WP2: First Draft

Society, by definition, develops an extensive set of norms, whether they are explicitly coded into law or remain informal. When the environment changes, so must the norms to match new conditions. Since the advent of the Internet and the even more recent rise of social networking websites, the norms of the new medium have continued to evolve. The particular case of employers finding inappropriate posts of employees brings this to light. Although many sites give false senses of anonymity or privacy, more content is openly available than people sometimes expect. This has lead to situations where people have gotten in trouble with current or future employers because of their online posts. It is situations like this one that have lead to the questioning of what is acceptable and what is not in the digital world. [Transition]. Although it is indeed these set of norms that allow society to function as it does, to what extent should these norms extend and how strictly should they be adhered to? The xkcd comic Dreams speaks to this question with the argument that although we will always live within society, people shouldn’t constantly water-down or hold back from fear of breaking the norms. This argument is supported by the break from the norms of comics and the small number of elements.

The first break from the norms of comics that Dreams makes lies in the paneling. If asked just to indicate a comic, one would likely draw three squares aligned in a row. This strip of panels (hence comic strip) is the most basic norm of comics, with additional panels being added, sometimes in a second row below the first. Looking at most Sunday newspapers, the comics will be found almost entirely in this format, with a few arranged vertically or some single panels. Although the comic Dreams still maintains the use of panels and aligned edges that identify it as a comic, it doesn’t follow the simple format so often seen. Still left to right, the comic has a vertical orientation. More importantly and noticeable is that the third and central panel dominates the comic; in fact the rest of the panels could fit into this one alone. This is contrasted by the last three panels that if were taken alone would at least follow the form of standard comic strips.

The second break is the use of text over art in this comic. The comic contains only the necessary graphically, but, especially in the large third panel, has an almost overwhelming amount of text. The difference is very noticeable from the standard of full panel art and little text accompanying. The large amount of text and its high density in the third panel is leaving the norms so far to as approach the format of an essay, line after line of text organized by paragraphs. This causes the third panel to become the focal point of the comic, juxtaposed by the final three panels which each contain a single, large, bolded word (following the conventions of comics to imply a loud/emphasized and segmented statement). Although the final three panels are closer to the norms of comics, their content continues to not follow them, especially given the context of comics’ preeminence in family-friendly forms like newspaper.

These breaks from the norms of comic strips emphasize the comic’s argument that we shouldn’t mold ourselves to the “curves of societal norms”. Limiting comics to the standard of three panels necessarily undermines the “infinite possibilities” of the medium, following the restrictions of text to graphics balance resulting in the same effect. Dreams on the other hand intentionally does not fit into the mold of comics and looking at the last three panels, it doesn’t water itself down either.

There is also a very purposefully small number of elements in the comic. First, the only graphics included are those necessary to the story, two figures talking and a computer that the second is initially working at. Without even so much as a hint of background, we are left to focus on the figures remaining and the text of their “speech”. In fact, after the first two panels, when it is no longer necessary, the simple computer is removed. Similarly, the first figure, which is only differentiated by a slight difference in “hair” to distinguish speakers, is not included in the final three panels when he is no longer needed. This clearly emphasizes the remaining content that was included.

The simple nature of the graphics also makes the situation more relatable. By taking the abstraction of the figures to the extreme of stick figures, not even showing a face or gender, the comic allows the audience to fill in the details with whatever or whoever they want. The computer, desk, and chair are similarly kept at their most simple shapes. Because of the lack of background, we can’t even tell if the two figures are at work, school, home, or even anywhere with a computer. The resulting universality makes it an “everyone issue”, something everyone can relate to.

By breaking the norms of comic strips and emphasizing its universal content through simplicity, the comic Dreams forwards the argument that we shouldn’t “temper [our] lives to better fit into a mold”, to “hold back for fear of shaking things up.” People are always making decisions (often subconscious) of which norms to fit in and which to break; whether to “go with the flow” on introduce novelty. Especially as the environment of the Internet continues to grow and evolve, we will have to ask ourselves not only which norms to adhere to but what the norms of the new medium are to become.

