\u201cLovelines,\u201d like \u201cWe Feel Fine,\u201d is, of course, a database, at least per the parameters Lev Manovich sets. In the statement of the work, the statement\u2019s author clearly indicates that he used the same \u201cdata collection engine\u201d to acquire the material that pops up on the page before the reader\u2019s eyes. However, I feel as though \u201cLovelines\u201d is in an interesting look into the dispute between whether or not a work is merely a database or a narrative. \u201cLovelines\u201d seems to look deeply into the eye of the human condition, particularly because it is less randomized than \u201cWe Feel Fine.\u201d By dragging the gray heart across the line at the bottom of the web page, the reader can develop a sense of what love and hatred mean in our society. The beginnings of the statements range from \u201cI love,\u201d \u201cI like,\u201d \u201cI want,\u201d to \u201cI hate,\u201d and so on. While we are often aware of our own opinions on various matters, it is unlikely that we would have any sort of opportunity to voyeuristically peer into the desires and dislikes of others if it were not for a database like \u201cLovelines.\u201d Perhaps by eavesdropping, one could do such a thing, although it would be a different experience from interacting with \u201cLovelines.\u201d<\/p>\n
When I wrote about \u201cWe Feel Fine\u201d for the media inquiry assignment, I briefly mentioned the concept of an internal narrative taking place within the reader\u2019s mind while interacting with the database. I feel as though this is more likely to occur, however, with \u201cLovelines.\u201d As people, we are inclined to be at least partially influenced by the opinions, desires, and dislikes of others in relation to our own. For example, I can relate to one blogger who writes, \u201cI love Family Guy I love Family Guy I love Family Guy.\u201d I feel a connection to what seems like a person because I am aware that this statement was attached to a person in that they wrote it. Another example might be that one blogger writes, \u201cI hate when I start reading a book and then have to put it aside.\u201d While it had not previously occurred to me in a conscious way that I hate student loan companies, I agree with this statement and therefore have identified something that already existed within myself without my even knowing it.<\/p>\n
One major difference between the influence one might feel while interacting with \u201cLovelines\u201d as opposed to everyday human interaction deals with peer pressure. In a group, one person might say, \u201cI hate ___\u201d or \u201cI love ___\u201d and perhaps the rest of the people in the group concur, so one who does not necessarily agree will say that they do for the sake of fitting in or continuity. In the realm of the Internet, there is nothing at stake whether the reader agrees with a particular statement or not, though it is likely that some form of internal narrative will take place, regardless. The anonymity of, as well as the level of control the reader has in \u201cLovelines\u201d allows the reader to engage in a deeply introspective internal, personal narrative that is evoked by interacting with the \u201cLovelines\u201d database.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cLovelines,\u201d like \u201cWe Feel Fine,\u201d is, of course, a database, at least per the parameters Lev Manovich sets. In the statement of the work, the statement\u2019s author clearly indicates that he used the same \u201cdata collection engine\u201d to acquire the material that pops up on the page before the reader\u2019s eyes. However, I feel as … Continue reading “Lovelines” Leading to an Internal Narrative<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[103,192,191,5,105],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections","tag-database","tag-internal-narrative","tag-lovelines","tag-narrative","tag-we-feel-fine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":893,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}