need to give attention to. We are also distracted (diverted) by those messages. Reading comics is an immersive experience, just the same as a short story in words alone. The act of reading requires both attention and distraction. "Conclusion" #2 . . .
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Conclusions, 1: comics as MassPopCultArt