Prompt Number One
BLOG PROMPT ONE: Non-linear Narrative
My Boyfriend Came Back from the War (1996) by Olia Lialini and The Godlove Museum (1999-2006) by Entropy8Zuper!
PLEASE ANSWER BY POSTING COMMENTS.
Step all the way through My Boyfriend Came Back from the War (MBCBFTW) by Russian net art pioneer Olia Lialini and spend a few minutes exploring "The Godlove Museum" by the American-Belgian team Entropy8Zuper!.
NOTE: The Godlove Museum may not run well on contemporary browsers. That's okay - just look/play around to get a sense of the "experience" of the site.
What do you think MBCBFTW is about? How do these pieces challenge expectations about web design and linear narrative? Imagine how people might have felt seeing them at the time they were released in the very, very early years of the internet.
My Boyfriend Came Back from the War by Olia Lialini: http://www.teleportacia.org/war/
The God Love Museum by Entropy8Zuper!, artists Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn: http://entropy8zuper.org/godlove/
MBCBFTW is a very strange piece because it is very cryptic. While it is in greyscale black and white, it is anything but bland. It may show that she had some other love interests staying with her, and they had to pack their bags and leave whenever her true boyfriend came home from the war. Web design was not expected to evolve into anything back then, and the internet was thought of as a fad. It was probably astonishing to see art that looks like it belongs in a museum on the internet. While now we expect linear narrative on art to be more straightforward and narrative than this, it is difficult to decipher the meaning on the image on first looks. The linearity of the artwork makes it so you look at the people seeming to run away, one carrying a bag, then you look at the window which would mean that they probably snuck out through the window because they are looking back at it
ReplyDeleteMBCBFTW appears to be a kind of inner monologue of a woman as she deals with her boyfriend returning home from the war and her other lovers. She appears secretive and deceiving and perhaps this is the reason for the cryptid like structure of the piece. The grey scale keeps the appearance mysterious similar to her own mystery and secrets. I think the design of this website as well as The God Love were a new way of discovering the internet in a new way as more than just a means of research; but a platform for art. It also portrays the internet as a place of secrets, or so it seems. When in reality once its on the internet forever and for anyone to stumble upon.
ReplyDeleteMy first impressions on 'My Boyfriend Came Back from the War' was it was a simple, darker themed html page. However after the first link, i enjoyed journeying through the hidden links. Similar to a maze, the web page began dividing into different paths (urls) hidden in images and links. The non-linear aspect of this website is its defining feature. It allows the user to progress through the story at any rate they wish and in any order they wish. If these images were linked together in a sequential order, the website would just be even more bizarre and wouldn't make much sense. Since the artist used a collage of photos and text, it left the meaning of the story up to the interpretation of the user. I'm sure it was exciting to visit such a innovative page during the frontiers of the internet. Such a web page would have the capability to be transformed into a game or other entertainment page. The God Love Museum was also an interesting website. It seemed to be a portfolio of different projects including storied and even games. the animations and gifs were probably extremely impressive and flashy at the time.
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ReplyDeleteI think MBCBFTW is about a woman telling her story through her feelings about her boyfriend coming back from the war. I felt this piece was supposed to feel very private and introspective. The website has hyperlinks that act like pages to a story book. At times it seemed very chaotic and hard to follow along to, but I imagine people were amazed with the possibilities of the internet when this was first released. Although it seems like a simple linear narrative, the web design is quite unique. The black and white pictures stand out and challenge expectations of simplicity.
The God love museum was interactive and a great way of showing art in a new format. Graphic design and web design are one of the newest forms of art. I think the website did a good job of showing us what is possible.
Lucas: I'm about to analyze this the same way I do film, so just warning you now, it's about to get philosophical.
ReplyDeleteI believe MBCBFTW is about a woman who cheated on her boyfriend while he was away fighting in a war. The boyfriend comes home and discovers this and finds himself engaged in war again, but of a different nature; an emotional one. And as they fight it out, they each have an endless wave of mixed feelings; their current feeling of anger as well as their memories of being happy with each other. They have no idea what to focus on; they want to be mad at each other, but they also want to be with each other, however they both know that it can't work out anymore. Their lives together has been shattered and the pieces are scattered among all these conflicting emotions, much like how the story itself is organized.
This challenges typical web design by removing the element of navigating the website on your own. Instead, the website chooses everywhere you'll go. The only choice you have is when you'll go somewhere new and in what order.
