A Speechless Heart-stopper

The animated clips of the bombing in Hiroshima were incredibly powerful. These scenes were both wildly different but yet relayed the same feelings towards the audience in a lot of ways. The clips were mostly voiceless. The anime cartoon only had a voice from the pilot of the plane, then deafening silence followed by the roaring of the explosions. No other words were said. The segment from “Hiroshima Remembered” had no words, only music, a child’s laughter, and then the explosions. There was nothing to listen to, no words to read, just images to watch. These animations portrayed a story better than most writings ever could.

             
Scott Mccloud’s notions on cartoons are effectively put into use for both of the clips. A major point that Mccloud discusses is Realism. His comic mentions how for the audience to connect with the story, they need to identify with the characters. The cartoons, especially the segment from “Hiroshima Remembered”, depict humanity and reality so distinctly that the connection is almost immediate. The segment showed people, doing everyday things, living life as any averaged day. Children were playing, husbands going to work, elderly women were doing laundry. They showed shots of birds flying overhead and glistening lakes. The first half of the entire segment was showing how normal everything was.

              Another thing Mccloud discusses is the realism used to bring weight of a cartoon into reality. Instead of trying to pull the audience in with realism, this can pull a cartoon into reality to the audience. Mccloud exemplifies this with a sword. In some frames it is a simple drawing, in others it is elaborate, more real looking. The acute detail accentuated into the frame creates a closer connection to the object. In the animations, there were several overtly detailed frames that were almost too much to look at. A heavy example are the details of the people dying from the blast. These cartoon-y characters suddenly being grotesquely melted, eyes falling out. This sudden sharp change can really affect the audience’s take in the story.

              Mitchell discusses photography and its uses in expression. Mitchell says how photographs are often accompanied by text, but even if it isn’t, the moment a photograph is seen, the seer creates text with their own thoughts with their own memories and associations. Photographs can give an illusion to inarguable truth, with reality staring back at you in a real-life image. But even photography can be taken and displayed to promote a message. In the animations, both cartoons showed real photographs at the end of the clips. These pieces of reality attempt to bring the audience to realize that this cartoon is not just an imagined story. The cartoons are a way to show what happened, and the photographs drive home the point that it was real.