Martin Scorsese and The Importance of Visual Literacy

[Timothy Gangwer]

Martin Scorsese and The Importance of Visual Literacy

February 05, 2016 | By andrewsiegel | The Arts | Comment

 

I think that one of our collective gaps in knowledge is the little understood skill of visual literacy.  We mistakenly dismiss the ability to comprehend visual images as secondary to the ability to comprehend written literature.  Truthfully, in a world saturated with visual imagery, it is more important than ever that we learn to understand what is being shown to us in the form of advertisements, films, and photographs.  Award winning director Martin Scorsese understands this perhaps more than anyone, and explains his position on the topic in a video titled Martin Scorsese on the Importance of Visual Literacy.

“One has to, I think, reach younger people at an earlier age to shape their minds in a critical way of looking at these images and what they mean, and how to interpret imagery.  And I think in a more official way than just punching up on a computer or seeing something on a commercial or something like that, I think you really need to know how ideas and emotions are expressed through visual form.”

I have taken Scorsese’s words to heart, and over the past couple years at Gould, I’ve worked tirelessly to become more visually literate.  Thankfully, in the age of the internet, these things have never easier to learn.