When the internet was new to the public, this sight must have had the same spectacle as any other site because there was no real blueprint for how one should look. Nowadays, with all the precedents from the past few decades, we all have just about the same idea of how a website should be. So, if anything, it should only feel weird from our modern day perspective.
MBCBFTW seems to be about how war changes people. The man that came back is most likely afflicted with PTSD and it is probably hard for them to communicate with each other due to this. This is shown in the fragmented and confusing way that the dialogue and pictures are shown in this website, some of the sentences seem to not really make sense to what they lead to. They challenge normal expectations of design and linear narrative by showing a way that you can convey meaning and a story with a design that branches out and allows each person to view the website in their own way. When these websites first came out people would have probably been influenced in a larger way because they would not be expecting anything to be designed in this way. Even now we do not have websites that conform to these design ideas.
ReplyDeleteMBCBFTW was well-thought our and creative, especially since the internet was in its’ beginning. I think the themes of the story are war, relationships, change and creativity through modern technology. The subject choices (woman and a man at war) help make the story relatable to the audience. That being said, this piece challenges design by creating a piece that tells a story to a global audience, for (most likely) the first time.
ReplyDeleteI thought "My Boyfriend Came Back From The War" was interesting to view. As I kept clicking though, I realized it was a story line is of a woman dealing with her feelings for her boyfriend. It seems to be very personal thoughts. The design of this sit probably shocked the viewers with the amount of hyperlinks. I think the story line is easy to read and the design is simple and keeps the viewer focused on the next link.
ReplyDeleteI think MBCBFTW was very interesting and I did not know what was coming next with each click. I understood it as a woman who didn't feel the same about her boyfriend as he came home from war. We are able to take a look into her mind as she tries to deal with her emotions and figure out if she still loves him. It's very mysterious being very dark and I think its supposed to be this way because we are exploring this person's mind. It's a very different layout than the typical website, even today you don't see many websites looking this way. The God Love Museum was especially different than any website I've seen. The fact that you had to scroll to the right to see everything makes it stand out. It was very interactive and I'm sure when it came out no one had ever been on a website like this. These sites just show how much is possible with web design and how you can be as creative as you want to be.
ReplyDeleteMBCBFTW seems to tell a story of a woman who has cheated on her boyfriend while he was fighting in a war. Once the boyfriend returns and find out, the woman spirals. The nonlinear format of the site does well to mimic the frantic thoughts and emotions the woman would be having. In situations like that, our minds wander and race between different thoughts. Being able to click the links in any order you want is a good way to symbolize how frantic one can be in moments of panic.
ReplyDeleteWhen this site would have come out, a format like this would have been extremely unheard of and odd. Today, websites that are user friendly but still innovative are necessary. This website completely does away with that concept. The links are all hidden and there is not a simple format with easy to find information. However, the site still has powerful artistic impact. Would this be an acceptable format for a business? Definitely not. This site shows an interesting side to web design. Websites can do more than promote a business or host funny videos of cats. They can be used to express ourselves.
MBCBFTW is a very confusing site in my opinion. At first I had no clue what I was looking at, but after I went through it a couple times I began to obtain some sort of understanding. The cite itself is very dark, ominous, and even very morbid in some ways. The "conversations" per say are very short, but that makes them more realistic since people do not always have lengthy responses while having an actual conversation. It seems as if she is going through a very hard time. Her boy got back from war and they are struggling to jump back together. He believes that she had an affair with the neighbor, but she is denying it. he must be a pretty aggressive guy because in the way she talks it almost feels like she is scared of him. When she says "Don't kill him" it just seems very desperate and almost aggressive. At this time people typically hid the bad stuff from everyone. They made up this perfect American family living the American dream. They were very conservative with what they did. This website is the complete opposite of that it shows you all the dark and real stuff that actually goes on. I think this website would have gotten a lot of backlash at first since it is so different, but then later become more accepted.
ReplyDeleteMBCBFTW was very interesting to look through. It feels like sort of dark story about a woman's emotions towards her boyfriend who is off fighting the war. I like the fact that all the conversations are short, because it allows the words to reach a larger variety of people who can relate to it. It was very interesting overall.
ReplyDeleteMBCBFTW is an interesting piece it seems almost vague in how its telling you whats going on. I almost get the feeling that it may be an inner monologue that the woman is having when here boyfriend comes back from the war maybe Vietnam? It seems to me that she is having a inner monologue about her boyfriend and maybe another lover. the clicking all over the place in all the boxes made me think that these were the sceneries going through her head.
ReplyDeleteThe site is very different because it opens more boxes as you click and displays more of the "story" very interesting layout.