The process of writing about the last series I watched on Netflix was challenging. Articulating complex emotions and the layers of the plot with simplistic emojis takes a level of consolidation and synthesizing while also requiring that one chooses images carrying meaning. I synthesized more significant ideas and themes within the Netflix series to make my way through the task. I began by translating the title first. Although it was, seemingly, simple, perhaps that was the result of having already drawn a connection between the words and what I was trying to communicate. The challenge with using images to share, is ensuring the visual representation is translatable to others. Additionally, my instinct was to write the script in one long linear stream of consciousness. A left to right progression or direction of time. This reminds me of Lara’s Boroditsky’s (2017), Ted Talk, How the Languages we Speak Shape the Way we Think, when she shares how time is communicated differently in various languages. Between the thematic strategy of choosing emojis and the ‘scrolling’ way I instinctually wrote them, I believe, there is a required social comprehension of a chosen ‘text,’ in order for a task such as this to be successful.
Additionally, I see a lot of connection to the act of sketchnoting (something I love to do) and how it requires a deeper understanding of context in that it asks one to find connections and make meaning. On a micro level, the individual consuming the text, needs to edit and decode possible nuances of images and their relationship to the others in order to effectively comprehend the presented ideas.
Kress states (2014), that there are affordances, potentials and limitations to various modes (p. 5).I have a new appreciation for emojis, as a mode of text and the metacognition required to use them. It’s a literacy that sets tone, conveys meaning, and, at the very least, punctuates.
Boroditsky, L (June 2017). [Video]. How the languages we speak shape the way we think.
Kress (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and Compositions, Vol. 2(1), 5-22.
Squid Game! The title does lend itself to emoji very easily. Knowing the show, there are parts of your emoji story that completely make sense, and some that I am still trying to figure out (exploding ride out of time to tie a medal to a coffin?). Not to say that you could have been any more clear, using emoji this way leaves so much up to the interpretation of the reader. I showed my story to a few friends and family members and it was fun to see how they interpreted some of the passages that I thought were the most clear in completely different ways from what I intended!
Ahhh… the time bomb, rollercoaster race against the clock to either win or meet death…
The layers of the show are the challenge. Summing up complex emotions and layers with the simplistic structure of a ‘game’ is no easy feat. I suppose this is also what makes the show so successful. Is it about morality, mortality, about a game, about social systems. So much to unpack!
Squid Game!!! I have not watched it yet, but have heard some amazing things.