Statement of Purpose

My meta-purpose of writing this essay is to earn a good grade for my class and learn in its process. The main purpose within the writing the essay is to find and then present a main argument forwarded by the xkcd comic Dreams. I'll explain how the technical elements and content within forward this argument. After settling with a final and primary argument to analyze within the comic I will seek to explain how the technical elements and the content of the comic combine to develop an ethos, pathos, and logos that support the main argument.

My primary audience is my teacher for this class, the one who assigned it and will eventually be analyzing my analysis and grading its presentation. It is for this audience that this text (Writing Project 1) is being created and considering which it will be sculpted. Specifically, first, I will be following the guidelines for analysis that we have discussed thus far in class and established by the texts that our class was provided with (Compose, Design, Advocate: a rhetoric for integrating written, visual, and oral communication, particularly from Chapter 15: Analyzing Comics, and the section from Scott McCloud's book The Vocabulary of Comcis). Secondly for this audience, the technical wording from that text will be invoked in the explanations of the comic with its elements and the arguments that they forward.

There are also secondary audiences that may find, and with the will to, read my project, the first group being my classmates. This includes not only those in my class currently (who will be looking more likely out of interest although possibly an after-the-fact peer review) but also those future students who may be taking this class (most likely with the same teacher) who may look back at my project as an example (hopefully not for things not to do), just as we have looked back at the project of a former student already.

The rest of the possible secondary audiences include nearly everyone that can read English and has Internet access. In this era of expansive and yet growing connectivity of all things information, the Internet has created a network facilitating authors, photographers, creators, etc, to reach nearly endless audiences. Posted on blogger, my project will be completely open to access, meaning that, given the will to find it (possibly searching for information of the photographer or photograph specifically or the photograph's subject) or the coincidence of wondering upon it, the project will be fully visible to see. For this audience, although using the technical wording provided in our book, I will attempt to keep everything understandable for outsiders who may not know the language set up or may use a different wording of their own.



The main context of my Writing Project 1 will be as a blog post on this blog (given the links and hierarchy of the class' blog) and will thus be viewed from the Internet digitally, (although because of its open access and the adaptability of digital text it may be easily be moved or even transcribed to non-digital contexts; i.e. printed off for review). The main impact of this context is that it means that the audiences will also have access to the rest of the information available through the Internet, some of which I will be utilizing directly in my project through the use of multimedia elements and hyperlinks, just as I have been in this statement of purpose.

WP2: Pre-write 2

The main back story for this comic comes from the fairly recent stories of people getting in trouble, particularly with their employers, because of things they have posted online (often social networking sites), whether text or photographs. People that had posted either rude or threatening things online or inappropriate pictures of themselves have been caught by employers or otherwise and were punished. A lot of this comes from the fact that the Internet and social networking websites are still evolving, especially in terms of rights and privacy. What social networking sites and other websites most often do is create a false sense of anonymity or privacy. This has lead to either peoples current or future employers, etc, to find said posts and invoke repercussions. This leads to the first figure in the comic telling the second to be careful about what he posts online.

Another set of contexts of note is the norms of modern comic strips. The most general stereotype is the three aligned square panels in a strip, with more being added, particularly a second row for many longer comics, or some panels being widened. This said, the comic at hand doesn't neatly fit such a form, although the outer boundaries are still aligned. The comic has a much more vertical flow with a large blank panel in the center. The last three frames taken by themselves would constitute a more normally expected comic strip.

