Compost: 4th Writing Assignment

 Post your composting for this project to your blog. Be prepared to share where you want to go with the essay: which sections you might focus on, which critical insight you plan to apply. [note: this compost counts in place of a glog--I will be checking]

Develop a 3-4 page essay that applies ideas from Birkerts and/or Hayles in support of your own critical reading of Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl. Questions you will be considering: In your critical view, what doesPatchwork Girl achieve—or perhaps fail to achieve—as a novel?How does this text, as a digital text (we will continue to employ media specific analysis and close/slow reading in our thinking and writing) reach or fail to reach that achievement? What ideas from Birkerts and/or Hayles inform your critical view and will help you elaborate your reading of Jackson’s text?

1.) FOCUS:

I would like to focus on the structure of Patchwork Girl. Throughout my paper I have an idea of emphasizing how there is room for the reader to connect themselves to the work instead of the books structure to connect itself to the reader. By this i mean the reader is able to interpret the book Patchwork Girl because of its unique format. It is very interesting how Shelley Jackson came up with making this novel on a CD because of the circumstances it was written on. 

2.) LINKAGE:

I plan to link the technology aspect of Shelley Jackson, to the advances in technology that Birkerts talks about. Here are some thoughts that i would like to expand on when talking about Birkerts…. 

Pg. 215 “CODA” -Birkerts
–>Here in this paragraph, Birkerts talks about how technology is becoming something that is absolutely changing in the way that we deal with information. Technology is not only changing how we deal with information, but it is shaping our whole idea of information. Within the future, technology will change mostly everything we do. Screens will show our interactions between people, and new generations will never experience what we referred to as the “norm”. This paragraph can basically sum up what the world will now offer human beings. [Sequences] [duration] [ramifications]

–> ” I see the wholesale of wiring of America” The label to place on the whole paragraph. He gives these phrases to work with which allows us to comprehend whats going on.
-Birkerts talks about how the information we will receive/ interact with will all be technologically advanced. He gives an explanation that the consequences of this will ulimately lead up to the interactions with people only on a [computer] screen.

–> This time in our lives is revolutionary. Our lives have been changing for hundreds of years, but there is this network that has been changing information durastically throughout the past few years. American life depends on a movement that progresses towards a more technological era. (Life is associated with technology)

“I know which way the future is going, but I cannot find it in myself to get in step.” (Pg 213) 

–> We will live in a condition of connectiveness. We now live in a distributed environment. Technology is now distributed into this which now connects reading. 

“Stitch Bitch” Stitching the Work Together

Both Patchwork Girl and Stitch Bitch are interpretations of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, although they are written by modern day author Shelley Jackson. In Patchwork Girl, Jackson has it so that you can make your own patchwork girl when you click on the body links when reading this “virtual novel”. However, notice closely that this is a tool that is rather unique. In paper/hard back novel, if you skip around from chapter to chapter, it is quite hard to interpret the story line. In Patchwork Girl, Jackson has it written so that you can skip around finding new links to click that have immense amounts of detail in the book, but if you were to read out of order you are still able to comprehend the situations that are occurring. I wonder when reading this if she wants our interpretation of the novel, or does she want us to figure out her interpretation of the novel?

Also something that i have paid close attention to when reading Patchwork Girl is the hypertext of what would be considered the index of the virtual novel. It resembles a web with boxes linking to other boxes, with no intended order to read what comes first or last. Now, thinking in depth about this web page I was wondering what Jackson wants us to figure out? By this I mean what order would she like us to read the book in. Like i previously stated, it seems if you read different parts of the novel, you wouldn’t be lost because all of them are easy to understand when piecing the patchwork back together. However I wonder if this is what she meant when she wrote this. The default hypertext shows chaos because there is no order. THe patchwork girl has stitches running all over her body showing chaos in a visual way. Possibly this is what Shelley Jackson wanted the reader to think? Or maybe it was a coincidence that both of these thoughts interwind. 

