Multisemiotics are the meanings that the individual takes away from each mode or sense. We may all experience the same thing, but how it relates to us through our history, culture, society, and our own individuality is different. So in a way, multisemiotics feed off of multimodial. And it's good to keep in mind that (from the article):
The idea that there is one standard set of meanings for all is no longer considered true. Rather, the available meanings taken from any instance of communication are potentially multiple, or multisemiotic.
Multimodial literacy relies heavily on the senses (film, books, audio). You have to look at every piece of literature as you would a culture-- holistically. In Mcloud, all of our senses are involved, even when you don't realize it. The images stimulate our visual sense, while the words work their way into our minds. Words are pretty powerful if you think about it. The imagery along with the detail in description and dialogue can persuade our minds into thinking that we can smell, taste, and even hear! I remember reading last year an article by Stephen King about writing. He describes writing as telepathy. As we read, the author invades our mind and makes us think what he wants us to (in most cases). I think that's incredibly interesting because it's true (for me a least).
I agree with your statement: "you have to look at every piece of literature as you would culture--holistically". Like a particular culture, a piece of literature has many different components. Different cultures have different foods, customs, religions, etc, etc. Thus, different literary pieces may have different shifts of mood/tone, different characters. All the different components in a literary piece impede a different feeling or emotion from every reader because our reactions from our senses are different from one another.
ReplyDelete