The relationship between text and images in the magazine world is a long and complicated one. Not long after illustrated news magazines first appeared in the 1850s, the norm began to have pages where texts and images coexist (Gretton, 2010). Even during these early days of print, images posed a challenge for publishers in many ways, such as the cost of printing images, the payments for illustrators, photographers, and designers, and even the how to contextualize the images and their relation to the text (Gat, 2012), nonetheless images have become crucial to understanding texts.
The general consensus regarding the relationship between text and images in magazine publications is that "words govern visual images" (Gretton, 2010, p. 680), and the standard captions that accompany each image to capture its meaning support this argument. In 1890, while more than half of the space of magazines was given over to pictures, a widespread trend emerged that involved using a complicated framing device for images, "Such a careful procedure, with a page title, individual title for each photograph, and a brief discursive caption beneath the lower left-hand picture seems to indicate an ongoing anxiety among producers - and, one must suppose, consumers - of these magazines, about the status of the photograph, and about the problems of letting it "speak for itself". (Gretton, 2010, p.705) (example on the right)
While historically, pictures were often thought of as "illustrations" which were understood to be motivated by and at the service of texts, either by adding value by playing a decorative role, or by enhancing meaning by supplementing the message (Gretton, 2010, p.683), the examination of modern day magazines suggest that images may be coming to play a role other than this traditionally subordinate one. As we slowly move away from the print culture and towards a visual culture, a new balance of power is emerging between text and images in magazines, where images are not just decorative in nature, placed there to support the dominant textual medium, but instead, these "modes of representation" (as referred to by Kress, 2005), influence the messages themselves and become important components that define contemporary literacy. (ETEC 540 - Course content) In fact, Bolter notes that in this late age of print, there's been a readjustment of the ratio between text and image in the various forms of print and the refashioning of prose itself in an attempt both to rival and incorporate the visual image” (Bolter, 2001, p. 48).
"The generations to come of age in
the days of digital publishing and reading on screens have a much
more complicated relationship
with images. The human
eye-brain system is capable
of reading a large number
of high quality images in
a matter of split seconds,
and this, alongside the
hand-eye coordination
—think about the
pleasure of a touch
screen versus inky
newspaper pages —is
rapidly developing to
mirror our changing
habits of consuming
information." (Gat,
2012) The rapidly
evolving field of
digital communication,
and our rapidly evolving
consumer habits only
blur the lines further.
It's complicated...
The relationship between text and images
6 Assignment 4/August 2016