Chapter 5 covered by Dave Sandell as part of our Group Blogging Project discussing the book Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps. If you need a quick overview to what Flickering Pixels is about, please go here.
In chapter seven, Shane explores the different way images and words influence us. Images stir emotion. Words stir logic. Words are consumed one at a time. Images all at once.
It is said that an image is worth a thousand words, but perhaps they’re two very different things. You couldn’t consume this blog post as an image and receive the same message from it. But given the state of the interweb’s attention span, I might be wise to cut off this post at 92 words, post an image, and call it a day.
But I like words, so let’s dive in.
Images vs. Words
Consider a recent post from everyone’s favorite blogger, Carlos Whittaker, titled He Adopted Me // Diggin’ A Hole To China. In it, he posts the image to the right.
What if, instead of the image, Los posted, “Hung out with my adopted son on the beach today”? My mind goes to questions and thoughts like “What beach?”, “What did you do on the beach?” and “That sounds like a nice way to spend a day.” Perfectly rational, ordered thoughts, although I end up focusing on the beach, rather than Los and Losiah.
But the image? The image packs a punch. Here I see two beaming smiles. I see a father’s love for his son. I am filled to the brim with joy. One vote for images.
But before we swear off words for the rest of our blogging-lives, consider the words from the same post:
I told him we were digging a hole to China.
He jumped in.
Sohaila started screaming and crying.
“Don’t send him back!!!”
I reminded her he’s from Korea not China.
She stopped crying.
I don’t know about you, but I found this peak into their family captivating. Maybe even more captivating than the image. We get nuance, voices, poetry and the all-important noun-verb structure that keeps us present in the moment in a way that an image can’t.
An image may capture a memory, but words can bring us into the experience. I get to know Sohalia. I get to understand Carlos. I somehow feel connected to Losiah (and I’ve never met Losiah, or anyone from the Whitaker clan for that matter). I didn’t get there from the image.
Images lock us into one version of reality, rather than opening it up for interpretation. Words stir the imagination and invite all of us into the situation: Our experiences, dreams, hopes and fears. The richness of Jesus’ message is far richer when I weave my broken life into its threads. An image tells me Jesus died. A story tells me Jesus is putting the world back together (and I get to help).
Words inspire creativity. And not just artistic creativity, but problem-solving creativity. Change-the-world creativity.
So what of it?
Maybe we could say that images enhance what’s already there, but words create something entirely new. We literally interact with them differently. Television rewires our brain so that we’re always craving fresh stimulation, and become borderline-incapable of sitting through a lecture. Because of the ways our brain interacts with the medium, reading develops mental capacity while television can’t.
But images are powerful. Politicians get elected on the basis of charisma and physical appearance rather than on policies and agendas. To ignore the power of image would ignore a tool that people respond to with determination. I read about an underserved community in Chicago and I think about the injustices, the corruption and the priorities of my city. I consider what the realities might be for my neighborhood. But I see pictures of that same community and I want to hop on the train and serve there.
In truth, the aforementioned Ragamuffin Soul post was powerful because of how it used the two mediums together. The faces put flesh on words and made it come to life in a new way. Even though I’m locked into one version of what the Whitaker family looks like, it’s real. And for the purposes of the church in 2009 America, real should have a lot to say to us.
In the end, I think we have several questions to ask ourselves:
1. Considering the emotional and imaginative responses, how do we best use words and images to talk about the message of Jesus? Is one better than the other?
2. Since we’re a people weaned on television, how does the 30-second-attention-span affect the way we write, interact and present our church services?
3. What situations call for words and what situations call for pictures? Or, another way to ask that question: What situations call for imagination and what situations call for emotion?
What thoughts do you have on chapter seven?
[Images from HKD, Ragamuffinsoul]
Susan_Stewart says
This chapter captured my attention, and so did Dave's post. I'm a logophile. I love anything written; I savor words; I ponder the nuances of meanings. I'm attracted to anything written because of my love for words. I read billboards and ads, as well as articles, books, and dictionaries.
At night when I read to my granddaughter, I read from books with no pictures. I want her to not just develop her imagination and love for words, I want her to learn to discern meanings and hidden meanings that may be lost when pictures are added to every page.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a good movie or television series. I'm currently watching the series LOST on DVD because it is a complicated story that has me thinking and pondering What next? I imagine what is going on off the scene.
But, I think we have become a culture of image over the substance of words. A picture is no longer worth a thousand words, because people are not invoking the words any longer. The picture of the little boy in the book is more than sad. He is distraught. He has resigned himself to his situation. What other words come to mind?
Have you noticed that you can rarely find a waiting room without a television? I think it's because people can no longer sit and even read through a magazine article. It takes too long, and too much work. I have about a dozen books on my iPod Touch and only one video. When I wait, I always have something to read.
A little sidenote: I've noticed when I'm reading a book, people feel free to interrupt me. It's as though the reading has no value or I'm not really enjoying it and engaged with it. However, if I'm using my iPod no one bothers me. I guess the assumption is I'm watching something important — with or without earbuds on.
I've seen church services go from little papers with sermon outlines, to overheads, to PowerPoints, and now photos and videos behind the speaker or singer. Is it because the visuals enhance the message? Or, is because people can't focus on just the words?
In answer to Dave's third question: I don't think there is emotion with imagination. There is no imagination without words. I believe the logical conclusion is words are needed to feel and express emotion.
Think of Spock and Data, both from Star Trek series. Neither of these men felt emotion, although Data spent timing learning. Often we find them without appropriate words because they don't know the feeling. In Data's attempt to learn emotions, he often used the wrong word. Spock ignored humans frailty of emotion.
