Each of the hypertext narrative readings from this week's homework provided interesting descriptions that illustrated many images which reawakened and created new feelings and memories based upon the chain of text and how oftentimes the readings changed a second time. Throughout the readings, I found myself often times confused with the thought of how many options I had to orient myself with or opportunities for stories amongst each different reading. How many ways were there to interpret? What is interpretation and what influences interpretation?
In Keeping up Appearances by Mandy Lewis Obadike, you could read the normal black text and one can think they just heard of a healthy relationship at work, but then you are physically allowed to “read between the lines” and you discover a terrible relationship between an older man and young woman in the workplace. The contrast creates much more of a development in how this makes you feel or want to forget about how harassment is often hidden from the common eye and how the narrator did not want to share it in her daily life, but it was still a part of who she was. This has a similar reconciliation in My Body by Shelly Jackson. In this story, the reader begins clicking on a part of the body in a dark sketch which reveals a new page full of text describing the body part and talking about their memories of past life experiences that help describe their body and the overall appearance. Oftentimes, people are caught up on first appearances or judging a text by its cover, but this doesn’t allow one to know the story beneath the surface the background of who the person really is character. I found it interesting when the character was discussing their tattoos and how now they got tired of having to describe their appearance to others and stated, “and what”. Overall, each of the pages in the story My body unlocks a series of sub-categories (links to additional pages) that allows the reader to continue into the investigation and imagery of the person’s life and development. This transports the reader into a new area and immersive story as the linking progresses. This story out of the other readings is most similar to Depression Quest . In the game, you being as the main character and are introduced to your surroundings and learn of your mental state of depression. You a
Interactive selection/ clicking is also present in Paths of Memory and Painting by Judy Malloy. This grid-like storyboarding experience presents short dialogue descriptions of places both physical and in a fictional world developed within a painting/picture. Each of these blocks provides a glimpse into another setting and world from which we currently are present. You have the opportunity to click on the text for it to change but it also changes the text, font color, and block color automatically after some time as if your memories were shifting or the process of thinking seems to be unfolding.