Participation Week 4
Publish a review of a link to an article or academic writing related to week’s topic
For this week’s link, I will be reviewing an article by counsellor Jackie Gernstein called ‘Narratives in the 21st Century’. In the article, Jackie draws upon the current generation’s rapidly evolving user-based media technologies. As such she points out to the rise of the 21st century narrator who tells his/her story through the context of various different platforms and user-based medium such as twitter, Facebook, Foursquare etc.
The bigger implication she draws from this established notion is the idea of how this advancement is indicative of a new type of user-made narrative in the 21st century where the key focus is for others to find ways to deliver their own story and find an audience.
She draws upon the importance of such a system for this generation and how its integration and continued use can be seen as a viable tool for the overall progression and development of society. Utilizing her background as a counsellor, she shows this a medically imperative perspective that further supporting the topic of user-based platforms as narrative mediums by society as a whole.
Reflect on reading for the week and pose thoughts on symposium question
This week’s reading is an excerpt by Ryan Marie-Laure on Defining Narrative and is a discourse by the author into defining the semantics the determine the narrative and the notions by which it can be determined distinctly amongst the fora of various media that exhibit similar characteristics.
The first distinction Ryan draws in structuring this definition is the difference between story and narrative purported by H. Porter Abbott as the story being the sequence of events and the ‘narrative’ as being the order it is represented in. Ryan critiques this first notion by pointing out its relative objectivism and applicability to a variety of mediums thus rendering its generality in proposing a distinct definition. However, he trumpets the positive implication of such discernment as it works as a functional characteristic in describing narrative.
In further detail, Ryan determines key semantics, much shadowing Bordwell and Thompson’s explanation of cinema narrative which are:
-Spatial Dimension
-Temporal Dimension
-Mental Dimension
–Formal and Pragmatic Dimension
These criterions help further filter the definition of Narrative towards larger constraints. However not fully disclosing narrative texts, its proposes various criterion that help further determine rubrics by which the ‘narrativity’ of a text can be realized.
In general, these 8 criteria (with the speculative nature of the 8th) seem to point to the indication of effective narrativity based on a text’s aversion from the inclusion of natural causality and change forces, implementation of causal connectivity between constituents of a text and lack of use of over-arching concrete objective grouping of narrative subject matter (i.e. the entire human race, Mother nature etc)
What can be deduced from Ryan’s excerpt is the idea that he attempts to distinguish strongly between the notion of story and narrate by identifying the essential element of codification that occurs in narrative work. Seing as a story may depict a series of events or a particular event sequence, a narrative holds distinction in the tapering of these story elements in a structured progression with valid material codification subject to the nature of the text at hand (E.G Cinema, Fictional Book)
Symposium question
Bordwell and Thompson state that after watching Rail Road Turnbridge a person “cannot see bridges in the same way” thus experimental films are not just art for arts sake. Can/are Korsakow projects art for arts sake, or can they effect the way people see things? Or like Rail Road Turnbridge are they both at once?
I like to see the question particularly as two implications of the same initial action. However, what holds interesting is whether the initial action was designed with the intention of the first, being ‘art for art’s sake’ or the latter which is to affect the general perception of art in the public sphere. The synonymous link between the two however is the fact that experimental film itself finds its name due to the fact that it challenges mainstream norms of the medium. Much similar to the example of Rail Road Turnbridge pointed forth by Bordwell and Thompson, can seeing a medium a different way be inherent enough to push forth a change of societal perception.
If so, how does Korsakow have an ability to do so? Is it simply ‘Art for Art’s sake’? Relating back to my approach to the matter, i feel anything that technically and/or thematically varies from normalized perception of a medium automatically can constitute as something that changes perception. However, much like the bridge example, the greater determinant I feel that sets a piece’s ability to change perceptions is driven by the reliability it has to norms while proposing an alternative. Something can only change people enough if enough people are able to see it. This concept entails that this greater determinant is dictated by a critical mass. As such, viewing the relatively new idea of multi-linear filmmaking, the degree to which I feel Korsakow can affect public perception is invested the relevance it will have to the general sphere of media attention. Despite being a technical change to the text, which can be argued to be a deciding element of changing perceptions, I feel the greater extent to which it truly acts as a culture changing medium is the point at which its use effectively garners the right amount of attention which ultimately decides its ability to shape the perceptions of people.
Personal Assessment Matrix
| Personal Assesment Matrix | (Total Grade for Matrix is Sum of points= Total % weightage) | |||||
| WEEK | Analysis | Execution | Reflection | Learning | Total | |
| 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 17 |
Provide a Link to form of MultiMedia
For this week’s link i will be providing a link to an interactive narrative created by James Mellers. James Mellers is known particularly for his website Thismanslife.com and his portfolio of photo narrative projects.
Given the week’s topic, I decided to present a form of Narrative for my Multimedia link that challenged a sense of convention using the experimental medium photography narrative that is inherent in James Mullers work. Whether it is convention shattering or ‘Art for art’s sake’, it is definitely very cool.
http://www.thismanslife.co.uk/newstart/