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This review is dedicated to Anon 9:11 in the previous comment thread, who requested it.
Comic title: Photos
Alt text: I hate when people take photos of their meal instead of eating it, because there's nothing I love more than the sound of other people chewing.
Oy, I knew we were in for a rough ride when we saw White Hat in the first panel. When did we see this figure in a comic where he wasn't playing a strawman? And I use the word 'figure' instead of 'character' because he is not a character, despite some people's claims that he is.
Let's have a show of hands here (sound off in the comments section if you like) - who thinks Xkcd has characters, in the sense that The Simpsons has characters?
If you said yes, then you must agree to the implication that White Hat in 1314 is the same White Hat who appeared in 915 and 973. And what is his defining trait in all of these? He is a self-righteous asshole, a snob with opinions, or at least he is portrayed that way. He is the example that you, the audience are not supposed to follow. White Hat's character concept was never supposed to be anything more than a strawman, and so the writing suffers for it.
Good writing is supposed to tell a story, not to tell people what to do. In the words of author Philip Pullman: "Thou Shalt Not is soon forgotten, but Once Upon a Time is forever." He would do well to follow his own words, given that The Amber Spyglass was basically a religious flame-war in book form. But our Mr Munroe has probably never even heard of words to that effect.
Let me say right now that I largely agree with the message being spoken in this comic. I find it does take away from the moment to faff around with exposure settings when you just want to enjoy a pretty sight for what it is, but the payoff is that you get to keep a record of it forever. I get that, and yet the comic rubs me the wrong way because it's being preachy. Somehow, the hatless man comes across as the bigger asshole here. He has unwittingly become the very thing that he is fighting, the condescending stranger, the schmuck with opinions.
But why should you listen to me? I am, after all, a schmuck with opinions.
Obligatory grades: B for the artwork in the first panel. D- for the artwork in every other panel. F* for wall of text. F*** for the preachiness. DETENTION for Gizmodo repost.
Damn, I forgot to shoehorn the word 'glorying' into this review. Ah well, maybe next Time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with White Hat to an extent.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think more of going out with my friends than sunsets though, and the way we feel the need to take selfies before going to the club, because if we can't prove to everyone on our social network that we occasionally look vaguely attractive, what was the point in getting dressed up anyway?
Well fucking said.
DeleteThe point I should have made is that White Hat is not entirely wrong. Neither is he entirely right. That's how the character should be presented rather than being made to seem like they're right or wrong all the time. Asking your audience to agree wholeheartedly with what you say is an insult to their intelligence. Then again, this is Xkcd fans we are talking about here.
People taking photos detract from my experiences because I have to step around their entire field of vision to avoid spoiling their shots. They're a bunch of selfish pricks, really.
ReplyDeleteAnd regarding the alt-text, people who want to take pictures of meals force you to delay eating until they've gotten the perfect picture. I hate those jerks.
DeleteBUT IF YOU HAVE A PICTURE OF IT, THEN YOU CAN EAT IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.
DeleteIt's not the taking of a photograph that's the problem - it's the way that the photographer simultaneously annoys people around him who have to politely get out of the way, and annoys people he spams the photo to on the various narcissistic media platforms.
ReplyDeleteLike you say, he's insulting the reader's intelligence: everybody knows why people take photographs. Although I appreciate Randall's giving me permission to experience things "incorrectly", because I experience each of his comic strips by laughing at his populist mediocrity and smiling that this setting aside of reason and good taste is how religions begin.
(Except Judaism. Judaism began because everybody hated the Jews.)
Could you review 1314 please. That one was particularly cancerous.
ReplyDeleteScroll up for your review.
Delete21. Let's get some reviews of good comics going, to put the suck in sharp contrast.
ReplyDeleteTIL: 21 is a 'good comic'.
DeleteAnon 9:11 here. Thanks, Jon Levi!
ReplyDeleteI largely agreed with White Hat in this comic, mostly because of my own experience with how obsessing over taking photos detracts from the experience of actually being there and seeing the place with your own eyes. I found that when my first reaction was to grab my camera, take a shot, then move on to the next photogenic landmark, it didn't allow me time to bask in the moment and admire the landmark through my own eyes, rather than through the camera viewfinder: When you're fixated on the location through the viewfinder, it's no better than just looking at the picture in a printed photo or computer screen.
Maybe it's just because I have a very poor, ephemeral memory, but when I was preoccupied with taking photos, I'd look at the pictures later and have a feeling like, "Wow, what a beautiful building. I bet it looks even better in person." So, in that respect, fixating on photography -did- detract from my experience, because I ended up with better memories of taking the photo than of being near the location, seeing it in the context of its surroundings, and most importantly glorying (there you go) its three dimensional presence.
So when I read this comic, I didn't understand the vitriol towards White Hat. WH's idea wasn't a -selfish- notion. Quite the opposite. The idea is just to encourage people to look up from the viewfinder and ground themselves in that moment, constructing a solid, meaningful memory so they don't -need- to look at a photo later just to remind themselves that they were there. But, of course, the Randall Munroes of the world just can't stand the idea that someone might accuse them of having "BadWrongFun."
I would also get annoyed with my traveling companions who would get frustrated at the fact that there were other tourists there "ruining" their chance at getting a good photo. There are plenty of flat, generic photos of all these places online without any people in the shot: but that's not what YOUR experience visiting the location was like. Someone walking into the middle of your shot and obscuring the building is one thing, but I would actually try to work the crowd into the shot while taking a photo. If anything, that gives a better sense of "I was really there" than trying to get an angle and opportunity with as few people in it as possible.
I think what Randall may have seen was a plague high-minded archaists stubbornly denouncing the modern technology of putting cameras in everything. So, smirking condescendingly, he lay out this little comic, commenting "get with the times, man," and revealed it to the world with a knowing wink at his core audience.
DeleteAnd, judging from the response in the reaction forum, he missed the mark completely. He might be getting old. He's lost the touch. His finger remains where the pulse used to be, but those tremors he's feeling are no longer the vital surge of the geek lifeforce. They're his own arthritic twitches.
Oooh, while Randall remains a manchild, maybe his audience are finally growing up and understanding what it means to experience rather than just play pin-the-tail-on-the-ass-of the world.
DeleteAlso, didn't they do a study which showed that people who were made to take pictures of every painting in an art gallery remembered far less about what they'd taken pictures of than people who enjoyed the gallery normally?
ReplyDeleteReally? Pics or it didn't happen.
Delete1318
ReplyDeleteIt's crap, and I think xkcd has even done the same joke before, but at least the alt-text is mildly amusing.
Delete