Now in the essay Stitch Bitch, the structure in the essay follows the same order in Patchwork Girl because there is no formal or designated order. I think that it is clear to say that Jackson likes reading hypertext over reading a novel because novels are very predictable based off of their format. Novels have a clear structure whereas hypertext has no apparent structure that specifically tells you where/ what to read. This is almost a way for Jackson to invent new constraints on how people can read. In reality there will always be constraints but Jackson has now opened and created a new dimension. Before reading Patchwork Girl, I never knew there were CD’s that you could place in your computer that were actual novels. I always knew you could type into google a novel and you could get a few pages, a summary, or perhaps the whole book, but Jackson has done the unthinkable. Not only is there a novel on a CD but she has created a new structure or format for reading which tests an individuals comprehension of what is occurring. When doing this though, Jackson must have thought about the possibility that the reader will just stop reading. At times reading Patchwork Girl became confusing because I like reading out of a book rather than off a CD. But as I have found out, change is something that we are not exposed to very often, but when we are, most of the time we want to disregard the knew material and refer back to things we know about. In this knew era of life, I might have to accept the fact that novels will only be available on a CD and thanks to Jackson, she changed my point of view and allowed me to become very flexible with the idea of a novel on a CD.

Patchwork Girl: Glog

Patchwork Girl is a one of a kind novel. The format is different from every other novel that I have ever read. At the same time I think that this is not a novel, rather a virtual passage. Novels demonstrate a formatted structure while “Patchwork Girl” does not have any outlining structure. It was very frustrating to read this story because I am so used to flipping a page and continuing at the top of the left hand corner reading right to left and following the same procedure again and again until the next chapter is reached. Jackson has links that follow arrows and pictures that you click in order to bring up a passage. At times i was afraid i was reading the story out of order because of the unrealistic structure. Besides structure, i thought that the language in Patchwork Girl was odd. At times i couldn’t tell who was speaking and i was uncertain about the characters. 

Hercut
- scrap bag
         task of making the girl was not easy, needed months of studying, began to collect all the materials needed.
Hercut 2
- my walk
         mainly reflectin on the landscape and talking about how the maid could not remove the mud from her hem.
-sight
           first vision of the monster she created… it has clothes and she is looking at her figure
-written
           talking as if the body of the creature was a sheet of paper and the stiches were her words, she compares herself to old women quilting
-sewn
          completely sewn, again gives this image of the monster being a book.
- she stood
          monster standing naked, body parts trembling, weird skin tone colors
-meeting
          the two part to their separate ways for the first time 
-appetite
          by each others side for 7 days. the monster is moody, quite, energetic

Hayles

Essay 24: Something that I think is very interesting when reading the Hayles essay and Patchwork Girl is that Jackson uses this image of the female creation as her novel. When you click on a different section of the creatures body a passage appears. In reference to Hayles, she states that technology is almost responsible for this. 

-where is the text? you have these boxes that show no guidelines. Rather, these box are a new representation of chapters except they do not have a dominant order like a regular novel would have.
-the pictures remind a lot of people of death. Frankenstein had words that translated into images that are rather horrific. The name image of the nude female represents the image of the “Patchwork Girl”. She shows lines that separate her body with can give the viewer the perception she is in fact is the patchwork girl. 
-Hercut4 shows images of the female cut into sections. While you click through hercut1-4 it breaks down the body parts. It brings up an idea why is this significant in the overall meaning of the book? Or is it significant at all?  
-The journal is revealing a lot about the author. Ideas are jumping around and that mainly shows the whole concept of the book “Patchwork Girl”. Ideally, this book or digital reading is jumping around from entry to entry. We get the perception that this journal is the authors actual journal. 

 

Questions/Ideas/Thoughts of Mine:

-When i look at a book, i always analyze a few specific things. First I look at the picture or setting drawn onto the cover. In this instance, you see the authors name and the title “Patchwork Girl”. The design cover of this material is very unusual based off of the scrap work of a rough image. Then I always look at a book’s title to see if i can grasp any understanding. “Patchwork Girl” for this instance gives me a brief idea that this digital book could be the process of placing a girl together. 

-reading a digital text brings frustration into my life. Maybe it is part of the experience. Reading books are very easy to understand because we have been doing it since our parents began to read us bedtime stories in bed. Computers slowly began to develop in the late 1990’s and now in the past 8 years it would be unheard of to have no worked/owned/operated/ or ever come into contact with a computer. A regular book shows structure. When you open it there is always the universal way of direction. By this i mean the title, a section to recognize every chapter, and then the actual text and references at the end of the book. This set up is easy to follow because each page has a natural flow into the next section.

