Dan Waber brings words to life with a black string and a white slate in the electronic story Strings. Through the use of Flash a few simple words become kinetic poetry. Strings consists of eight different scenarios in which the most commonly used words in the English language like yes, no, and maybe tell a dramatic story. Notably, Waber does not use the standard typed text in this piece but the lost art of handwriting. This choice provides a welcoming element of reality to its readers. Within each page the text plays with human behavior; at times resembling actual relationships. Upon the first reading of Strings a reader can notice the dramatics being acted out by lexia through a small window provided.
The first page entitled "argument" presents a battle between the words yes and no. It begins with a black line that quickly resembles an elastic string as it moves from left to right caught in the heat of an argument, it seems. It is a continuous tug-of-war that no one ever wins, as is most real-life cases. In "argument 2" Waber continues the first quarrel. An abrupt yes zooms by, no follows, but now maybe is added to the mix. No longer is it a choice of "black and white"; maybe proves there is some "wiggle room" in what is being decided.
The human tendency to flirt is the next concept Waber plays with. "Flirt", as it is entitled, displays a word forced to read from right to left as the image moves from the left to right while casually morphing into an entirely different word. This action continues on a loop. After focusing on this image a few times, because it is not clear what the starts as or what it transforms into, I believe the word begins as no and ends as maybe. The reader is left eagerly waiting for the handwritten image to appear again, if only for a few more seconds, to get a closer look. How interesting that Waber succeeds in appropriately resembling the flirtatious attitude displayed in human behavior by the use of this image. On the fourth page, "Flirt (cntd)" the flirtation is more intense. Yes is the only word to appear and it almost plays a game of peek-a-boo with the reader. The single text only shows a little of itself at a time then scurries away after it has exposed itself, to then come back and come undone back into the form of a string. This page reminds me of a person desperately seeking attention through their obvious flirting with no shame as to how far they will take it.
Waber's depiction of happiness through the use of ha is the page I enjoyed most. One string begins as a chuckle with a single ha. This is quickly followed by two ha's, then three, four, five, six, eight all while swaying to and fro with each increase in laughter. The laughter comes to an end with aha and heh. Real laughter is similarly expressed. When we find something humorous we might let out a quick giggle and as the humor escalates so does our intensity of laughter.
Next, the words you and me are used to demonstrate the relationship between the two words and the role each one plays. On this page, "youandme", you is presented as the passive and composed one in the relationship while me is its complete opposite. Without pause me comes frenziedly onto the screen and moves through every inch of its window as you enters the screen calmly and ever so cautiously. This pair of words reminds me of a couple where one partner remains composed and casually goes about their business while the other frantically goes in circles trying to find something that is lost or struggles to quickly get ready.
The seventh page, "arms" is slightly different from the rest in that it contains an image that is not text. This image is a circle used to represent the embrace of your arms. I found this idea to be very endearing. The reader is first shown a black string that comes alive and transforms into your then smoothly into arms which then forms a circle or ring. This ring, containing a slight opening at its highest point, rotates a full 360 degrees before morphing into me. Love is part of this message, for a longing to be in the arms of someone, your arms, is made evident.
The final page to this piece is labeled "poidog". Poidog is a Hawaiin term used to describe a mixed breed dog, a mutt. I can not see the correlation between this definition and the animated text on the page, except that the mixture of words can resemble the nature of a poidog. In contrast to the other pages this is the only part of the story to contain a full sentence, "words are like strings that I pull out of my mouth". To go along with this sentence Waber adds a small circle to dot the "i" in like and strings, then has two small strings cross the "t's" in strings, that, out, and mouth. The word choice to the only complete sentence in Strings and final statement from Waber nicely brings the idea behind this piece full circle. We can just as easily play with the theory of words and their meaning and still have them make a statement.
Waber's focus seems to have been the visual aspect of this piece. No sound was made a part of the work, neither was it needed. Although the story only contains a small number of words each word represents a feeling and has an action regardless of the involvement of its reader. In fact, besides the reader having the option of going to the next page or previous page, direct interaction in not needed. The text and the emotions it carries will occur and continue despite the meddling of the reader.
This hypertext initially spoke to me because of its title Strings. I envisioned a story being elegantly told through the use of violin strings. A harmonious, melodic tale that I, the reader, would watch happen. Even though, the strings were not of an instrument I am pleased with the concept of the story and execution of this piece. Clearly words were given life in Waber's Strings, a goal I believe every author sets out to reach. The lexia is cleverly used to emulate human emotion and action. Though very few words are used to display these emotions the message is still received. Just as in real life where a person does not need to say they are happy to make others aware because a smile can also communicate the emotion, pages of lexia are not required to send a message that a few words can do.
Strings
Interview with Dan Waber
No comments:
Post a Comment