evocative – textual media

Tachistoscope: The Conscious and the Subconscious

Hayles writes that “literature…activates a recursive feedback loop between knowledge realized in the body through gesture, ritual, performance, posture, and enactment, and knowledge realized in the neocortex as conscious and explicit articulations. As the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has shown, robust and durable knowledge can be transmitted through social practices and enactments without being consciously articulated” (132). This concept comes into play, particularly when considering William Poundstone’s Tachistoscope. Because of the element of subliminal messaging and the way the text is constructed in terms of color, multimedia, and symbolism, the reader is, in effect, approaching a text that is almost dream-like, greatly engaging the subconscious realm of the brain.

While Hayles offers her own assessment of Tachistoscope, her explanations for various symbols are subjective and her analysis of the work itself seems cursory, functioning more appropriately as a summary of what the reader is to encounter while interacting with the text. After going through Tachistoscope several times, the text became much more cohesive as a story. While I did, as Hayles predicted, attempt to “screen out…‘extraneous’ information” (142), I also attempted to force my consciousness to integrate it into the work and understand the underlying meanings of the symbols and subliminal pictures and messages. The white words, superimposed by larger black words, generally appeared on the screen at a pace that was too fast for me to process. However, I did notice images of faces in these sequences, as well, which may have subliminally provided context in the form of characterization. Were they the faces of people who had fallen into the bottomless pit? Were they the faces of people from the town where the pit had been formed? I could not be sure, although these questions came to mind. I also took into account the use of color and how the colors made me feel. For example, dark blues appeared to signal tragic events, such as people falling into the bottomless pit. I also noticed that the orange spheres increased my anxiety as I read the text.

As for the symbols behind most of the words (e.g. the knife and fork, the cross, the martini glass), I was unsure of what to make of their meanings. Hayles’s inferences as to what their meanings were did not come to mind while I, personally, was interacting with the text. The symbols seemed to denote the man-made objects and, perhaps, their implications, both negative and positive. In the work, there are symbols depicting construction work—perhaps referencing the main plot event at hand, which has caused irreparable damage, not just to the area of land itself, but to the town in which it exists and the people who live in that town. There are also symbols like keys and planes—perhaps alluding to the idea of escape. The population of the town does eventually dwindle, as the text reveals. Additionally, I felt as though the symbols alluded to a sense of historical context. I understand that this is a far reach, but the Afro pick, for example, reminded me of Civil Rights events in the 20^th century, while the bomb reminded me of war. I associated the crown with medieval times, and also associated the key with the distant past, because of its shape and form.

For me, the symbols placed the words flashing across the screen within the context of culture that was ever-evolving and ever-changing. This may have also been partially due to the nature of the music, which contained a series of chord progressions that, at its climax, seemed uplifting by providing the reader a sense of movement within the text—a feeling of being propelled forward during the crescendo and the addition of music that was more melodic than the repetitive notes played at the beginning of the music’s cycle.

The music, I found, was the most compelling aspect of the text, rather than the imagery. I did not feel as though the images had much of an effect on me other than the fact that I found them distracting. Perhaps because, as humans, we have an innate desire to make sense of our experiences and observations, the subliminal messaging along with the use of symbols in this piece became frustrating components of the work for me. Nonetheless, it was an interesting exploration; trying to find meaning within the symbols used, as well as the subliminal messaging. I felt somewhat detached to the literal text of the piece because of the symbols and subliminal messaging, which I thought was interesting. Rather than responding emotionally to the text, I felt myself responding to it from a more analytical standpoint. For this reason, the symbols and subliminal messaging most likely contributed to the tone of the piece in my experience of interacting with it.

