Blog Post #14: Cultural Context of Comic

A factor key to understanding the comic I have chosen is the knowledge of social networks and how important and engrained they have become in popular culture. The comic references Twitter, and without at least a basic understanding of what Twitter is the comic loses all of its humor.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging side that enables its users to send messages in 140 characters or less. These messages have become known as “tweets,” and the act of sending tweets, is called “tweeting.” These tweets are sent out to the author’s subscribers who are known as “followers.” Twitter users are also able to send out pictures using Twitpic and send out short videos by creating what is called a “bubble tweet.” Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has become one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide and is now ranked the third most used social network. Although the exact number of active accounts is not known, Twitter receives over 55 million visitors monthly, (Twitter, Wikipedia).

Part of the reason Twitter has become so much a part of our popular culture is the fact that many of the most famous celebrities have created Twitter accounts and started tweeting. Celebrities including 50 Cent, Barbara Walters, Adam Lambert, Paris Hilton, Elizabeth Taylor, Ryan Seacrest, Shaq, Jay-Z, Robin Williams, Britney Spears, Martha Stewart, and even Oprah have joined the Twitter craze. There are also many politicians who haven taken up Twittering. John McCain, Joe Biden, Al Gore, and John Edwards have all created accounts and send out regular tweets. By creating a Twitter account celebrities become extremely assessable to fans. Fans receive messages from their favorite celebrities and are even able to send them messages back.

Aside from being made popular by celebrities, Twitter has gained notoriety by aiding in political campaigns and legal proceedings, being used as an education tool, becoming an effective survey and opinion-gathering tool, as well as very prevalent use in protest. During the Iranian presidential elections, protesters used Twitter as a tool to rally support as well as a method of communication with the outside world after the government blocked several other methods of communication, (Twitter, Wikipedia).

It is hard to go a day without hearing a Twitter reference. News programs, TV shows, and radio programs are consistently making reference to something that someone has tweeted. And the lingo has become common knowledge. There are very few people who don’t know what a “tweet” is or and what is meant when someone says that they are “twittering.” It is this integration into popular culture and the obsession with tweeting the right thing that brought about the comic I have chosen. If Twitter not such a huge part of our culture, the comic would not have been created.

Without understanding the cultural context of the comic, it wouldn’t make sense. It is because Twitter is such a huge part of daily life that the comic is funny and relevant. Through the comic medium, the author was able to effectively poke fun at our own ridiculous fascination with the trendy and popular. Were it not in comic form, it may not be perceived as funny, and could quite possibly be seen as offensive. But by creating the comic, the author was able to efficiently portray what happens for many people on a daily basis and turn it into something comical and funny without insulting the millions of Twitter users.

Works Cited

"Twitter." Wikipedia. N.p., 28 Oct. 2009. Web. 29 Oct. 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

Blog Post #13: Comic Analysis

In today’s world, being connected seems to be becoming more and more important. It seems that every day there is a new way to get in touch with friends and let them know what you are thinking, where you’re going, and even what you had for breakfast. With the invention of social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, it is now possible to connect with old friends, new friends, and unknown people all over the world and let them know, in the world of Facebook, “what’s on your mind,” in 140 characters or less. These social networks have become such an integral part of our popular culture, it is now comical how much thought importance we put on having “friends” or “followers,” and how frequently we use and rely on them as a form of communication.

This particular comic from the comic strip “Geek And Poke,” outlines and pokes fun at our extreme dependence on social networks, particularly Twitter. The comic entitled, “The Genesis Of A Tweet,” features a man sitting at his computer deciding what he is going to “tweet” next. He is worried that since he hasn’t tweeted since the previous day he will begin to lose followers, and believes that he needs to find something cool to say to compensate for his lack of postings. In the final panel we see that he has posted, “sitting at the computer, thinking about my next tweet.” It seems that even a tweet about his inability to think of something to tweet is preferable to tweeting nothing at all.

There are several elements that make this comic effective. The man at the computer is very easy for the average person to relate to, and every one of the 6 million Twitter users can see themselves sitting at a computer thinking about what they are going to Tweet next. The setting is established and the character introduced in three panels. The first panel introduces us to the character and we learn thought his thoughts and the thought bubble above his head that he is a Twitter user and hasn’t tweeted anything since the day before. In the second panel, his next thought is conveyed. He is worried that because of his lack of tweets he will lose followers and he thinks that he needs to come up with something cool to say. The third and final panel is the resulting tweet, stating that he is sitting at his computer thinking about what to tweet. The relationship between the panels is formed through the readers’ knowledge that each panel is a depicting a different thought about what to tweet and then the resulting tweet.

Although the comic is hand drawn, the stylistic choices made still allow the reader to examine the topography of the composition. Both of the first two thought bubbles have the same font and size, but the third thought is the tweet that he has posted, and it is formatted in what is traditionally known as the default computer font so that we know it is indeed what he has posted and not just another thought. This topographical analysis adds greatly to our understanding of the message the comic is attempting to convey.