The Power Of Directed Assumption and Participation.

Through the panels this week, we not only complete a reading but we get a story. “Closure” in the panels of the comic inform us of the power of audience participation and assumption, not only in comics but across all mediums.

Understanding your audiences context and assuming their past experiences create a complete narrative without having to show every detail, besides if they did show every detail I would probably be bored.

I’m a big fan of minimalism in media, using negative space and assumptions always make the content more interesting. Reading about main stream comics in Japan using aspect to aspect storytelling makes sense. So many of those manga are serial and continuous so the idea of time not passing for 10-15 frames is not frustrating, but rather calming. These manga also tend to have little dialogue during these frames to establish a sense of quiet, or peace (if establishing a general scene, not if there are killer robots attacking). It opens up so many conclusions depending on the reader, if it is a simple shot of the sun and a beach with our character relaxing then each reader will conclude their own perspective of a particular beach or temperature to establish their own context.

I never thought I would say it, but I do prefer reading an essay over informative comics. I’m disappointed in myself.