A comic is a characteristic of comedy. Many comics are associated with humor, but some have a deeper meaning. A plus about comics is that they are able to express a touchy subject or a harsh truth in a comedic manner. How the comic gets its argument across to the audience differs between them. Some do it through pictures, some through words, others in one frame, when some take multiple frames. No matter how it is reached, an argument is made for each and every comic.
For this particular comic, the argument is being made that exercise has gotten pushed to the bottom of people to do lists these days, and it is expressing the scare in doing so. The comic is arguing that if you don't work out daily, you will be heading down an unhealthy path. But how did we come to understand that as the argument? There are many things to lead the audience to understand what the comic is all about. For this comic, we of course are given words which directly explain the argument. The doctor is being the speaker which we can tell because his mouth is open and just from the context of the comic. He is telling the patient, who happens to look a little concerned an be a bit over weight, that he needs to start exercising an hour a day no matter how busy his schedule is in order to continue his life.
When we put this comic in the context of the world today, it totally is relatable for majority of people. Weight and exercise issues are definitely evident these days. People find themselves too busy to have time to work out when really, exercising just needs to be moved up higher on their to do lists. It has been found that more than 60% of adults don't get the recommended amount of regular physical activity and 25% of adults aren't active at all. (myfit.com) The comic is stressing that by having the doctor ask him "Which works better for your busy schedule." It makes the patient realize that they would much rather set aside an hour a day to work out than to die sooner than necessary. Every excuse in the book as been made as the comic below exemplifies.
This comic is not about looking perfect or fitting the perfect body image, but more just about being healthy. We know this because they are not comparing the patient and his weight to any other person or the doctor isn't telling him a specific number he needs to weigh, or way he needs to look. I think that is a more effective way to get across to audiences. People don't want to be told how to look but everyone does know that they need to be healthy. By translating this message through a comic, I think more audiences might learn from this rather than reading a news article or watching a story on the news. We get those everyday, but a comic serves the message through humor which directly has an appeal to our emotions through pathos.
The fact that this comic is just a single frame works for the argument. It goes hand in hand by saying that it is a simple and to the point issue. There is no need to explain or go into detail about it all through multiple frames of explanation. Everyone understands it by one frame, or one person explaining it to them. Comics arguments sometimes get lost in a mess of frames. As you can see, single frame comics are much easier to understand.Glasbergen, the author of this comic tends to have a lot of comics poking fun at weight or the lack of exercising. I think once he found one of his comics being effective to his audience, he must have decided to continue down that path. Also, it is an easy subject to poke fun at but yet everyone knows its serious. These subjects have kind of become his "thing" as he currently does a weekly diet and exercise cartoon for newspaper Health & Fitness pages.
We are all globally aware of the issue of not exercising, but it is much more effective to read about it or get advice on the topic from comics. This comic expresses the importance through a funny manner and makes everyone aware that they should be working out at least an hour a day in order to maintain a healthy life. So, why is it that exercise is becoming such an unpopular trend these days? There seems to be so many other things going on in everyones lives and working out just gets pushed aside. Take the computer and internet for instance. It has been found that teens spend 31 hours a week on the computer. I know for myself, it would be smarter to eliminate some time spent on Facebook and turn that into working out time and this comic has helped me realized that.
Citation:
"Definition of Comic." Babylon. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. http://dictionary.babylon.com/comic
Marshall Hons, Sarah. "Fitness Statistics." Fitness Statistics. Web. 12 Nov. 2009.
Stack, Carol. "The Importance of Exercise in Your Life." The Importance of Exercise in Your Life. Ezine Articles. Web. 12 Nov. 2009.
"Randy Glasbergen." Wikipedia. 10 June 2009. Web. 12 Nov. 2009.
Deleon, Nicholos. "How do you Compare? Teens Spend 31 Hours a Week Online." How do you Compare? Teens Spend 31 Hours. Cruch Gear, 10 Feb. 2009. Web. 12 Nov. 2009.
