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After exploring the site "My Boyfriend Came Back from the War" made in 1996 by Olia Lialina, what do you think the piece is about? How does is challenge expectations about web design and linear narrative?
http://www.teleportacia.org/war/
It was interesting to see the various parts of the page acting independently of each other to a degree, then coming together to require moving forward. I think if I had a better understanding of coding that I would be very interested to see how this site was made, considering it is from 1996. The page's author seemed to be using the page as an outlet for her emotions, and let herself be creative in its design to convey her thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThis website plays out somewhat like a comic book, with a series of images and words in boxes resembling panels. Unlike a comic book, however, it is interactive. You get to pick what to click. You might reach the end of one panel before even starting on another, or you might rotate between them, allowing the panels to evolve together. This creates a narrative that is different than the linear narratives we are used to. It doesn't tell a story, but rather presents us with what seems like thoughts, speech and pictures separated from their original context. At the same time, it may incorporate a manipulation of how we look at web pages. For example, if one panel says "LOOK!!!" in large font, and the one next to it contains a short paragraph in very small font, it seems natural that we will be more compelled to click "LOOK!!!" or alternatively, fight our initial impulse and try clicking the smaller text. No matter what we choose, we eventually end up at the end, with nothing else to click. This hints at the many paths available to us, and while we can advance however we want, we will end up wherever we end up. This challenges traditional expectations of web design in that it is expected for websites to be as easy to read and user-friendly as possible. Websites are usually used to serve a function: advertise/sell products, share information or provide a service. In these cases, a website like this would be counterproductive. It never seems to lead viewers anywhere concrete. Instead, it presents evocative images and text, as well as the choice to navigate it however we want.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a very intriguing web experience. I immediately had questions about what was happening but quickly realized they weren't going to be answered. With the panels of sentence fragments and words i found myself going back and forth a lot to try and find some kind of story or some answers about the site. To me it seemed to be like random dialogues between a couple going through some issues, mostly to do with returning from a warzone and being a changed person(if i had to guess). I really enjoyed the black and white scheme and the images throughout, they took some time to decipher and try to link with the words, but when you did you could start to see the connection. When you finally click through all the panels of words and images the site is mostly just black panels with a couple pictures, leaving you in an empty website with lots of questions. I like this idea about the site because it makes the page like a chose your path story where some panels can be looked through and others untouched. This site challenges the ideas of most sites and linear narratives with its fragmented word boxes and random images popping up to accompany certain words. It seemed like it somewhat reflected the confusion and depression of the couple or person it was created about, but didn't necessarily say what was going on or tell the story front to back. We never get the full story but we understand enough to get the theme.
ReplyDeleteObviously this piece seems to be a story of some sort about a couple reunited after the guy comes back from a war. The story doesn't seem to go in order no matter what order you click on things. I found that a little interesting but it also kind of annoyed and frustrated me. I wonder what the artist based this off of, if anything. I'm not surprised that this was made before the 2000s because of the simpleness and graininess of the content. I think this website definitely challenges expectations because it is not what I would call a typical design or narrative. It is kinda fragmented to where most words do not form complete sentences and most pictures are not the best quality. I think it does tell a story, just not explicitly. Many things, like the order and meaning, seem to be left up to the viewer. While it did have some interesting aspects, I will admit when I got to the end I didn't quite "get it", most likely because of its unconventional elements.
ReplyDeleteI am very confused after reading/ watching that. Obviously it is about a couple getting back together after the boyfriend returns from war. Seems to be that the girl is asking a lot of questions but they seem to be more questions than the boyfriend wants to answer possibly. I didn't quite get the jump from "if he can get killed" to someone asking "will you marry me?" It was very creative and very cool way of navigation for a story and web page. It reminded me of Goosebumps books where you choose the path. That is definitely not what expected from the web page with it being very difficult to understand and navigate. Usually options are very clear and apparent. It is very interesting that the options seem to tell their own stories like where it said "like my new dress?" overtime you clicked on one of those letters it tells a little more about the situation at hand. It was very cool in my option even though I didn't understand the story at all.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I didn't really understand what was happening, I thought the navigation was really cool. I used to play games where you could click to choose the path you wanted to follow in the story. I believe it's about the couple getting back together after the war... It doesn't seem to really make sense, but maybe the man has something wrong with him from the war (possible brain injury or ptsd). Overall I thought the website was a really cool way to interact
ReplyDeleteI think it was very interesting to see the "story" through the different parts come together. It is refreshing to see such a simple design tell a good story like that. The most interesting part was the Red Green Blue option where the color choice was only red and blue and the only choice you can pick was green. It was interesting to me to have the mental images of the colors and your choice wasn't shown. The website itself was a very cool interactive website to visit.
ReplyDeleteSide note at the end you can look at the repository of the rest of the website versions. Those are pretty cool to take a look at as well.
DeleteI think this piece really tells a very interesting story in a very simplistic and crazy way. I think in some ways this piece really is trying to show the mind of someone who has just came back from war. It is showing this though the crazy and nonlinear storytelling and narrative. With all of the text scattered around the page and not everything making a lot of sense I feel it is doing a good job in showing what someone’s mind may be like after returning home from war. The whole piece in general blows away the idea of how we think of web design and a linear narrative a in a way it makes the piece better in showing what its message is.
ReplyDeleteI was very confused about what to do with the images that opened at first, but after randomly clicking I've managed to figure it out. I was trying to find a logical order of opening the links, but it seems like the story reads from either direction which I found to be very creative, even though the story is somewhat sad.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely very striking and the piece sets a thick and heavy kind of tone. It depicted the relationship between a soldier and his girlfriend after he returned from war. I like the texture of the piece: how it's unrefined and rough. It's not pretty or glorious. It's ordinary and mundane and somewhat anticlimactic like everyday life. I don't believe they had a happily-ever-after just from the vibe of the piece. However, the non-linear storytelling did convey a sense of messiness and inner chaos so i believe it was a very good choice. It surprised me that even the way that a piece is displayed can be a part of the art and part of the story.
ReplyDeleteThis website was quite a unique one. I was constantly wondering where to click and what it all meant. I think this website definitely pushes the envelope when it comes to web design. It's a pretty simple layout, yet after you keep clicking, it is constantly changing. I think we can all take away something from this website and use it in a web design. It might not be the exact way that this website does, but it's a tool that is important to have.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the aspects of this site that made it so capable of executing it's ideas was the incredibly short load time between pages. It gave everything cohesive feeling, despite the seeming lack of chronological order of the story.
ReplyDeleteThis website is very different than any website I have seen. When clicking through it at first I was very confused as there were only small things on the page but then I understood it had to be clicked on and more came up. I thought that was a very interesting idea. I think this piece is an outlet for this girls emotions and all the questions that come about during war. Also the emotions that come out during war.
ReplyDeleteThis website is definitely different. It changes after you click everytime, I know i had to click randomly to figure it out. It's non-linear, meaning it isn't trying to bring you anywhere. The story was very interesting too. I would say this is random and creative!
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