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Illjwamh

NP Comic for Thu. March 31, 2022

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https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/assorted2022a05

 

Today's comic (and accompanying commentary), is something about Dan that's always been very obvious to me, and it's something with which I've always heartily disagreed with him on. It's clear Dan feels the need to explain himself to his audience, and I can even understand why he might feel that way, but I do not consider it necessary at all. In fact, I find that the times an artist goes out of their way to explain or contextualize their art almost always weakens it.

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On the other hand, when an artist/author does not provide context, then the meaning of a piece is very much in the eye of the beholder, and thus the creator’s intent is lost amid the audience’s own interpretations.

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Yes, especially given the style of the glasses, the character resembles a Tedd-form. Additionally, we don’t see Dan’s avatar in “ordinary girl” forms as opposed to “transformation fun” forms very often.

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First of all, Sandwiches are delicious.  This was established very early on by Prof Raven

Nextly, While I can and often do form my own reactions to art, it can be helpful to my understanding and enjoyment to be aware of the artist's intent and background including their emotional state

Lastly, Remember when Dan would use Sarah for these artsy themed comics?

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The Dan has often commented on "The death of the author" and other things.  It's sorta odd that they would post a comic explaining just to opposite.  

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59 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Lastly, Remember when Dan would use Sarah for these artsy themed comics?

... which also had Dan in them. Ouroboros.

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8 hours ago, ijuin said:

On the other hand, when an artist/author does not provide context, then the meaning of a piece is very much in the eye of the beholder, and thus the creator’s intent is lost amid the audience’s own interpretations.

What other hand? This is precisely what I was getting at. Part of it, anyway. I'm also opposed to hand-holding. Let me figure things out on my own.

51 minutes ago, mlooney said:

The Dan has often commented on "The death of the author" and other things.  It's sorta odd that they would post a comic explaining just to opposite.  

Indeed. Dan's standards with regard to their own work tend to be different. I have no way to verify this, but I suspect it stems from being a people pleaser.

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14 hours ago, Illjwamh said:

Today's comic (and accompanying commentary), is something about Dan that's always been very obvious to me, and it's something with which I've always heartily disagreed with him on. It's clear Dan feels the need to explain himself to his audience, and I can even understand why he might feel that way, but I do not consider it necessary at all. In fact, I find that the times an artist goes out of their way to explain or contextualize their art almost always weakens it.

On the one hand, some of my favorite stories don't spell everything out. Needing to work to figure things out can make the audience feel more connected to the story; furthermore if there are are multiple possible interpretations it can be meaningful to a wider range of people and situations.

On the other hand, for most stories it's important that what is happening is more-or-less clear, even if nothing else is. Otherwise, it barely counts as a story.

There have been instances where Dan has had to stop and clarify something it was important for the readers to understand, and I feel those pauses improved the story. On the other hand, there have been cases where the thing he was stopping to explain wasn't important, or could have been left up to the reader's interpretation; I'm not sure how bad those pauses are to the story, but if nothing else they're bad for the pacing.

4 hours ago, mlooney said:

The Dan has often commented on "The death of the author" and other things.  It's sorta odd that they would post a comic explaining just to opposite.  

Dan wants to be understood. He just doesn't consider anything canon to EGS unless it appears in the comic itself. (The convergence of these points is why we get all those pauses to explain things which I was just mentioning.)

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5 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

There have been instances where Dan has had to stop and clarify something it was important for the readers to understand, and I feel those pauses improved the story. On the other hand, there have been cases where the thing he was stopping to explain wasn't important, or could have been left up to the reader's interpretation; I'm not sure how bad those pauses are to the story, but if nothing else they're bad for the pacing.

 

I'll agree with this, though I find that the latter instances outnumber the former significantly.

Ironically, if it's something important that does need to be explained for the coherence of the story, Dan generally does a pretty concise, succinct job of it and moves on quickly. When it's some minor detail that's not important but that they're worried somebody will misunderstand, that's when they spend way too long trying to explain themself. It's frustrating, and it's I think the only thing about Dan's writing that I don't enjoy.

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