PORTFOLIO: LIZA TWILLEY

Final Writing Project
Novels in a Digital Age: UNREVISED

“Patchwork Girl”, written by Shelley Jackson, shows a critical insight into the life of a female creation, based off of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Jackson uses “Patchwork Girl” as a digital novel that achieves a different identity from other books based off of its unique format. Unlike hardback or paperback novels, Jackson refers to the use of a CD to gain her readers attention. Within the CD, Jackson uses a uniquely designed structural format for the reader to navigate their way around the digital text. With an electronic age rapidly approaching how we receive information, the distinctive structure of Shelley Jacksons “Patchwork Girl” is a digital text in which we should become familiar with because it can shape how readers view novels for years to come.

            Technology is something that is rapidly developing to the point where it has affected our interpretation of books. Therefore, as a digital text, Jackson achieves something that will dominate the future. Throughout “Patchwork Girl”, Jackson has explored the structural aspect of shifting around what readers refer to as a normal/standard outline. For decades, novels have followed the same opening cover page, chapter titles, flipping through the novel in a sequential order until they reach the conclusion. But, with technology improving its capabilities everyday, it has allowed new discoveries in the way we perceive books.

            In the book, The Gutenberg Elegies, written by Sven Birkerts, a chapter titled “Coda: The Faustian Pact”, talks about how technology is becoming something that is absolutely changing in the way that we deal with information. “I see the wholesale wiring of America. I see ever more complex and efficient technological systems being interposed between the individual and the harsh constraints of nature. This electronic mesh is already changing absolutely the way we deal with information. In fact, it is changing our whole idea of what information is.” (pg. 215) Technology is not only changing how we deal with information, but it is shaping our whole idea of information.

Within the future, technology will change mostly everything we do. Birkerts states that screens will show our interactions between people, and new generations will never experience what older generations referred to as the “norm”. He states because of the change in technology, people will never experience the way we dealt with information once before. He also states, “I know which way the future is going, but I cannot find it in myself to get in step.” (pg. 213) Birkerts would come to the conclusion because of digital text like “Patchwork Girl”, is a reason why we refrain from reading paperback novels.

In “Patchwork Girl”, Jackson takes advantage of using technology to form her digital novel in a certain way. “I am buried here. You can resurrect me, but only piecemeal. If you want to see the whole, you will have to sew me together yourself.” –Shelley Jackson. Because of the technology that was available when making this digital novel, Jackson used links to open up sections of her novel that ultimately open up into chapters. By designating certain areas of the text with links it allows for her readers to create their own interpretation of the novel.  But, with letting the reader create their own interpretation of the novel, it can create uncertainty for the reader because the reader cannot ultimately gain the point that the author is trying to establish.

For example, one key section in “Patchwork Girl” titled “Crazy Quilt” shows an immense amount of sections to click on that open up into text. Just by looking at this “chapter page” it creates so many different identities for the book that leads to different discovers, thoughts for the reader. As much chaos as Jackson creates in “Crazy Quilt”, she also tries to link together her thoughts. In doing so, the links that someone can click on to reach the writing is categorized by colors of boxes which are linked together to the topics that are being talked about. Using Technology like this is something that Jackson took advantage of because as much as she is using technology and trying to create.

Personally, I agree with all of the claims that Birkert’s recognizes. I think that technology is something that is overwhelmingly consuming every aspect of human intelligence. Although, “Patchwork Girl” does offer a new insight into reading a digital text, the structural format is what made this text hard to understand. Because of Jackson trying to take so many risks with the design of “Patchwork Girl”, I feel as though that was more of the focus in this writing. I could barely focus on reading the novel because it was so complicated to figure out where to begin and end. Therefore, as a novel, Jackson failed to captivate my audience due to her critical insight into the digital format of her novel.

            This time in our lives is revolutionary. Our lives have been changing for hundreds of years, but there is this network that has been changing the way we perceive information drastically throughout the past few years. American life depends on a movement that progresses toward a more technological era. Life is associated with technology; therefore accepting a new format for reading digital texts, like “Patchwork Girl”, is something that we should become familiar with because it will become the platform for future generations.

