As I read through the article, there were many parts that were difficult to understand. I was not familiar with many of the illusions and references the author made because the complex ideas seemed foreign to me. Despite the difficulty that I had with the article, I found a few of the main points very intriguing.
The first one being the two types of imaginative processes: words to images and images to words. I found this interesting because I did not realize that connecting words and images is something that we do everyday. When we look at an image, we use words to describe what we see. When we read words, we use our minds to create an image in our heads. Regardless of the medium that you start with, the end result is a stimulation of our imagination.
Another part of the article I found very intriguing was when the author said, "What I think distinguishes Loyola's procedure, even with regard to the forms of devotion of his own time, is the shift from the word to the visual image as a way of attaining knowledge of the most profound meaning" (86). What I believe this means is that when you leave words up for interpretation, many different images can arise as no one imagination is the same. Because perspectives and interpretations are all different, it allows for a variety of possibilities that are distinctly unique, yet important to the understanding of the same words and images. This concept makes the idea of art and imagination special because the experience is rarely the same for people.
The most captivating part of this article for me was when the author said, "We are bombarded today by such a quantity of images that we can no longer distinguish direct experience from what we have seen for a few second on television" (92). I strongly agree with this quote because the many advances in technology have impacted our lives in this technology driven society. Currently, kids mimic what they see on T.V. and online instead of thinking of things to do themselves. Technology is slowly becoming the center for all of our ideas and taking the place of a lot of our imaginative processes.
I firmly believe with you on the idea that when words are left up to interpretation there are many different viewpoints. That is what makes art unique. You interpreted that quote one way, while another student could have thought something different. I also liked that you touched on the fact that Calvino notes we are bombarded by images. I don't think images are a bad thing. But, I do think that when we don't know if we experienced something or watched it on T.V. there could be a problem. A problem with technology being the center of ideas. Either way, T.V. or experience, both enhance imagination because you are exposed to more ideas.
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was interesting the words to image and image to words imagination process because if you see something you start to describe it with words and vise versa.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting when you are brought up the point about the imaginative process, verbal to visual and visual to verbal, we do this every second and every day and fail to realize the specificity of what is really going on.
ReplyDeleteI too found the quotation, "We are bombarded today by such a quantity of images that we can no longer distinguish direct experience from what we have seen for a few second on television," (92) very thought provoking. While I may not agree entirely with the quotation, I do recognize that society has been so overloaded with information, and imagery through television to the point that we have become extremely desensitized.
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ReplyDeleteI really found it interesting when the article stated that when we hear or experience something in the outer world, it can influence our inner world or our imagination. When our imagination is influenced, we can then express this to other's through our visual art or word of mouth.
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading your take on the article it helped me to look at it in a different way than how I originally had
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