Dave Sandell says
Love the Spock analogy. Susan, I hear where you're coming from. Sometimes I wish our collective society could take the summer off of technology, just to reengage with creation, community & all of the things in life that start with "good old fashioned". I read recently that book authors are now all pining for a movie deal because there's not much money to be made in just writing. I worry that without a steady diet of books, nuance and storytelling will become dinosaurs and preaching will happen in 140 characters or less. (of course, I'm also addicted to Twitter, so…)
Adam_S says
There was a really good article comparing Spock and Data in Leadership magazine about 10 years ago. (I looked for the article to link it but there were too many recent articles on Star trek to find it, even on Google Scholar.)
It showed the transition between modernity and post-modernity between the two shows. Spock was the ideal type in the first show while Data strove toward the ideal human in the second. Great article.
stephenbateman says
it must've been a good article if you remember it from ten years ago!
Adam_S says
It was a good article. It was a good way to talk about post modernism with my father and some others that liked star trek and understood the references.
Dave Sandell says
subscribing
Phil cunningham says
I am sitting in my living room drinking a fine cup of Seattle coffee and trying to post, but my daughter is watching High 5, the worst kids TV show since time began (my opinion of course), and it is distracting me. She really should be reading a books instead of letting this rubbish fill her mind, but since I am posting here I decided to let the TV stimulate her instead. Hmmm, I think something of that nature was mentioned today by Shane in Chapter 7.
I attend a church in Seattle called Mars Hill. The pastor, Mark, talks for approx. 50-60 minutes for his sermon. I have heard that people have a short attention span……………. sorry, i was distracted by High 5, but I see that you can still captivate and capture peoples attention through words. Mark also is an avid reader, which he encourages the congregation to become as well. I appreciate this in him.
When I teach at different YWAM locations I use a little bit of a different approach, I use pictures and words together. A part of this is that I can illustrate what I am trying to say better through the use of pictures of video clips. But at the same time I feel that you cant just (for the most part) put a picture or video up there and let that be the strength of the message. If we are going to use pictures or video they should be used to drive in a point, or illustrate what we are trying to say, not just be the entire content of the time. I feel that I communicate effectively without these images, but since my audience comes from many different ways of thought and learning It works to use both together.
Paul Steinbrueck says
I found this chapter fascinating. It's particularly interesting the way we have shifted from a text-oriented culture to an image-oriented culture and the affects that has had.
For the most part I agree that words invoke thought while images invoke emotion. So, when we consider whether to use words or images to convey something and how, we have to ask ourselves do I want to evoke thought or emotion or both. I think this is a particularly important question for people who communicate the gospel – pastors, people who plan church worship services, and church communication/web directors.
Our faith should be one of both passion/emotion and reason, so we should be engaging people with both words and images, but at different times and in different settings it may be better to emphasize one over the other depending on what you're trying to accomplish.
Dave Sandell says
I have a hard time pinning down what content benefits from what mediums. Working with poverty, kids, etc, seems to benefit from faces, but I worry that we're being manipulative. But maybe we're always being manipulative, and that's not a bad thing, just the nature of trying to change the world. Shane would probably argue that we should use what we know to our advantage. But is it okay to be manipulative? I'm not talking about Sally Struthers-izing our churches, just using images to compel people to action.
Phillip Gibb says
It will be a sad time if the printed word ever becomes redundant. There is just something about the way your mind works in 'seeing' the story taking place that is so much more real than watching the film. Maybe in a few years that will be the sentiments of fuddy duddies like me, lol.
But somehow I doubt that that will every happen because new mediums that come about will always just be an extension of what already exists. There is no need for knowledge to be conveyed orally, but it still happens – from the story told to the child to the discussion of new ideas. Even visual media starts orally and thru print via scripts etc.
Even teachin DVDs come with workbooks and ideas for discussion.
Adam_S says
Just saw a blog post quoting Alan Jacobs (Wheaton Literature Professor, author and bloggers)
<quote>Again and again in my career I have seen that people who can write well — in almost any field — give themselves a great advantage over their competition. I have former students in the business world, English majors all, who have kept their jobs or even gotten promotions when people with business and economics degrees were being laid off: their ability to communicate, especially in writing, was always the key. What Toor and O’Connor show is that there are basic writing skills that almost anyone can learn and employ, skills that will save them a lot of time and effort later — if they are willing to take some time and effort now. But of course, it helps if they can find someone to teach them…</quote>
Adam_S says
Just saw a blog post quoting Alan Jacobs (Wheaton Literature Professor, author and bloggers)
SCBubba says
Great stuff, Dave.
I don't think that images or words, in and of themselves, can be true replacements for each other. They are, most always, complementary, There are cases where they can be used to convey the same thing, but one is usually more effective than the other.
I think the consensus is that a mixture of the two can be very effective in many situations but how it is done needs to be tailored to the desired outcome, the cultural context, the audience mood/background, etc.
Drawing on the previous chapter that proposed that we are, as a culture, getting shorter attention spans I think there is a greater draw to images (still or moving) because of the perceived efficiency.
I watched a show on the History Channel last night that documented the evolution of the comic book hero. One thing that stuck out was that Hollywood has a hard time making a "great" movie around comic book characters because the movie medium does not lend itself to depth of character like the graphic novel medium does. Reading the thoughts and emotions in the words included in the panels of a comic book convey a lot that cannot be captured on the screen. Very interesting in comparison with this chapter.