Time in Print

Time can be a tricky thing and I’m not about to be one to say that I really understand it. I found Maggie’s experience something that probably all of us can relate to. Even when I try to forget everything and just experience the NOW, I can’t do it. My mind wanders. Therefore, according to McLuhan, I’m not the artist who experiences the present. Honestly, though, how can anyone just experience the present? There are far too many things in life that we have to think about, and plenty even to survive. Does this mean that the artist that experiences the present is completely carefree without thought?

Something else I wanted to talk about was McCloud’s explanation on how in a comic strip the panel you are looking at is the present and the ones before are the past and the ones to come are the future. This goes against everything I’ve been taught in English classes. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve always been told that something in writing, like a book, everything is in the present. The story doesn’t stop once you stop reading it and the story doesn’t end once you finish it. The characters and the story are always happening whether or not you’re interacting with it. Then with new media, something that is continually progressing, there is a past, and a future unknown. How does this work?