Whaam !
Posted by Mark Garratt on September 27, 2010
WHAAM !
Roy Lichtenstein’s “WHAAM !” , based upon imagery from the ‘All American Men of War’ comic, 1962 (taken from Google images). One of my favourite images of all time. For me, a visual metaphor for comic book and mid 20th century war film mentality – but it also speaks to me of childhood related excitement at such things (times have definitely changed). I have incorporated it here as an example of a metaphor for an era during which the internet was born. The impossibility of the picture is evident – the perpective is wrong, and the attacking aircraft would be destroyed by the wreckage of the other one – even so, we know that the American pilot will be OK, because that’s how these things work.
This image communicates through what Sterne describes as “visual culture”, and suggests to me how we may bring preconceived ideas to the consideration of cyberspace (Sterne 2006:24). Johnston (2009) also makes reference to the power of metaphors (and particularly destructive ones that relate to the internet), and what may be read into their use/influence.
September 28th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Hello there Mark,
Enjoyed this post and thanks for bringing up this motion of a visual culture. Visual, although it is not the sum total of digital representation, is a powerful medium for sure and I think the work of Lichtenstein, Warhol, and more really started to drive at the capturing of attention, the sense of familiarity with the medium of the comic book and the desired outcomes of the storyline. The colors and composition really augment/distort the object making them seem almost surreal (which is the point of all comic books on some level, I suppose).
Sian recommended to me last year a great book which analyzes visual culture a bit as a means of capturing attention, a precious commodity in this day and age. It is called the Economics of Attention, written by Richard Lanham (http://www.amazon.com/Economics-Attention-Style-Substance-Information/dp/0226468828). Fantastic read as it targets how variation in presentation, different typesets, colors, spatial elements, capture the gaze of the observer, bring them into the composition, forcing them to interact with it a bit. Lanham discusses the work of Christo at great length as an artist who introduced variation in terms of space and time. Running Fence is one of my favorites. http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/rf.shtml. Lichtenstein does this as well, as does Warhol. Uses seemingly fleeting/disposable mediums (comic books/soup cans) as conveyers of “truth”.
All that being said, it is a great bridge to digital culture. In digital culture, one cannot work solely on one plane, cannot simply be a stoic artifact existing in the dimension of space. Digital culture sort of demands an understanding of time as well; that is, the work will evolve/deevolve over time. It captures our gaze at precise moments, not perpetually.
Great post, Mark!
September 28th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Many thanks Michael, I will certainly have a look at these references. The use of just one comic book slide to convey meaning, for me, also hints at a link to what we find familiar. From having been raised on a diet of comic books that utilised these images (where they were either on the front or back cover, otherwise they would be monocrome) I almost feel that I know the entire storyline for that week from just this one image.
September 28th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Hi Mark,
While sifting through the recent posts, the striking visual nature of this caught me and reminded me just how important the visuals are in every aspect of digital culture. This is perhaps why I have started to ‘cartoon strip’ each of my blog postings (just as I did for IDEL), giving me a greater handle on what meaning I want to convey.
September 29th, 2010 at 7:07 am
Thanks Martin, I think that is an excellent idea. The Bruce Willis film “Unbreakable” also springs to mid as it has a lot of visual references to comic books. Apart from the obvious collector character played by SL Jackson, it is only the principle characters that are given “true” colour in each scene. This emphasises their importance, gives us a strung hint that they will be involved in something soon, and (I think) refers to comic book printing – where colour was a luxury that needed to be carefully used.
September 29th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Mark, really like the WHAMM! post as an idea generator and began a response on my site where Whamm! could speak with Dennis Hopper’s Double Standard. I like what you have begun with commentary from one media to another and this it is worth a long riff. Thanks
See:
http://edc.education.ed.ac.uk/dennisd/
for the posted comments.
October 1st, 2010 at 10:46 am
Many thanks Dennis. For me another intensive area of visual imagery are the book cover designs that were utilised in the 1970s for the works of authors such as Sven Hassel. During this era, we also see a change in the portrayal of war films and their surrounding media (as with Poster’s “The Good, the bad and the virtual” in the case of Westerns) from being a clear-cut good/bad struggle between the allies and the Germans – to being a less clear cut struggle between Germany and Russia. Here we see ethics becoming somewhat clouded (especially as we know that both sides were guilty of atrocities), most probably by the cold war itself. Films such as the Cross of Iron, indeed portray the ordinary German soldiers (but definitely not Nazis or SS) as being flawed, fighting a loosing battle, but capable of being human – and being negatively affected by horrendous circumstances.
I have digressed ! but I suppose my point is that the pulp-book covers of this era had to portray with one image the flavour of the entire book and entice the purchaser into buying it – and approach the reading of it with a certain “bias”. I suppose that this is part of the message that Sterne is conveying on p24. Cheers.