Introduction
The chapter opens by describing “the competition . . . between images and
words” (p. 599). You might ask students to trace the rhetoric used to discuss the
interplay of words and images in this introduction. Why is it presented as a
competition? a battle? The metaphor of warfare sets the stage for the discussion
of images: They “seem to be winning”; they “dominate.” Digital images, insists
Neal Gabler, have “‘driven out the natural’” (p. 605). Because many people believe
text is somehow better than image, it may be worth spending some time in
class discussing the dichotomy between text and image. Are the two mutually
exclusive? Must one win out over the other? By this point in the textbook, students
should be ready to engage in this kind of discussion.
To get students thinking about the relationship between text and image,
have them look at the Portfolio of images Collaborate created for Amnesty International,
the Sierra Club, and Rock the Vote. Ask them how many words
could be removed from each ad without changing its meaning. How would the
addition of words dilute the effect of each ad? How do text and image complement
each other? You might put students into groups to brainstorm responses
to these questions.
The introduction also asks students to consider a new literacy, visual literacy,
which is increasingly important in a society in which most information is
conveyed via visual media like television and the Internet. Several issues are intertwined
with the notion of visual literacy. For example, how does a consumer
of information determine what is real and what is image? How does an information
consumer process all the data that are available today? How does an information
producer create material that is appealing to a consumer raised on
images? You might ask students to research one of the questions raised in the
introduction and develop the topic in an essay. None of these questions has an
easy answer. And although...