Secondly, the difference between comics and pure text being the drawings (or less so pictures), this comic also breaks the norms of art to text balance. Most comics have full panel art and little text. This comic breaks from that pattern by first limiting the drawn to the very minimum of telling the story at hand while, especially in the third panel as it becomes the focus, it contains much more text than would be expected in a comic, very condensed. The art of the comic is limited to the stick figures and the basic desk/computer that the second is initially sitting at, a slight difference in the "hair" used to indicate who is speaking in the latter frames. After the first two frames, when the computer is no longer necessary to the story, it is removed, giving additional focus to whats left, the simple figure and especially the text that he is "saying" (the first person is even removed after the first two frames when he no longer has anything to say). The last three panels again return to more of the norm, containing little text, although the content still breaks the expected of comics.

WP2: Pre-write 1

This first thing of note when comparing this comic to others (and in fact the majority of the other xkcd comics) is that it has a very simplified form. All people as simple stick figures without even the dot dot line face seen in many. Despite this, the movement between panels and the curved positions imply a stronger connection from which we can still derive feeling, etc. This, coupled with the handwriting type, gives a simple ethos, relating it as something of a quality the audience could make themselves, especially those with no artistic talent, the quality coming not from technical implementation but instead the story or dialogue occurring, again, something the audience could do themselves given the time or spark of comedic insight.

The backgrounds a similarly sparse (many times not existing), only shown when necessary to the story being told (here's an example of where a simplified background is used to tell the story but is still de-emphasized). This inclusion or exclusion strongly shows the management of the number of elements in each frame. Apart from simply not including them when not necessary to save time/work, it strongly emphasizes the elements that are left, leaving the audience no choice but to focus on them. Whenever the background or props are included in a strip it is because of their importance in the story. The only sort of background in this comic is the chair, desk, and computer that the man is sitting at, used to show, when taken with the other man's statement, that he is posting something online that somebody might find objectionable in the future (not even a floor or any other sort of environment is included). And after the the computer is no longer necessary (once the speech has started) it is no longer included, no longer needing to serve a purpose.

Another trait of many xkcd comics, this being a prime example, is the emphasis on the dialogue taking place, wherein the majority of the comedy occurs. This comic contains significantly more dialogue than most xkcd comics, to the point of emphasizing a long drawn out (and well spoken) speech. The length and coherence of this speech provides much of the comedic value created by the contrast of the unexpected final three panels. By the end, the audience is expecting a continuation of the ethos established by the long speech, finishing in a sophisticated and intelligent, even if simple, conclusion. The disparity created by the simplistic, swearing, approaching slang finale is what creates much of the humor. By doing the unexpected the audience is amused and finds novelty in the story.

Furthermore, the way the panels are split up continues to show the emphases of the comic strip, the middle panel containing the entirety of the long speech, emphasizing that its one speech and especially its length when given the context of average comic dialogues. The final three frames each contain one word in large bold type with a period, emphasizing what he is saying and that it is i.e. louder with pronounced pauses between the words.

WP1: Final Draft

Author’s Note:

When first approaching the analysis of this photograph, I didn’t have any kind of specific argument or even direction for an argument that I was thinking of taking (which is most likely the correct way to approach such analysis). This said I started with the uses of technical elements, for instance the ones I ended up using were framing, cropping, and coloration, looking for arguments that they made. However, it was still a process searching for those sub-arguments, lacking an overall direction to tie them into.

To start off, I played it safe by staying as general as I could with my thesis (stating the argument I was analyzing). My first thesis even stayed away from making even any direct argument, noting the industrial decay (my first jumping board) and the pathos developed by the elements I was discussing, “Taken in November of 1938, John Vachon’s photograph American Smelting and Refining Company: largest iron smelter in the world illustrates the industrial decay of the Great Depression and develops a tired, run-down pathos through the technical elements of framing, cropping, and coloration.” In my second draft, this evolved to a vague connection relating the pathos developed to a comparison with the attitude of the American people at the time of its taking. The thesis I ended with in my final draft was much more specific on the connections within the essay. The contextual development was also a source of change in my drafts. Although the general information remained generally the same, the organization and connotations used evolved several times. Specifically, a couple of my original wordings carried connotations of improving conditions instead of emphasizing the setbacks.