Blog 2: Boyfriend

I felt that “agailes” brought up a point that was at the forefront of my mind while navigating through MBCBFTW, in terms of whether or not Lialina’s piece could be considered “literary.” While I agree that MBCBFTW is certainly more literary than Hegirascope (though I realize that the nature of subjectivity as it relates to discerning what is literary from what is not is certainly up for debate), I saw MBCBFTW mostly as a piece of “cyber art,” so to speak. I did feel that there was some sense of a story being told, even if it was often disjointed and fragmented. To Lialina’s credit, if one is to assume that Lialina presents a literary piece, one might take into account that our sequences of thoughts function, in general, in a nonlinear fashion. The speaker may be intending to show the way our trains of thoughts are typically disjointed, fragmented, and may not appear to have any real pattern, which could potentially be considered as some sort of literary device.

I cannot truthfully say that the piece evoked any emotional response from me. In fact, I found it to be somewhat irritating and boring. Flat, even. Despite the variety of multimedia-related aspects present in the piece (animation, drawings, hyperlinks, and so on), I felt that, because the text itself was pretty one-dimensional, that there was very little to stimulate me in an intellectual sense. It seemed to me that what Lialina was attempting to create art for art’s sake and, while it might be moving and seem innovative to some, it won’t necessarily be received the same way by others, such as myself.

In terms of trying to relate MBCBFTW to the text written by Marie-Laure Ryan, it did occur to me while coursing through Lialina’s piece that there was a particular quality to it that reminded me of walking through a museum. Perhaps this was because of the various forms of multimedia presented. However, it was clear that the person interacting with the piece had to eventually go through each “exhibit” to come to the end. In comparison to Hegirascope, there was clearly less opportunity for the person interacting with the text to make choices about producing different outcomes. However, MBCBFTW had the benefit (as I see it) of ostensibly containing some sort of plot or story. While there appeared to be certain threads which were related to one another in Hegirascope, it was clearly much more randomized than MBCBFTW. I think story and plot were key components to Lialina’s, whereas this was not a concern for the maker of Hegirascope.

While I have lingering questions about Hegirascope, I also have to wonder why Lialina made some of the decisions she did in MBCBFTW. For example, I wonder about Lialina’s intentions in presenting various sequences of “plot” elements, as well as some of the aesthetic choices she presented: the clocks, the Fox television network logo, etc. Why use only black and white? The sparse nature of the story continues to leave something to be desired, at least for me. Perhaps its simplicity allows the story to have more flexibility in terms of the various pieces of the story fitting together in some understandable way. Either way, both texts leave me feeling somewhat lost and curious as to how to interpret the significance of each one.

“Hegirascope”: Blog #2

In the early twentieth century, a group of artists in Zurich, Switzerland created an art movement by the name of “Dada” that utilized non-sensical imagery to communicate deeply textural and evocative concepts to a devastated and war-torn society. An admirer of this particular movement, I was initially intrigued by the “Hegirascope”. The mere chaos of it resembled the Dada ideology: because nothing in the world makes sense, neither will the art that attempts to reflect it. However if one pursues a further study of Dadaist pieces, they will find that many of the artistic works have a politically charged undertone to their near unrecognizable form. Therefore, members of the Dada sect did rely on some sort of representational meaning in order to portray an intensely evocative theory on the state of the world after World War I. When I think of “Hegirascope” in these terms, it suddenly doesn’t fit in at all. Although it can be argued that each segment is somewhat representational, the entire piece functions as a disjointed, abstract draft containing a vast variety of miniature plots that dream of assembling into an extended narrative.

Upon closer examination, the “Hegirascope” functioned as a sort of stream of consciousness. At each screen we abandon the center text when we wander to a particular link that had succeeded in distracting us from the central text. In an interesting comparison, Ryan says the text gave her the “impression of a loose collection of drafts and writing samples”. Like Ryan, I imagined that if we were able to break open the mind of a creative writer, the many textual fragments of “Hegirascope” would be what we would find. Each screen contained a cohesive idea, however before one could completely articulate that idea-the screen changed and a new thought was presented. To me, the web engine was a writer’s worst nightmare: capturing a moment to later build on only to lose it to another incoming idea. The “Hegirascope” acted as a controller, choosing when its thoughts were finished and moving onto the next (even if its reader was not ready for the shift).

