Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps has been a very interesting read for this course I am taking. Hipps, before becoming a Pastor, had a career in advertising and his insight into the way people think and view religion is very eye opening.
In the second chapter Hipps discussed the impact of the print medium and how the power of print made the writings available to the masses as important to the Protestant Reformation. As a seminary student this was not a “new fact” to me, but his explanation of how print has continued to reshape the gospel into an efficiently compressed linear sequential formula: Apologize for your sins + Believe Jesus = Go to Heaven was interesting. Prior to the printed word people relied upon the oral teachings and stain-glass windows to tell the story of the gospels, the story was vast and at times vague and hard to get a grasp on, but with the use of the printed word and could become my compact.
The Printed word also allowed for more complex thoughts to be shared as well. The Apostle Paul’s letters were seldom taught because of their complex if-then reasoning which could not be captured in stained-glass or illustrated prayer books. The iconic stories of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection could be captured in pictures, but reasoning of our faith as presented in Paul’s letters required the printed word to explain and share.
Hipps goes on to write about how the printed word also has led to many relying too much on linear reasoning, and how that can affect our faith.
The Power of Pictures
In a later chapter Hipps displayed the power of pictures. He describes how words and images are fundamentally different modes of communication. He illustrates this by putting in bold type the following statement:
In the second chapter Hipps discussed the impact of the print medium and how the power of print made the writings available to the masses as important to the Protestant Reformation. As a seminary student this was not a “new fact” to me, but his explanation of how print has continued to reshape the gospel into an efficiently compressed linear sequential formula: Apologize for your sins + Believe Jesus = Go to Heaven was interesting. Prior to the printed word people relied upon the oral teachings and stain-glass windows to tell the story of the gospels, the story was vast and at times vague and hard to get a grasp on, but with the use of the printed word and could become my compact.
The Printed word also allowed for more complex thoughts to be shared as well. The Apostle Paul’s letters were seldom taught because of their complex if-then reasoning which could not be captured in stained-glass or illustrated prayer books. The iconic stories of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection could be captured in pictures, but reasoning of our faith as presented in Paul’s letters required the printed word to explain and share.
Hipps goes on to write about how the printed word also has led to many relying too much on linear reasoning, and how that can affect our faith.
The Power of Pictures
In a later chapter Hipps displayed the power of pictures. He describes how words and images are fundamentally different modes of communication. He illustrates this by putting in bold type the following statement:
THE BOY IS SAD.
Then asks what effect does the statement have on the reader? He states that for most people the statement conveys an idea of devoid of any real emotional significance. Then on the following page there is a photo similar to the one at the top of this post:
And asks does the image affect you differently?
The content of both the statement and the photo are the same, but the impact for most people is radically different.
Hipps claims that images initially make us feel rather than think. Which is very true, think about the stories you see on television, the most impactfully ones are those with video and pictures. Think of the video of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers those feels are ingrained into our memory. Yet when there are stories without pictures they seem to affect us less on an emotional level.
Take for example the two space shuttle accidents. The Challenger exploding on liftoff and that video of it exploding and the two rocket boosters veering off in different directions is burned into my memory, yet when the Shuttle Columbia exploded during re-entry and there is no significant video of that loss it I do not think has the same emotional connection with people. Each are equally tragic, yet the lack of the visual makes the Columbia loss more abstract and does not heighten our emotion in the same way.
The difference between written word and images is very striking. I also have the 9/11 images burned into my brain; I doubt I'll ever forget them. I wonder what the implications of this difference are for our preaching? When and how should we use images and emotional impact?
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts, Pete. I wonder too how the images and their power fade over time. Does the JFK assassination still effect as powerfully now as it did then? Or are the images themselves contextualized within a certain set of parameters? Will the sad boy still be powerful to us if our situations change?
ReplyDeleteWow, that brings back memories. I remember watching it on tv with my mom because I was late for school and asking her after the explosion if that was normal because it looked so weird. I remember the newscasters being confused. Having images or video really does make a difference in how it effects us. I probably wouldn't even remember these vivid details if it weren't for the video. It makes you wonder how this effected people's faith a thousand years ago.
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