Similarly, the general ideas of the body paragraphs remained largely the same. However, several of them required wording changes or additions to emphasize their connections or impacts to the over-arching argument. By further relating the connections to the development of the thesis, it strengthened each respective sections support. Another specific expansion occurred at the end of the paragraph about the impact of the coloration. In addition to the pathos developed by the dominant grays of the image, I added a note that the fact that it’s a black and white photograph reminds the audience (especially contemporary audience) that it is a historical photo.

The biggest change from the first two drafts to the final was the explicit explanation outlining how the pathos developed by the different elements symbolized the attitude of the time. Incorporated into the conclusion because of its contextual information and final development of my thesis, it again explains the general attitude of the Great Depression and how the pathos illustrated that attitude. This not only provided corroborated my claim of the mirroring but provided a conclusion that showed the developments from the body of the essay, not merely a restatement of the introduction.

Another noted change is that I had not originally included the multimedia elements or relevant hyperlinks in my rough drafts (or citations in my first). This was not an oversight as much as, still unsure of the directions I was going to be taking (not even having a concise thesis yet), I felt that including those elements among content that was apt to change wasn’t going to be particularly useful (the main thing to discuss with any multimedia elements is there relevance to the essay and the local information of where they are in the essay, something fairly simple as long as it’s account for, and the focus of the revisions was on the content and organization of the written text). So while keeping ideas and possibilities noted, those elements were not physically included in the drafts.

First Draft

Second Draft

Statement of Purpose

Final Draft:

By 1938, the Great Depression had been going strong for almost a decade and although some improvements had been made, the second recession in 1937 had set back most of the progress made. After the second recession, unemployment had risen again to 19% and industrial production had fallen 25%. Economic recovery was slow and significant improvements were still required for a return to normalcy. In fact, it would take the United States’ sudden involvement in World War II to finally break its economic slump (Smiley). Taken in November of 1938, still before the recovery from the second recession, John Vachon’s photograph American Smelting and Refining Company: largest iron smelter in the world uses the industrial decay of the Great Depression to develop the rundown pathos of the poorly maintained environment, symbolically mirroring the general attitude of the American people from the time of its taking, through the technical elements of framing and cropping and coloration.

The framing of the photograph American Smelting and Refining Company: largest iron smelter in the world naturally creates hierarchy in its elements. The first area the eye is drawn to upon looking at the photograph is the foreground, which consists of the scrap yard and adjacent buildings. Being the closest and thus easiest to see, this gives the scrap yard an emphasis over the rest of the factory’s grounds. Furthermore, the height of the shot, possibly taken from atop a nearby building, looks into the yard and shows the factory behind but isn’t high enough to give a clear shot of the latter. This gives additional emphasis to the yard, its view being unobstructed unlike those further back. Given its prominence in the photograph’s hierarchy we take the yard and its contents to be more important than the other things in the image. Examining the yard shows that it is filled with what appears to be scrap (old metal to be re-smelted and recycled) although the piles could include trash of other sorts as well. Given the large drop in industrial production during the Great Depression, still continuing to the taking of this picture, it’s a reasonable conclusion that this scrap wasn’t being used simply because of low demand. Also given the cultural context and associations of sitting scrap metal with poorer areas (i.e. in the poor part of town or in enervated rural regions), it speaks to the general condition of the Great Depression whilst also carrying with it the pathos of the audience’s experiences (or lack thereof) with such areas. Specifically, by generating the sense of economic dilapidation and decay, the photograph develops a feeling of a lack of progress, opportunities, and even to an extent, hope.

The surrounding buildings, and indeed the rest of the yard itself, continue the dirty, worn down appearance of the scrap. The buildings, likely meant for storage instead of work, seem even broken in parts but certainly unclean and not of expensive make. This setting strengthens and reaffirms the aforementioned impact of the scrap located within. It is only in the background that the cleaner factory, and its many smoke stacks, can be seen, carrying its connotations of technology, production, and modernism. Analogously, the Great Depression gave emphasis (especially in a historical context) to the decline in production, unemployment, and economic stagnation that came with and after the initial recession, placing it in front of any continuing activity and production.