Novels in a Digital Age: REVISED

            “Patchwork Girl”, written by Shelley Jackson, shows a critical insight into the life of a female creation based off of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Jackson uses “Patchwork Girl” as a digital novel that achieves a different identity from other books based off of its unique format. Unlike hardback or paperback novels, Jason refers to the use of a CD to gain her readers attention. Within the CD a uniquely designed structural format is used for the reader to navigate their way through the digital text. With an electronic age changing our approach on how we receive information, the distinctive structure of “Patchwork Girl” is a digital text in which we should accept or decline as a source for reading because it can shape how we view novels for years to come.

            Technology has been rapidly developing to the point where it has affected our interpretation of books. For decades novels have followed the same opening cover page, chapter titles, flipping though the novel in a sequential order until they reach the conclusion. But, with technology improving its capabilities everyday, it has allowed new discoveries in the way readers perceive books. Throughout “Patchwork Girl”, Jackson has explored the structural aspect of shifting around what readers refer to as a normal/standard outline. Therefore, as a text, Jackson achieves a form of presenting books digitally that could possibly change the interpretations of reading books in the future.

            In “Patchwork Girl”, Jackson takes advantage of using technology to form her digital novel in a certain way. “I am buried here. You can resurrect me, but only piecemeal. If you want to see the whole, you will have to sew me together yourself.” –Shelley Jackson. Because of the technology that was available when making this digital novel, Jackson used links to open up sections of her novel that ultimately open up into chapters. By designating certain areas of the text with links, it allows her readers to create their own interpretation of the novel. But also with letting the reader develop their own interpretation of the novel, it creates uncertainty because the reader cannot ultimately gain the main points that the author is trying to establish thought the novel.

            For example, one key section in “Patchwork Girl” titled “Crazy Quilt” shows an immense amount of sections to click on that open in into digital text. Just by looking at this “chapter page” it creates so many different identities for the book that leads to different discovers, thoughts for the reader. As much chaos as Jackson creates in “Crazy Quilt”, she also tries to create order by linking together her thoughts in a unique way. Readers can clink on links that are categorized by colors of boxes which are ultimately linking together related topics that are being discussed. Using technological resources like this is something that Jackson took advantage of in order to create a new identify for books.

            Although “Patchwork Girl” is digitally advanced for its time, “Crazy Quilt” is a section that Jackson placed a lot of thought and effort into when creating the chapter. As you can tell by analyzing the whole page, a lot of thought and concepts were created in order to design such a digital text. Structure is something that is important when reading, but when you read a book, you read it for the information that was written, not for the structure to amuse you while passing through line to line. This was a concept that Jackson focused on throughout the whole novel. Instead of thinking about the reader reading the information, she thought about the reader “wreading” the design, format. This section not only raised some negative thoughts for me, but also raised issues that lead me to question the main intent of the “digital book”

            In the book, The Gutenberg Elegies, written by Sven Birkerts, a chapter titled “Coda: The Faustian Pact” talks about how technology is becoming something that is absolutely changing in the way we deal with information. “I see the wholesale wiring of America. I see ever more complex and efficient technological systems being interposed between the individual and the harsh constraints of nature. This electronic mesh is already changing absolutely the way we deal with information. In fact, it is changing our whole idea of what information is.” (pg. 215) Technology is not only changing how we deal with information, but it is shaping our whole idea of information. With this thought from Birkerts, technology is definitely changing the way we view reading books.

            Within the future, technology will change mostly everything we do. Birkerts states that screens will show our interactions between people, and new generations will never experience what older generations referred to as the “norm”. He implies because of the change in technology, people will never experience the way we dealt with information once before. He also states, “I Know which way the future is going, but I cannot find it in myself to get in step.” (pg. 213)

            In order to appreciate digital texts you need to understand the claims and context that are being presented. Personally, I agree with all of the claims that Birkert’s recognizes. I think that technology is something that is overwhelmingly consuming every aspect of human intelligence. Therefore, in order to appreciate digital texts before accepting them into what will be a huge impact on our society.

