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Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

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distinguished the concern of his girlfriend Bella Bellota, thanks to the knowledge of<br />

these conventions.<br />

Another function of these metaphors is to create an environment or to set a<br />

mood, such as when musical signs are added to the image of a band in order to represent<br />

the fact that the band is playing music. The cartoonist can play with the images, and if<br />

the musical signs are distorted, that means that the band is playing out of tune. If they<br />

appear well shaped, they are playing in harmony. But is it possible that readers from<br />

around the world understand these visualised metaphors? Since comics are a mass<br />

product which are exported, there are many set conventions found all over the world.<br />

Besides, ‘aunque las posibilidades de metáforas visualizadas son casi infinitas, la rutina<br />

ha hecho que los dibujantes hayan limitado su repertorio a un código relativamente<br />

modesto y fijado desde hace ya bastantes años’. 33 That is why, when a character<br />

receives a thump and the image includes birds flying around his head, we know that this<br />

represents confusion, not that birds suddenly decided to fly around him. To understand<br />

these metaphors, and to give sense to the story, the reader needs to do a deeper<br />

interpretation. ‘We make that process work by bringing the full power of our own<br />

experiences to bear on the world our eyes report’. 34 Even a neophyte could be puzzled<br />

the first time they deal with these figures. However, after interpretation, and according<br />

to the context, they will be able to learn the convention.<br />

The third element is the kinetic figures which indicate movement and have no<br />

counterpart in reality. They indicate the space that something or someone has moved<br />

along, and it is generally expressed as lines marking the direction the body has<br />

followed. When someone is running, the lines will be straight; a swing will be a curved<br />

33 Gubern, El lenguaje… p.151<br />

34 McCloud, Undestanding Comics, p. 137.<br />

255<br />

Image 6.3.<br />

‘Visual<br />

metaphors’<br />

Image 6.4.<br />

‘Visual<br />

metaphors’<br />

Image 6.5.<br />

‘Kinetic<br />

figures’

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