Oh my, is that a soapbox? I may have to stand on it...
A reader of unillustrated fiction completes the work in his mind; the reader of a comic book or the viewer of a movie is passive. That is why kids lose a lot when they don't read fiction, even when the movies and TV that they watch are aesthetically superior.
From Gaiman v. McFarlane, blogged by a lawyer as a citation for parents to use when convincing their children to read. I think he's joking. I hope he's joking. Because while I don't have a clue in the world what the context was for this assertion by the judge, despite repeated attempts to follow the link to the case, I do have an opinion about his assertion.
It's bullsh*t.
There was not a single television program or comic book that I consumed as a child which didn't launch an entire series of imagined what-ifs, whys, and sequels in my brain. I don't know if I was taught to imagine, or if I came out of the box like this, but interacting with cultural products has always involved playing with them in my mind, teasing them apart and reassembling pieces into something new. I did it with Hanna-Barbera's science fiction cartoons when I was in grade school, and I do it now with Farscape and the Invisibles. There's nothing about a particular medium that limits my level of engagement with a cultural product, forcing me into passivity. I create my experience.
Anecdote does not equal data, and thus my experience does not make the case for how all humans interact with cultural products. But I can't accept that unillustrated fiction always forces a consumer to be more engaged with the text, to think more, because they have to imagine a Fabio look-alike in their Harlequin romance novel rather than see a representation. I can't accept that Sweet Valley High or Babysitter's Club teen fluff fiction is automatically superior to Sandman just because there are no pictures of the insufferably perfect heroines.
I'm willing to play nice with the Judge-man, though. I would never argue that unillustrated fiction is without value, so how about this revision?
A reader of unillustrated fiction is often pushed to complete the work in his or her mind; the reader of a comic book or the viewer of a movie may be able to sit back and rely solely on what's given by the creator of the work. That is why kids lose a lot when they don't read fiction, even when the movies and TV that they watch are aesthetically superior.
Please note that it also takes care of the "his" problem in the original quote, since women do in fact read books thankyouverymuch. Really. I did it just yesterday, and I will do it again tomorrow. Just watch me!
