ABSTRACT
Drawing again on Halliday’s metafunctional theory, this chapter shows that images not only allow expressing the representational meanings described in Chapters 2 and 3, but also have resources for creating ‘interactive’ meanings that can position viewers in different ways towards what is represented on the page, canvas or screen. Three key resources are proposed. First, the gaze of represented people can create ‘image acts’ which either symbolically ‘demand’ something from the viewer, through a direct look at the viewer, or offer what is represented as information, if the represented people do not look at the viewer. Second, perspective can create the horizontal and vertical angles from which viewers are made to see what is represented, which may suggest involvement (frontal angle) or detachment (oblique angle), a sense of power over what is represented (high angle) or of being powered over by what is represented (low angle). Finally, the distance from which represented people, places and things are viewed (the range from ‘close-up’ to ‘long shot’) can suggest degrees of ‘social distance’, ranging from a sense of intimacy and closeness, to a sense of distance and formality. These three parameters not only all allow for infinite gradation, but can combine in different ways, as the chapter demonstrates with examples that range from classic art works to contemporary websites, social media images, infographics and computer games.