            Although, “Patchwork Girl” does offer a new insight into reading a digital text, the structural format is what made this text hard to understand. Because of Jackson focusing on so many risks with the design and format of “Patchwork Girl”, I think she lost focus on what a book is really about. By focusing more on the design on the digital text, I feel as though the plot of the story reflected on the disorder of the design. I could personally barely focus on reading the novel because it was so complicated to figure out where to being and where the ending was. Consequently, as a “digital novel”, Jackson failed to captivate my audience due to her critical fascination with designing a novel in a very unique digital format.

            This time in our lives is revolutionary. Lifestyles have been changing for hundreds of years because of the developments that have occurred, but there is this network that has been changing the way we perceive information drastically throughout the past few years. American life depends on a movement that progresses towards a more technological era. Life is associated with technology; therefore accepting a new format for reading digital tests like “Patchwork Girl” is something that we should become familiar with because it has the potential to become the platform for future generations.

REFLECTION:

            Reflection is something that I have become to take advantage of throughout this course. In order to evaluate your work and critique every aspect of it, you need to have reflected on what you have accomplished so far. Reflection requires you to analyze your work, as well as the work of others. Therefore when choosing which piece to revise, I analyzed all of my work and looked for a few things to consider when choosing a piece. One was the grading scale, I decided to choose a writing that had my lowest grade so there was more room for improvement. I also considered the revisions a few classmates did to see what I could improve on. These ultimately helped me choose which writing assignment would be the best to revise, as well as apiece that I, myself, wanted to improve on.

            By picking the last essay I decided that I could work on including my personal input into an essay. For years I was taught to disregard myself in my work, but focus on the task at hand. By doing this I slipped away from focusing on how situations make me feel, but rather focus on what someone else’s take would be. One thing that I needed to revise in this essay was to include myself. I feel as though that was one of the main things I focused on throughout this essay. I tried including why “Patchwork Girl” was so frustrating and include why exactly it failed as a novel in my own perspective.

            I think throughout this course I have struggled with my personal perspective. The first assignment had us include our personal experiences that helped me revise this assignment. I have learned that it is important to include how I feel about a certain topic or else anyone who is reading my work can’t understand how I feel, but only about how someone else feels about their work. 

Final Writing Project: Compost

Expand on the ideas of Essay #4

1.) I would use Birkerts to help me define my final writing project. One thing that I struggled with on the 4th writing project was using Birkerts personal insight. When I go though the paper and make corrections, I will add more detail to the paragraphs were I used his personal insight. I would also use Birkerts writing to tie into this idea about how I approached the book “Patchwork Girl”. By doing this somehow I could really reflect on the ideas of both Shelley Jackson and Sven Birkerts. 

2.) With this final project I plan to give a more critical insight how how i approach digital reading. I felt as though throughout the first document of writing project #4 I focused more on the technique of the authors reading digital text instead of using personal insight. I will tweak how I include my own experiences within accepting digital text and focus not necessarily more on the authors insight. 

3.) I need to include MY view on how the book “Patchwork Girl” is successful or fails as a novel. Instead of focusing on the question of my focus on the essay, i seemed to place myself in a situation where i needed to write about what other authors would think about this digital text instead of my own insight. I can use the authors views of Patchwork Girl to expand my thoughts. The fourth assignment almost limited what I could reflect on. The first writing assignment was a more personal essay whereas the fourth writing assignment strayed away from my personal ideas.

Writing Draft 4

Liza Twilley

Critical Insight Essay

-1 to 2 Pages

Include a section from Hayles/Birkerts

 

“ I am buried here. You can resurrect me, but only piecemeal. If you want to see the whole, you will have to sew me together yourself.” Patchwork Girl, written by Shelley Jackson, shows a critical insight into the life of a female creation based off of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Jackson uses “Patchwork Girl” as a novel that achieves a different identity from other books because of its unique format. Since Patchwork Girl uses its unique structure, Patchwork Girl allows the reader to initially gain his or her own interpretation of the novel.

The quote in the intro is a good idea.  You could maybe add a sentence explaining how the structure is unique to give the intro just a little bit more detail in before your thesis statement.

