Types of ways to show information

For the last few weeks, we have been reading comic books, graphic novels, and whatever you want to call them, and then we have watched movies. These and many other formats can display information to viewers. But which one is the best way?

For starters, novels that only use words are less descriptive than graphic novels. This is because you can only be so descriptive with words, while other formats, such as graphic novels and videos, are better alternatives.  

In class, the graphic novel we used was Thi Bui's, the best we could do. Bui's decision to format her journey as a mother and as someone learning their history and culture in the form of a comic allowed us to learn more compared to the traditional novel. For example, simple things like colors helped us understand the background of her childhood and how Vietnam felt during the war. 

Moving on, with the movie we were introduced to The Swimmers which entails the story of three refugees and their journey to Germany. This is not only a step up from the comic book, the details like other movies show how grueling things truly are. For example, during the scene where the boat was in the middle of the ocean during a storm, we saw how Yusra and Sara both jumped out for the benefit of the others in the boat. This scene and many others could only be shown to a certain degree with words, however, with the format being a movie we have a better idea of how events like wars and stories of refugees really are. 

But what is the limit of presenting information? At what point do we start to not believe the things that are presented in front of us or what we are being told? I ask this as AI can now create photos and videos that are freakishly realistic. And who knows if the things right in front of us are real or made up.