Line

Todays COP seminar was very interesting and has given me some ideas on how to start my visual journal. We talked about definitions of line, shape, texture and colour. The definitions of line really interested me, the idea of boundaries or divides opens up a lot of possible avenues to explore in terms of society, culture and history. More specifically when applied to my subject I think about the divide between our everyday lives and the places we escape to. There seems to be a widely held belief that the two are completely separate even though lots of people manage to successfully tailor their entire lives around activities that others would see as escapist.  Another example of  the meaning of the line is a line we should not cross, what makes an escapist activity a positive one and at what point do we go too far into this world and lose touch with the 'real world'?

The idea of lines being boundaries also ties in to the Neil Gaiman interview about genre. Genres are invisible boundaries that can either be inclusive or exclusive depending on your point of view. they are a toll that helps to organise and market an overcrowded marketplace but more than that. Over timed they have formed into some kind of hierarchical structure where certain genres are revered and other looked down upon. A genres position in this hierarchy can change over time with trends and some can disappear all together. These boarders act as constraints, there are rules that must be abided by to be part of the group. very few authors dare to cross these boundaries, this may well be due to publishers demands and the need to cater to an audience that has a set of expectations that must be met.