Technology is something that is rapidly developing to the point where it has effected our interpretation of books. For example, in Patchwork Girl, Jackson takes advantage of the technological resources that are available. First of all, instead of following the usual format of a novel, this meaning hardback or paperback books, Jackson refers to using a CD as her visual text. Within the Patchwork Girl CD, there is a very unique format to follow. At times it is hard to comprehend where Jackson wants the reader to follow because she uses a layout that is structurally confusing to understand. In one chapter titled “Graveyard”, Jackson provides links as chapters in no specific order that provides a huge distraction to the reader.

Good example of the confusing structure.  You could be a little more specific about how it is confusing to follow.  Like when you are in the map view with the boxes and arrows, how all the arrows overlap and criss cross which can confuse the reader and lead them to a section they weren’t intending on going to.   Or how if you don’t click in the right spot of a particular section it will lead you back to the title page.

In the paragraph titled “Coda”, Birkerts talks about how technology is becoming something that is absolutely changing in the way that we deal with information.  Give a specific quote from the paragraph about how technology is changing the way we view information. Technology is not only changing how we deal with information, but it is shaping our whole idea of information. Within the future, technology will change mostly everything we do. Birkerts states that screens will show our interactions between people, and new generations will never experience what we referred to as the “norm”.

Another good paragraph here.  You can elaborate more about the changing technology with Birkerts in this paragraph or add in another small paragraph and include your citation there.

The structure of the graveyard site really works with the set up of the story that Jackson is trying

Novels are written for the reader to achieve a standpoint in which they understand the interpretation

Overall it’s a very good start to your paper.  The only suggestion I have is to add a little more detail to your body paragraphs and your paper will be a solid A.

Writing Project 4

Liza Twilley

Critical Insight Essay

-1 to 2 Pages

Include a section from Hayles/Birkerts

 

“ I am buried here. You can resurrect me, but only piecemeal. If you want to see the whole, you will have to sew me together yourself.” Patchwork Girl, written by Shelley Jackson, shows a critical insight into the life of a female creation based off of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Jackson uses “Patchwork Girl” as a novel that achieves a different identity from other books because of its unique format. Since Patchwork Girl uses its unique structure, Patchwork Girl allows the reader to initially gain his or her own interpretation of the novel.

The quote in the intro is a good idea.  You could maybe add a sentence explaining how the structure is unique to give the intro just a little bit more detail in before your thesis statement.

Technology is something that is rapidly developing to the point where it has effected our interpretation of books. For example, in Patchwork Girl, Jackson takes advantage of the technological resources that are available. First of all, instead of following the usual format of a novel, this meaning hardback or paperback books, Jackson refers to using a CD as her visual text. Within the Patchwork Girl CD, there is a very unique format to follow. At times it is hard to comprehend where Jackson wants the reader to follow because she uses a layout that is structurally confusing to understand. In one chapter titled “Graveyard”, Jackson provides links as chapters in no specific order that provides a huge distraction to the reader.

Good example of the confusing structure.  You could be a little more specific about how it is confusing to follow.  Like when you are in the map view with the boxes and arrows, how all the arrows overlap and criss cross which can confuse the reader and lead them to a section they weren’t intending on going to.   Or how if you don’t click in the right spot of a particular section it will lead you back to the title page.

In the paragraph titled “Coda”, Birkerts talks about how technology is becoming something that is absolutely changing in the way that we deal with information.  Give a specific quote from the paragraph about how technology is changing the way we view information. Technology is not only changing how we deal with information, but it is shaping our whole idea of information. Within the future, technology will change mostly everything we do. Birkerts states that screens will show our interactions between people, and new generations will never experience what we referred to as the “norm”.

Another good paragraph here.  You can elaborate more about the changing technology with Birkerts in this paragraph or add in another small paragraph and include your citation there.

The structure of the graveyard site really works with the set up of the story that Jackson is trying

Novels are written for the reader to achieve a standpoint in which they understand the interpretation

Overall it’s a very good start to your paper.  The only suggestion I have is to add a little more detail to your body paragraphs and your paper will be a solid A.