In class we discussed Marie-Laure Ryan’s interpretative strategies for reading new media texts. Within her framework, I would probably describe “Hegirascope” dually as a “kaleidoscopic performance” piece. The “stories” the “Hegirascope” constructs are all made from the same fragments; however, with each new refraction the evocative meaning of the piece changes and a new narrative mosaic is created.

Jabberwocky as art

On the surface Jabberwocky seems quite meaningless; it is literally a machine that generates jibberish. As someone who does not have the technical saavy to make the software needed to produce such a machine, I can appreciate the technical know-how involved. To create this generator involves quite a lot of rules and possibilitiesin the encryption, but the outcome is meaningless. The words in the output are nonsensical and useless, and although a few real words are mixed in, a reasonable person would find this generator random and stupid. Looking deeper at the representational meaning, I see how this could be seen as art. In this new, “textual media” forum, I see the Jabberwocky as a piece that could be seen in an art exhibit at a museum. Having read the biography of the creator, I realize that he sees himself as an artist in this new realm and his productions as pieces of art. Just as many pieces of “traditional” art can leave many confused, in the abstract the meanings of the piece can be endless.
This brings me to the evocative meaning; I don’t see any larger politcal statement being made, but simply a playfulness formatted in a sophisticated way. I imagine young children, who are far more computer literate than I was at their age, use the output from Jabberwocky as a code for a secret language. Perhaps Jabberwocky is a statement on the state of society as a whole, and its future direction. If kids resort to a computer generated machine to come up with a secret language, what does that say about their level of imagination? Sure they are well versed enough in computers to find and use the Jabberwocky, but it certainly takes the fun out of sitting around with your siblings and friends, and acting silly and goofy while making up words.

Blog #1 Evocative and Representational Meaning in Jabber

With Jabber, the representational meaning is obvious; this is an engine that signifies the malleability of the English language by using physics to form random letters into strings of nonsense (and less often, real) words that could potentially (read: phonically) see regular use as a member of the language. This word engine speaks to the random and often quizzical nature of our language, as well as exhibiting a type of chemistry, where certain fragments can connect to form a plausible string, while others will disintegrate after a few moments.

What Jabber says evocatively, however, is less concrete. It seems to raise questions about how our language is added to or amended, as when literary characters become adjectives or ideas based on their written personae. Jabber also seems to play on the evolution of language itself, as with slang or colloquialisms we begin to hear and read more and more words that don’t exactly make any sense within their context; how can 30 inch rims be “ballin'” or new sneakers be “fresh” or “dope”. While Jabber affirms this sort of nonsensical usage by providing an engine through which strange words can be formed and documented, it also hinders its own evolution by the creator imposed algorithms that make certain strings of letters impossible to form.

While some form of regulations is necessary, so that all of the letters don’t simply clash together and form some ultimate nonsensical language pangaea, to truly push the evolution of language you need to relax some of the phonetic and pronunciational guidelines. While this might be analogous to expecting a bear to grow wings, i’m of the opinion that the English language has always been about nonsense rules and complexity, so why not throw in a few more.

“X” before “D” and “Z” after “K”, let the Jabber engine lead the way.

Representational vs. Evocative Meaning: Firefly

The textual media example that stuck out to me the most in class was the Firefly example. While Orsen Whale’s piece had sound, and Jabber had an unknown and exciting mystique, Firefly was interactive. This involvement peaked my interest the most, and will be used in to explain the differing dynamic between the representational meaning and the evocative meaning.

Upon first click, the representational meaning draws us, as readers, into Firefly. We are given a poem with 6 different stanzas, each falling on a new page, with a different angled picture of the same memorial as a background. Within each stanza there are 5 lines, and each line is 6 options deep. This allows us to be interactive in that there are thousands and thousands of possible different line choices. Deena Larson has written (in an order that continuously makes sense! ) 180 lines (6 pages x 5 lines/page x 6 lines/line=180) that create so many different themes and endings to the poem. In playing with these line choice combinations, we are able to create a new meaning to Firefly.

