I just out of nowhere remembered the American Express commercial that plays on the iconography of the smiley face. I’m not a big tv watcher but this one stayed with me. It (visually) portrays exactly what McCloud says about the icon of the smiley face. Well, in the beginning of the video it’s a frown…

“The fact that your mind is capable of taking a circle, two dots and a line and turning them into a face is nothing short of incredible! But still more incredible is the fact that you cannot avoid seeing a face here. Your mind won’t let you!…We humans are a self-centered race. We see ourselves in everything. We assign identities and emotions where none exist. And we make the world over in our image.” -McCloud, Understanding Comics (pg 31-32)

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