Writing Assignment #3

                                                “The Sound of Scene”

            The film “Frankenstein”, produced in 1994, is based off of the book “Frankenstein”, written by Mary Shelley, which offers a gateway for interpretation when used as a resource for better understanding the novel. By paying close attention to specific scenes in the film, it enhances the ability for the viewer to fully understand the concept that is being portrayed. Especially in the “Creation Scene” of the film, sound plays one of the most effective roles in interpreting Shelley’s text. Based off of media specific analysis, the sound aspect of the film illuminates a “re-telling” of the novel “Frankenstein”.

            Media specific analysis represents a moment in a film where a viewer is able to see the scene and is competent enough to specifically analyze what is taking place.  Film not only provides a visual aspect of understanding what is occurring, but sound is also very effective in making the visual aspect of the film even more appealing. In the “Creation Scene” of the novel, where Mary Shelley has words, the film includes sound to describe, or better yet show, a strong interpretation of what the scene is trying to depict.  The sound of music in the film demonstrates the language Shelley uses in the novel. When the “Creation Scene” is described in the movie, it is represented as very dramatic because of the sound that is heavily playing in the background while the horrifying events of the creature’s coming to life is occurring.

            The introduction into the “Creation Scene” shows a group of characters interacting with their voices as the only sound produced. Then, as Victor begins to prep up for the “birth” of his creation, the thunder slowly begins. While Victor is in the process of flipping all of the switches for the bringing to life process, the background sound intensifies with the sound of the machines becoming very overwhelming and the sound of thunder explosively occurring. This whole process is very drawn out because the heavy repetition of the sounds amounts to how intense the scene is represented. Then the scene has built the viewer up to this dramatic moment and as the creature is revealed for the first time the music cuts off and the words, “It’s Alive!” are said by Victor, with only silence accompanying his words in the background.

            This part in the film shows how the director depended on sound to show the dramatic situation that Victor and the creature were placed in. In the novel, Shelley’s description of the “Creation Scene” needed to show concrete images of the interactions between Victor and the setting he was placed in by using a distinctive style of writing. However in the film “Frankenstein”, the director used sound to create this concrete noise that would allow the viewer to feel the intensity that needed to be taken into account for the interpretation of the scene. Therefore, sound was a particular aspect that created a very emotional and dramatic setting in this scene for an ultimate re-telling of Shelley’s novel.

             Sound is a key part in understanding the connection between Mary Shelley’s novel and the film “Frankenstein.”  When discussing sound, tone is also an element that needs to be considered. After having analyzed the “Creation Scene”, tone seemed to demonstrate sound, attitude, quality, and the overall manner that the scene is placed in. The director was able to place the “Creation Scene” into a rather disturbing setting because in the film, the viewer is able to see a black and white image of gigantic machines, a stretcher with a body placed on it, frightening sounds of horror echoing in the background, and the chaos that Victor was placed in.

Film has always been a resource that I have been able to depend on when used as a comparison to the novel it is originally based off of.  After watching and analyzing the film “Frankenstein”, it was able to show me how the film remediates Shelley’s novel. Remediation is a process that allows a person to better understand material, or in this instance the Frankenstein film. The “Creation Scene” is one of the primary scenes of the film that interprets the novel because it illuminates the re-telling of the creature’s birth. This scene is so significant in the film because of the background sound. With the intense sounds of thunder and the engines of the machines running, it shows how epic and crucial this scene is in understanding the overall meaning of the film. The medium of sound in the film ultimately helps the viewer better understand the interpretation of the novel.

            The medium in the film “Frankenstein” represents language, images, sound, setting, and many more important elements. It shows a translation between material text, like Shelley’s novel, and a virtual text, the film “Frankenstein”. The medium of the film shows how the material factors of the novel interact with the films overall concept. Novels are unable to include sound because they are a tangible resource, however, a film is able to include sound because of the technological resources that are accessible.  Sound offers a new gateway for interpretation and understanding when watching a film based off a novel. It creates a whole new level of emotion within a film and is used ultimately as a source for better understanding.

 

This paper has been written with the consideration of the Washington College Honor Code. –Liza B. Twilley

Evaluation of Essay

Positives: I though I did a good job of explaining the scene of the film in detail. It was rather hard not to tell what happened within each film block, but by summarizing what I saw in the scene I thought it gave enough detail and concrete images that any reader of this essay would understand the scene I was talking about. I also thought that I did a good job of explaining media specific analysis, sound, and the medium of the film. Medium was a topic that I struggled with understanding for a while, but after writing this essay I think I have grasped the concept of medium. But out of all the essays we have done in class this far, I think this is the strongest because I think I have drastically improved overall.