The evocative meaning that catches our attention is that each line reads so full of meaning, yet is several words long, and leaves each stanza at one full sentence. Deena Larsen has created a poem that can bring its readers to differing thought process and memories in the simple, yet powerful lines she has written and created. I remember in class I thought Firefly had a lot of meaning even before Professor Sample told us “click on the lines”. Once we had discovered this, the poem had whole new meanings and brought out new feelings, emotions and memories.

I think that Firefly is a great learning example for a textual meaning class because is simple, yet thoughtful and indepth. With so many line choices, a poem that is about death can be read as a poem with hope and love.

Blog 1

The jabberwocky engine presents the most compelling relationship between representational and evocative meaning, due in part to the seemingly limitless combinations of nonsensical words it can string together, and to the inherent incoherence of the English language’s own phonetic rules trying to make sense of these random collisions.

Ostensibly, JABBER entertains with the nonsense it vomits out, demonstrating English phonetics in an energetic and highly repeatable way. But certain implications about language start to surface as the random words start to just barely resemble something you might imagine saying, after violently stubbing your toe or mumbled at the edge of sleep. We encounter the idea that at one time a bunch of glorified apes had to come together to think of a word for “dog” or “elephant” or “banana,” and that however nonsensical the words produced by JABBER look, they’re pretty fun to say.

Why “Orson Whales” Is Not Plagarism

“Orson Whales” has very little literal, or representational meaning that is drawn from its actual basis, “Moby Dick.” Its story is told completely through the original drawings which are displayed over the actual book’s text and the commentary by Orson Welles. While I’ve never read the actual book, the animation seems to tell the story itself. Even Welles’ commentary is limited to highlighting certain aspects of the cartoon, rather than delivering a coherent narrative. He plays much the same role as the Led Zepplin song – supporting the story rather than narrating it.

This support role is exactly where Welles, Led Zepplin, and the text itself are most important. They make the background in which the cartoon itself can be expressed. The text acts as a visual background, while the song and commentary act as a sonic boon to punctuate strong moments of the animation. Rather than taking entire sections of the book from Welles’ narration, Alex Itin selects short phrases that coincide with the action, and even foregoes the commentary or the song in large parts. This is all present to establish the various evocative messages of the entire video – greed, lust and ambition all seem to lead to death at some point or another, and they are punctuated by appropriate sound samples of commentary and music.

None of that is any different from what all of us do everytime we write papers. We take from movies, music and books to make a basis for the point we want to make, or even as a justification for that point. What Alex Itin does is take Moby Dick and Orson Welles, and use them as a basis for an entirely different form of expression. He never passes their work off as his; he even cites them as the sources for his new work. We all gain insight from everything around us to help form our opinions and expression, Alex Itin just narrows his scope.

Jabberwocky: Words and Meaning

Although it has been reiterated several times already, I will attempt to define the representational meaning of Neil Hennessy’s JABBER. The Jabberwocky Engine generates a collection of letters from the English alphabet which float seemingly aimlessly across a white screen. Over time, these black letters collide in order to create blue word fragments (some of which are real words, some are not) or red “garbage” words. Then, two word fragments combine to create green “nonsense” words. Despite the fact that the green words do not exist in the English dictionary, Hennessy is, in essence, using the medium of language as a figurative playground by randomly combining letters and word fragments that sound, at varying degrees, as though they could plausibly function as actual words. He deposes the meanings of words and breaks free from the establishment of language as it is manifested in our cultural consciousness.

The user, “scarterb,” brought up the interesting idea that Hennessy could be “commenting on the arbitrariness of the English language.” Immediately, it occurred to me that the words currently in the repertoire of my vocabulary all sound, in some way, like what it is to which they refer. I realize that this is an abstract idea and may be difficult for me to articulate well. I will try my best…

I am not sure if others share similar experiences, but I feel that words have a tendency to correspond with their intended meanings—perhaps due to masculine or feminine undertones in a word or, say, because of certain emphases on the vowels and consonants in a word. For example, the word “blossom” (as it relates to a flower opening) sounds (at least, to me) exactly like its meaning, whereas the verb “execute” sounds very severe and harsh—the opposite of the implications of a flower blossoming. “Shatter” also seems to harmonize with its intended meaning in that the pronunciation of the two ‘t’s sound almost like an object breaking. Hennessy may be toying with the notion of words and their common associations through JABBER.

