Multimodal Literacy

Multimodalitys are perceived as being difficult. The prefix 'multi-' suggests all kinds of meanings. Everyday experiences are multimodal because we see, we hear, we touch, we smell, and we taste. Our experience of the world comes to us through the multiple modes of communication to which each of our senses is attuned.

Multisemiotics describe multiple meanings that are offered by these modes, and many possible understandings that we may be able to make from these modes.

Multiliteracies, is the ability to read all of these media and the modes made available by them, and eventually to produce through them too.

McCloud uses these senses and runs with them. Lingustic and visual areas were fulfilled with the pictures and words of the book. Spatial includes how the frames are set up and where in the boxes the pictures are placed and how the page is set up. He uses the word bubbles to illustrate talking and you imagine him talking to you. He uses visual representations to help you better understand what he is trying to get across to you. He uses himself and objects to create certain gestures and symbols.

What I thought about Understanding Comics.

"Real Literature" is a type of work that expresses one's ideas.

I'm pretty much one of the people that McCloud was talking about in the first chapter. I always thought that comics were not very artistic and boring. I also always thought that comic books were about super heros and never really thought much more about them. I never actually read a comic book from start to finish. I think i've looked at a couple, but they never really interested me

It's kind of hard for me to read the book because it is set up in comic book form, talking about comics. I sometimes get mixed up about which box i have to go to next because sometimes they are scattered about. I also find it hard to get the overall meaning if i can't read them in order. Learning about comics books is kind of boring, but it also opens up my eyes to how they take a lot of thought to create and it was kind of interesting to learn that early civilizations used this sort of form to express their ideas. It's also kind of hard to stay focused on what he is trying to say when everything is so all over the place. I think it just gets too confusing. It doesn't help that I don't like comic books. But, I'm trying to warm up to it. :)

American Gothic

Right off the bat in this picture I noticed the hay pick. The hay pick is centered in the middle of the picture and it is also a pointed object. I think that it is supposed to symbol the hardships that these people went through because I think of hard work and difficult tasks when i think of it. It isn't exactly like he's holding roses. 

Also, the house is in the very top of the picture, not just the house, but what looks like a bedroom. I think this may be because that's the only place they can go to relax and be together. The husband and wife are also in the center of the portrait wearing black and looking quite glum. I think that this also represents that these are serious hard working people. They don't have a lot of fun because they wear black in the hot sun. This may also be a sign of suffer or maybe self restraint. 

There isn't a lot of color in this portrait. The only bright color actually is the barn in the background. That may be because it symbolizes the farm work that is going on and it is trying to bring your attention to it because when i look at the center of the picture that is where my eye goes to. 

The color contrast from the bottom of the picture to the top is substantial because it goes black to baby blue. This may be because you're going from their hardships all they way up to where their bedroom is and therefore it gets brighter as you go up.

What is an American?

An American stands up for what he/she believes in. Americans are the melting pot of the world. An American is free. Americans have advantages that others don't even dream about. Americans are strong, weak, compassionate, cruel. There are so many ways to describe an American, because we are all so different it is impossible to pin point us down. All I know is an American is lucky.

Theories

Reader Response Theory--I think that the Reader Response theory is fairly interesting. I believe that literary works were meant to provoke personal response in their readers. I also believe, that each person has a different response to each work. This response can help be developed by the teacher. The teacher is who shows the reader how to take the literary works into mind.
The critisisms for the reader response theory vary from literary works are supposed to be from how the author forms the works. Therefore you should feel the same way as the author felt instead of building your own personal response.
People also thought that teachers were imposing their thoughts into the readers response. I thought this was interesting because it states that teachers only help students develop own responses as readers. How are students supposed to understand a work of literature without some guidence. But, I can also see why this may be a problem if a teacher takes it as far as imposing their own thoughts on the reader.

Psychoanaylytic--This theory is also very interesting to think about. Most of the time if not all the time i read something I get this visual picture in my head about it. Then it says that symbolism is used to then further understand what you are getting from these readings. It's also interesting because he talks about how subconsious thoughts are what makes you react to the readings. I believe that this could be true too. How can you react to something a certain way unless you have experienced or heard about something of the sort. Now not all the time when you reading something you are thinking about that exact thing. So it must be in some way subconsious. Otherwise, why are you reacting that way?