A Cartoon is Me

Comics are fascinating because all a pictorial icon has to do is “focus on specific details (30)” and the mind automatically assumes what it is because it is a symbol. Being a symbol doesn’t mean that it matches the image exactly, it just means that it has “universality (30)” or similar features. I found it interesting that Mccloud says “we see ourselves in everything (33)” because I have found that this is very true. That is why “we assign identities and emotions where none exist (33).” He proves this point when he describes how “we become the car (38).” When people get hit by another car they usually say “hey you hit me” and I never thought about it before, but that is exactly what I would have said and I am sure many others would agree.

In a cartoon “you see yourself (36)” and that is why humans are able to identify with the words. Identifying symbols with ourselves is how we are able to “reach beyond ourselves (40)” and understand what a symbol is trying to communicate. People interpret the text to match what the symbol is referring to and pretend they can actually hear what the cartoon is saying. It is all a sense of imagination and imagery. With symbols, the artist can make something mean whatever they want it to mean. To understand this you must understand that a symbol is an image and an image is an icon. These things are figments of our imagination.

When pictorial icons “resemble their subjects (27)” then are the idol version of a symbol, but when it comes to non-pictorial icons “their appearance doesn’t affect their meaning 28.” If their appearance doesn’t affect their meaning then they become “invisible ideas (28)” making them less symbolic. This is why it is important to see comics as a way for symbols to communicate.