It is my contention that Hennessy may be challenging the way we associate words with their meanings, although I do not think his purpose in creating JABBER is exclusively for this reason. He may also be indicating the ever-changing nature of language (i.e. how words become antiquated, and also how new words are added to a language as time passes.) Nonetheless, it is possible Hennessy is attempting to show how words can be separated from meaning and connotation. Perhaps he is attempting to break the traditional notions of the significance of words and how they are tied to their meanings. He may be proposing one or several questions, What is really in a word? What is the significance of a word? How do we mentally process the concept of words?

I realize that this is a rather grandiose and perhaps far-reaching opinion. I am also aware that there is an obvious problem with my argument in that, from a young age, we, as human beings, are indoctrinated with the meanings and connotations of words. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to tell whether or not words are, in some way, deliberately connected to that to which they refer. Most likely, a (rather infeasible) controlled experiment would need to be performed in order to even begin determining the validity of my opinion—or inquiry, one might call it. One may look to etymology, but it is not sufficient in this case for explaining how and why sounds are combined to create words. Nonetheless, it certainly piqued my curiosity when considering JABBER, its purposes, and the questions it raises.

Orson Whales: Representative vs. Evocative Meaning

I was very transfixed with the Orson Whales piece by Alex Itin. Unlike the other two pieces, it used both visual and auditory representations to engage its audience. Right away, I found myself drawn in by the combination of visual stimulation and the constant transition between the deep voiced narration and the sharp sounds of Led Zeppelin.

Right away we know the Orson Whales piece represents the author’s unique interpretation and perhaps contrast between Moby Dick and the life of Orson Welles. The piece directly depicts the struggles of life, as in the scene with the drunk; i.e. alcoholism. We’re taken thorough a life’s journey, the ups and downs and ins and outs of this individual Itin represents.

Evocatively, the deeper meaning(s) I interpreted from the Whales piece showcased three main themes. First, there is a theme of life and death; what we see, live, and experience throughout our lives. As well as those things we might not see ahead of us. Which leads to the second theme of betrayal. Which I believe traces back to Itin’s interpretation on Welles’ own life. Finally, there is the theme of tragedy which ties in with life,death, and betrayal. All of these themes, I believe, represent what Itin is trying to portray with his Moby Dick/Orson Welles mash up.

~Constance

Blog#1 Orson Whales

The three completely different textual media samples that were shown to us right away were all interesting. Of the three, I found the Orson Whales to be the most interesting and unique. Sure, the Jabber engine could create random words, and the Firefly showed lots of creativity and needed acted on user involvement, but I loved the meshing of the arts of Orson Whales.

To me, the representational meaning of Alex Itin’s “Orson Whales” is to show the ability of a novel to turn to life. By using the actual pages as a canvas on which to tell the story, mixed with sounds and dramatic music, the novel takes a life of its own and forces the reader to be enveloped within story. Rather than just sitting down and reading the book with a freedom to imagine anything, Itin uses multiple drawings to create a sort of movie. I, having never really read the novel of Moby Dick, can get a faint understanding of the book just by watching the pictures. The combination of the voice of Orson Welles as the narrator, clips from his movies, the intricate drawings, and the music of Led Zeplin not only create a new way to tell the tale, but also create a ‘creepy’ vibe in which the tale is told through.

