Scott McCloud, comics theorist, has a short discussion in his best known book, Understanding Comics, about abstraction and identity. Look at a photo of a face and you see a particular person. Make a detailed realistic drawing of that photo and it is still recognizably that person and no one else. Draw an abstracted cartoon of the face and the person is still there, but the cartoon could also represent dozens or hundreds of other similar looking people. And abstract the drawing to just a few dots for eyes and a line for a mouth and it could represent just about anyone.
As it is written, so it is so. At tea time a few days ago I pulled Understanding Comics off the shelf for something for Miriam and me to read and flipping through came to the page about face cartoons.
I pointed to the photo. No reaction.
I pointed to the detailed drawing. No reaction.
The cartoon. "Dada!"
The smiley face. "Mimi!"
Yesterday's menu:
breakfast: cheese omelettes and toast
lunch: leftover chili and rice
dinner: tuna greens salad
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