What TV show am I? 

For this task, I decided to choose an episode of a television series that I watch together with my family. To begin, I chose to interpret the title of the show with emoji figures representing the occupation of the main title characters as well as a flag depicting the location the show is taking place in. The country flag was an important symbol to introduce the show as it sets the stage for the key cultural components being represented throughout this series. Bolter (2001) references the ability that people from different cultures and languages have in identifying a shared understanding through the use of symbolic representation.  “Although the writer and reader may use words to describe and interpret the pictorial message, two readers could explain the same message in different words, and speakers of different languages could share the same system of picture writing.” (p.59). This TV show demonstrates the power that symbolic representation has when there is a language barrier. Without the requirement of an interpreter for parts of the show not spoken in English, symbols are able to convey a general representation of the key elements featured in the episode.

I’m sure you’ve figured out the country by now, (and if not, my son requested I add green white and red coloured emoji squares to my story) and you’ve likely immediately noticed a theme to the show in the first two lines of my story with the majority of emojis relating to food. However, an Italian food show wouldn’t be complete without an emotional component. Food is part of the Italian love language. It was important for me to convey emotions in my story as being Italian, food is not only a source of nourishment but an emotional experience that involves passion, love and entertainment. Throughout my emoji story, I made use of hearts and related emojis in an attempt to convey the positive emotions being experienced, the passion and love for the food and culture that was being expressed throughout the episode.  A failure of the emoji story is the inability to fully convey the depth of emotions as expressed through facial expressions, body language, the sounds of people’s voices and music. Music is another important part of the Italian culture. The songs played throughout the episode were specifically chosen to elicit an emotional reaction and although I attempted to represent this aspect of the show in my story with music symbols and instruments, it does not do justice to the rich feelings emphasized by the music. Kress (2005) references the function of the “mode” and “medium” of storytelling. Without the audio component available in the emoji story composition, the depth of emotion is unable to be fully interpreted.

As the show progressed I decided to include a variety of clocks and sun/moon emojis to help provided a timeline of the visits and events taking place. I also included a series of arrows and numbers at one point to indicate a food sequence that was being experienced. To support the location details, I included emojis of geographical features, modes of transportation and specific culinary foods and beverages. Of course an Italian show wouldn’t be complete without some hand gestures, as those are frequently used even without words as a form of expression.  Just as watching a tv show about food doesn’t satisfy your hunger, an emoji story doesn’t satisfy to the complete Italian food experience.

Buon Appetito!

 

References:

Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (2nd ed.). Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. doi:10.4324/9781410600110

Kress (2005), Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and Composition, Vol. 2(1), 5-22.