The evocative meaning of Itin’s piece is the intertwining of various forms of art in order to create a new form – textual media. By using multiple clips, such as the voice of Welles, the music of Led Zeplin, his own illustrations, and Melville’s pages, Itin has creatively generated a new way to perceive and read the novel through the fusion of diverse sources. Itin’s mixes the arts to create his own art in which he shows his own personal interpretation of the novel/song/narration. Though the representational meaning of “Orson Whales” clearly shows a combination of sources, the evocative meaning of creativity and personal interpretation become hindered and hidden.

I think the commonality among the three new ‘textual media’ examples we saw we’re creativity and personal interpretation. Creativity allows us to act on our own personal interpretations and beliefs as well as how we feel about certain things, no matter the type of art.

On “Orson Whales,” : Evocative and Represational Meaning

“Orson Whales” combines different audio, video, text, and animation to create a multimedia collage depicting the flawed nature of man. What I found most intersecting is that the only original media used was the author’s hand drawn animation. All the other material was taken from previously established works.

Representational Meaning:

When the different pieces are combined as a whole, certain symbols and themes are established which make connections between the tragic heroes: Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane), Narcissus (Greek Mythology), and Captain Ahab (Moby Dick) and John Bonham (Led Zeppelin).

Led Zeppelin’s song “Moby Dick” is comprised mostly of a drum solo showcasing the mastery of percussionist John Bonham, whose life was tragically cut short due to the effects of alcoholism. Charles Foster Kane’s pursuit of money and material possessions ultimately lead to an unsatisfying life. The tale of Narcissus, which is about a young man who falls in love with the reflection of himself in a fountain and because he could not “grasp the mild tormenting image, plunged into [the fountain] and drowned” (this passage can be heard around 0:46). And Captain Ahab’s obsession with the great white whale and his thirst for revenge lead him to his own tragic demise.

Many symbols are used in the animation to punctuate the thread between the different works. Animation of the figure chasing after a bottle labeled with a dollar sign, looking at himself a mirror, plunging into the water, drowning and being swallowed by the whale are repeated throughout the piece in an attempt to illustrate the possible danger of each man’s unhealthy fixation.

All the plots of these individual stories are basically the same: Man discovers something, obsesses over it, and dies unsatisfied.

Evocative meaning:

The last audio passage heard over the video clip of Charles Kane walking down a mirrored hall addresses the inevitable fade of even the greatest of artworks. What the passage argues is that due to the constant change of cultural contexts and the decreasing/discontinued use of obsolete media, even the most celebrated works of art are at risk of being forgotten. The author is, in a sense, arguing that the only way for art to survive is to stay kinetic. Similar to the way that the digital sampler revolutionized the way people thought about music—by taking something old and using it a different way—all artwork can be kept relevant by continued reference and tendency towards change.

This is not a new practice either. In the opening line of Moby Dick, Melville makes a reference to a character in the Old Testament of the Bible (Ishmael, the rejected son of Abraham). This reference instantaneously adds depth to the character using the reader’s prior knowledge and providing Melville with the opportunity to expand ideas in new directions.

Technology has given artists and authors the opportunity to experiment not only with new forms of media, but the combination of old and new media as well. By embracing the artwork of the past as well as the technology of the future, we might not have to watch them “wear away into the ultimately and universal ash.”

Matt Z

JABBER: Just Nonsense?

First, I’d like to respond to ekimbell’s comment about Orson Whales. I agree that although Orson Whales is unchanging, it does have an element of randomness in the sense that it can be interpreted in several different ways. If the same holds true for “old media,” however, in what ways is Orson Whales considered new media? Does it really just go back to the rather dull definition of new media as cultural objects that make use of digital technologies? I don’t think there’s a clear-cut answer here, but I will take a stab at another definition. It seems to me that new media is a amalgamation of several different media forms. For instance, Orson Whales can be considered literature, art, music, all of the above or a combination of these things. New media challenges our ideas about text, as well as the ways in which we experience and thus interpret text. We read Moby Dick and think about the several different meanings it can possess. As for Orson Whales, we’re not really sure how to read it or if we can even read it at all. Do we read Orson Whales? Do we watch Orson Whales? Or do we listen to Orson Whales? This is what I mean when I say new media challenges the way we experience and interpret text.

