text/image
In his paper "Modular Structure and Image/Text Sequences: Comics and Interactive Media", George Legrady states: 'Meaning in the interactive work is a result of the sequential selection of components that the viewer assembles in the viewing process. The viewer can then be considered as someone who actively constructs the narrative through the assembling of fragmented or modular information elements. The sequential sum of viewed selections becomes the narrative.' This approach to interactivity is reflected in his work Slippery Traces.
Discuss how this approach to constructing a narrative changes the roles of the reader and the author in the process of narrative transmission.
By deliberately forcing each of the images to be understood not in isolation by in the context of other images which can be rearranged, Legrady fosters a more collaborative process between the author and the reader. The text is static no longer, but not just on the linear/non-linear dichotomy. The holistic content and meaning of all the images is now created and negotiated by the reader.
And the author, although having predetermined the possible linkages between the images, cannot possibly know exactly how each reader will construct and interpret the text. Yet he can guess at a possible narrative trajectory, given the reader's initial choice of images, for he has perfect knowledge (relative to the reader) of all the images. In this respect he still retains his authority. Thus, the author has called for a partnership in narrativizing, and relinquishes some of his power, but only to enlarge and deepen the meaning and possibilities of his text/image.
The next thing I would like to see, which is what we will probably do in class this Thursday, is for someone to provide images in a certain order, and for another to freely and completely rearrange those images, regardless of the predetermined links between the images. The roles of author and reader will be in greater jeopardy, but only to the benefit of play, and narrative.
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Choose a set of 5-10 images that you feel form a narrative. Arrange them in a linear sequence on your blog. You may or may not want to include text captions with each image.
Bring a physical copy of your images to class on Thursday. We'll be using them as part of an in-class exercise.
Sorry! The copyright for the images do not belong to me, and are not avaliable in the public domain. So I can't post them here. But I will bring them to class this Thursday :)
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Write about the narrative that your group has chosen for project 1. Why have you chosen this work? How might you approach the task of re-configuring it as an interactive piece? Be prepared to discuss your group's choice of work in class on Thursday.
My group has chosen to centre in on the relationship between Morpheus and Nada, found in Neil Gaiman's groundbreaking comic series Sandman Chronicles. It is a love story of epic porportions. Morpheus falls in love with, loses, then rescues and finally liberates his star-crossed lover. On one level, the love affair is bittersweet, for the lovers know they cannot be together for they belong to different worlds. Yet their self-sacrificial acts for each other underscore the depth of their commitment for each other. And the final conclusion results in Nada's rebirth, which we perceive to be a metaphor for the cyclic, neverending narrative that is made possible despite Gaiman's somewhat standard linear comic narrative.
As we have seen in class and in our readings, the comic form is already an interactive medium of sorts, as the reader "fills in the gaps" by interpreting the frames together in a linear fashion. What we could do to make it even more interactive, is to transpose the comic into hypertext(or hypercomic), and allow for greater play and narrative possiblity to enter.
Discuss how this approach to constructing a narrative changes the roles of the reader and the author in the process of narrative transmission.
By deliberately forcing each of the images to be understood not in isolation by in the context of other images which can be rearranged, Legrady fosters a more collaborative process between the author and the reader. The text is static no longer, but not just on the linear/non-linear dichotomy. The holistic content and meaning of all the images is now created and negotiated by the reader.
And the author, although having predetermined the possible linkages between the images, cannot possibly know exactly how each reader will construct and interpret the text. Yet he can guess at a possible narrative trajectory, given the reader's initial choice of images, for he has perfect knowledge (relative to the reader) of all the images. In this respect he still retains his authority. Thus, the author has called for a partnership in narrativizing, and relinquishes some of his power, but only to enlarge and deepen the meaning and possibilities of his text/image.
The next thing I would like to see, which is what we will probably do in class this Thursday, is for someone to provide images in a certain order, and for another to freely and completely rearrange those images, regardless of the predetermined links between the images. The roles of author and reader will be in greater jeopardy, but only to the benefit of play, and narrative.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Choose a set of 5-10 images that you feel form a narrative. Arrange them in a linear sequence on your blog. You may or may not want to include text captions with each image.
Bring a physical copy of your images to class on Thursday. We'll be using them as part of an in-class exercise.
Sorry! The copyright for the images do not belong to me, and are not avaliable in the public domain. So I can't post them here. But I will bring them to class this Thursday :)
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Write about the narrative that your group has chosen for project 1. Why have you chosen this work? How might you approach the task of re-configuring it as an interactive piece? Be prepared to discuss your group's choice of work in class on Thursday.
My group has chosen to centre in on the relationship between Morpheus and Nada, found in Neil Gaiman's groundbreaking comic series Sandman Chronicles. It is a love story of epic porportions. Morpheus falls in love with, loses, then rescues and finally liberates his star-crossed lover. On one level, the love affair is bittersweet, for the lovers know they cannot be together for they belong to different worlds. Yet their self-sacrificial acts for each other underscore the depth of their commitment for each other. And the final conclusion results in Nada's rebirth, which we perceive to be a metaphor for the cyclic, neverending narrative that is made possible despite Gaiman's somewhat standard linear comic narrative.
As we have seen in class and in our readings, the comic form is already an interactive medium of sorts, as the reader "fills in the gaps" by interpreting the frames together in a linear fashion. What we could do to make it even more interactive, is to transpose the comic into hypertext(or hypercomic), and allow for greater play and narrative possiblity to enter.
Having somebody else rearrange the order of the images in a narrative - that would have been a good idea for an exercise... perhaps I'll steal this idea for next semester! :)
Posted by
alex |
4:22 PM