Negatives: I looked through the guidelines of the essay and I really tried to incorporate my answers to the questions in the essay. I think that I made a strong effort to analyze the questions but at time I would fade away from the main focus and ultimately focus on how sound effects the creation scene.

 

Your  paper is really good.   You have solid descriptive paragraphs and a good intro and conclusion.  The only thing you could maybe work on is the length of your sentences.

Writing Machines

Writing Machines GLOG:

            From reading Writing Machines (Pages 35-75) written by Katherine Hayles, I have been able to understand a lot of the material she discusses. From this reading I have learned that material metaphor is a term and foregrounds the traffic between words and physical artifacts. She discusses how we could not generally think of a book as a material metaphor but she opens up the reader’s eyes to see that a book is one in fact. Hayles states that “but in fact is an artifact whose physical properties and historical usages structure our interactions with it in ways obvious and subtle.” (pg 22) It is interesting how she talks about the structure and properties of a book because she states that a physical property of a book defines the page as having two sides that share a linear and sequential relationship.

            Another term that Hayles brought to my attention was technotext. Technotext is when a literary work interrogates the inscription technology that produces it, it mobilizes reflexive loops between its imaginative world and the material apparatus embodying that creation as a physical presence. Now I understand that was a mouthful and many people have never heard of the word before. I personally know that most of the reading in Hayles demonstrates concepts and ideas that I would have never generated. The book is so involved with technology that I should just assume all the words would revolve around the technology developed in my era and past. Basically technotext means that it connects the technology that produces texts to the texts’ verbal constructions. This definition makes sense because it ultimately is playing a role that transforms literary criticism into a material practice. It allows a clear understanding of literary criticism.

            Just to sidetrack from a definition based conversation, I would like to talk about how Hayles includes why she title the book “Writing Machines” because it intertwines with the idea of technotext. She states that the name writing machines is technotext do to the inscriptions of technologies that produce literary text. (This includes presses, computers, and other similar devices.) I thought this concept was rather interesting because it is not common for an author to describe why she titles a book.

            Hayles also describes media-specific analysis as a way to invite theorists and critics to think more broadly about the connections between strands of criticism that have not yet made common cause with one other. After reading further into the text and seeing all this new vocabulary it made we wonder how Hayles ever though about including it into her book. It makes me wonder where she found these terms or how she knew to write about them. Maybe she actually invented these words??? If I could ask her through her blog that would be one thing that I would like to know most about because these words seem so complex. If you think about it one word has a meaning of so many different words. And overall it revolves around the technology that we are by. 

Compost (writing project #2)

-Guidelines-
0  2-3 pages that shows intertextual moment
0  intertextual moment in reference to another author
     –> a place were Shelley explicitly incorporated a text into the novel
0  why you have noticed this intertextual moment?
0  why it interests me as a reader/writer?
0  why it illuminates something significant about the novel? 

-Questions to Consider-
0  why is this intertexual passage significant in the novel?
0  what light does it shed on the whole novel?
0  what do we need to understand in reading this intertextual passage in order to understand the lager significance?

-NOTES-
0  intertextuality page 455
0 pg 103- victor uses very agressive language in contrast with the creature, whom is using a different tone.
0 pg 115- Paradise Lost, Plutarch’s Lives, Sorrows of Werter 

-Paradise Lost- Pages 115 to 121
0 shows a key significance in the novel
0 Paradise Lost, Plutarch’s Live, Sorrows of Werter… were all books the cottagers had read
0 monsters tone: from reading Paradise Lost, the monster became deep in emotion and took to true history what the books had said. These books were the “guidelines to his emotions”
0 shows the monsters deep emotions and allows him to individually reflect on himself. 
0 compares himself to Adam, stating there was no link to any other being in existence.
0 from learning about Paradise Lost, the monster learned the virtues of life, and thought that by meeting the cottagers they would “overlook my personal deformity”, and would become passionate for the creature.