In terms of representational meaning, Neil Hennessey’s JABBER: The Jabberwocky Engine is pretty much what it looks like. In short, it’s a bunch of letters that when bonded together, form “nonsense words.” According to Hennessey, “JABBER realises a linguistic chemistry with letters as atoms and words as molecules.” In this way, Hennessey challenges our preconceived notions about language and text and how we interpret them. After all, you usually don’t think about chemistry when talking about letters and words. At face value, JABBER is just like the game of Boggle: You put certain letters together to form certain words. The irony in JABBER, however, is that although the bonds between letters are determined by the likelihood that they would appear alongside each other in the English dictionary, the words those letters form are mere gibberish. This is where evocative meaning comes into play. Could Hennessey be commenting on the arbitrariness of the English language? Well, he’s definitely underlining the concepts of letters and words, concepts that we overlook on a day-to-day basis. But who determines which combinations of letters constitute a word? We are all guilty of throwing our words around or talking gibberish, if you will. As a result, others can misconstrue our intended meanings. Although the nonsense words in JABBER and the gibberish we speak have no true meanings to outsiders, they still have some meaning to us. In Electronic Literature, Katherine Hayles asks, “Is literary quality possible in digital media or is electronic literature demonstrably inferior to the print canon?” (2). I think Hennessey prompts his audience to ask a similar question. JABBER just produces nonsense words, but isn’t there more to it? After all, why are we studying it in the first place?

Orson Whales and Evocation

As Orson Whales guides viewers on a scrambled hunt for the white whale, it carries through different meanings. To watch it straight through gives only a scattered narrative, almost like a fragmented stream of consciousness. Still, anybody familiar with the story of Moby Dick can gather its intentions as a video. As the images cycle and hit their cues along side the music, everything comes together to form the end result. Still, however, the parts of the whole can tell–and no doubt have told–their own stories, from the very literal novel, serving now as a canvas, to the song, setting a tone and a tempo.

But these separate stories are not all told simultaneously, nor do they converge to tell the same story. Instead, they all come together to form a new journey. This is a path that is unchanging in its presentation, but likely not the same for any two viewers. As such, the majority of the video’s impact is, I feel, evocative. To those more familiar with the novel’s plot, this may be a gripping hunt for the white whale, riddled with vengeance and music fueling rage and confusion. to those that haven’t read the work, the video still combines various arts to produce different feelings and interpretations.

Though the work is unchanging, unlike the other two works, it is much the same in that interpretation from one person to another is likely always different. All the various elements come together to form an experience that anyone can access, but that nobody can experience like anybody else. It is the difference between seeing the video, hearing its music, and then stepping back and taking it all in. The cumulative effort of all the different mediums transforms a song, or a book, or a series of paintings into a collaborative work, and takes all the evocative meaning from those works and combines them into an amorphous thought, which can then be molded to any viewers’ tastes.

Blog 1: Evocative vs. Representational meaning – Firefly

I found firefly to be the most interesting of the 3 examples of new media. The piece allows the reader to alter virutally every line of the poem in several ways and still continues to flow in a coherent manner.

The representational meaning of the piece of fairly obvious and quite simple, it is about death, and the experience of dying in the first person; however, the evocative meaning of the piece is what makes it interesting. The ability to alter the lines of the poem shows that one is able to choose nearly infinite paths, and there are an equal amount of choices both in life and in the poem. Another interesting aspect of the poem is the fact that the reader of the poem is unable to alter the lines in the opening page, and the lines in the final page. I believe the author made tens of thousands of choices throughout the poem, but the end page is constant and unchanging for a reason, the idea that one can not change the beginning or end, only the aspects in between, and that both the poem and life can only lead to one common end, death. I think that the author of this poem wants to exemplify the futility of life and everything that we do, because in the end, there is only one end.

Though quite morose and down, this poem raises an interesting, unique concept of life and death to the reader, and the piece can entertain for quite some time.