Another consideration derived from the framing and cropping of the photograph is the noted lack of any people, even any plants. First, this gives further emphasis to the other subjects of the photo, reducing the number of elements hence making it easier to distinguish the intended focus(es). By not having people included in the image, it clears the image of further clutter and takes them away as possible targets of discussion (despite the fact that their lack has sparked this note). Secondly the lack of people, and more specifically people working, further illustrates the impact that the Great Depression has had on industrial production; it certainly wouldn’t have served this argument’s purposes to show a yard crowded with men at work. The removal of the organic also serves to continue not only the industrial motif but the rundown pathos developed by the image, removing empathy and increasing the sense of desolation.

The cropping plays a role in its own right as well. Being a single photograph of this subject, the issue of cropping comes down to the question of what lies beyond the edges of the photograph and why were things included or not. First, the edges of the yard are cut off by the edges of the photograph. This denotes a lesser importance or emphasis on those things not included completely in the picture, in this case focusing on the center of the yard instead of the buildings the run off the edge, including both those in the foreground and the factory in the background. Secondly, the cropping does not include many of the boundaries of the factory grounds, only a small portion of the fence visible at the bottom of the picture. This lets the audience extrapolate the content of the image beyond its physical edges. In this picture, cropping lets us imagine the scrap yard expanding beyond those boundaries, likely surrounded then by additional industrial areas and buildings not of the American Smelting and Refining Company proper. This continuation strengthens the photograph’s argument as one that is much more universal than a particular instance, that it is a general situation instead of specific condition.

The coloration also plays a role in the development of the photograph’s arguments, or as should be said, the lack of coloration. Being a black and white photograph, it only contains the achromatic spectrum. The colors of an image contribute to the pathos therein, drawing on what the audience has learned to associate with them. This photograph is primarily made up of grays, only including small spots of strict white or black. The grayness again continues the industrial motif, mirroring the impact that the exclusion of anything organic has. This is emphasized further by the fading (likely just from the camera or developing of the photograph) and the visible, white smoke which create a sense of haze and less than clean air quality, tying again into the audience’s associations with industry. Secondly, the colors create a tired, dreary, or even gloomy pathos that ties into the aforementioned rundown pathos. By lacking any vibrant hues or even stark contrast, the coloration makes the picture seem emotionless (unlike this colored illustration of the factory). The black and white nature of the photograph also, especially for contemporary audiences, clearly reminds viewers of its historic context. To an extent, this decreases the audience’s (again, especially contemporary and younger audiences) ability to relate with the photograph, although the current recession makes such relations more apt to happen.

Knowing the context of the photograph, these combined technical elements serve as logos to the symbolic comparison of the nation’s general attitude of the time. After almost a decade of the Great Depression and shortly after a second recession, America’s economic prospects, and thus the American people’s prospect, did not lean towards the hopeful. With so many unemployed and more who lost their savings, the Great Depression didn’t breed optimism. The lack of opportunities and progress, in fact facing regression, the national outlook for life and the times to come was not good. The photograph works to mirror this state of mind by developing a similar pathos. By focusing on the dilapidation of the scrap yard and extrapolating it beyond the photograph’s edges, it emphasizes the time’s economic conditions. This coupled with the removal of the organic and the dominating use grays serves to portray the aforementioned outlook even further. Through this pathos, developed by the technical elements of framing and cropping and coloration, the John Vachon’s photograph American Smelting and Refining Company: largest iron smelter in the world illustrates and reminds its audience of this attitude.

Broad, Mark. "I remember the Wall Street Crash." BBC News. BBC News, 6 Oct. 2008. Web. 17 Feb. 2010. (Site)

Smiley, Gene. "Great Depression." Library of Economics and Liberty. Library of Economics and Liberty, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2010 (Site)