Scott McCloud’s Blood in the Gutter was definitely not the comic I was expecting.  It really made me think about how much we rely on something called closure.

McCloud describes closure as observing fragments of a particular something, but being able to perceive the complete image in our mind. As I thought about it, closure is essential in the film industry; part of the audiences experience is the imagination of what happens outside the window of the screen. Through closure, our mind connects different shots together, and turns a stream of different scenes into a well flowing storyline. McCloud uses the example of comics to explain his message. He refers to the spaces in between each frame as ‘the gutter’. He explains that anything can happen in between each frame, but only to the extent of the readers imagination.

As I reflected back on some of the films I’ve watched in the past, I realized how much I closed the images without even noticing it. From small scenes which had the extremely graphic details hidden, to stories that had huge chunks cut out of them, I never really paid attention to the fact that some of what I believed I saw would be very different to what many others had experienced.

Personally, I really like the idea that our minds have the ability to induce closure. I believe that it can be a really good way to enhance storytelling, as it keeps audiences thinking, and results in them being so much more involved in the film.