Task 7: Mode Bending

 

 

Transcript

 

In the home of my bag

Is a collection of items

Little pieces of me

Mingled and mixed

Rummaged through and handled

With urgence, sensitivity and relief

 

A set of notebooks and a pen

Humble and quiet at the bottom

Sleeping until I wake them up

To fill empty pages with memories and snippets

Of overheard conversations

 

Satchets of herbal tea

Butterfly pea, lemon, osmanthus, and pear

Tangy aromatic blends of fruit and florals

A hug shaped in my palms

Quenching thirst

And refreshing my senses

 

A wallet

A sanctuary, a treasure trove of my identity

Zipped safe with my cards and coins

Expired coupons

Faded receipts

A lucky charm

And polaroids of the ones dear in my heart

 

Bandaids and painkillers

To give me a pat on the head

A healing hand

To say, “it’s ok” to my clumsy self

To alleviate, soothe, and relieve

For me to spread the calm

Softening the rough edges

Of salted pain and bittered blood

To others in need

 

Hand cream

To wrap my hands

With a blanket of hydration

A mirror, lipbalm, and perfume

To give me a nod,

to say, “you look good”

To envelop me with a honeyed breeze

Of rose and lemon and geranium and mandarin

Fragrant and lingering

 

Packets of tissues and cooling wipes

Conquering the Hong Kong heat

With a multitude of abilities

Unfolding strong sheets of strength

Silent but works just as vigorously

 

Phone and earphones

Two extra limbs on my body

No other words needed

 

And to fight the pandemic and

To keep me safe

Floating and clinging by touch

From the air of invisible threats

An assembled army of surgical masks and hand sanitizer

Of alcohol spray and wipes

Often surrendered and feverishly replenished

Their sacrifices not in vain

 

For this mode bending task, I decided to write a poem based on the items in my bag and read it as spoken word. The items in my bag (original post here) are more or less the same, minus a few which have already been used. Cope & Kalantzis (2009) state that all texts are inherently multimodal, and any mode can be represented through digital means. This means that in the increasing convergence of text within digital contexts, meaning making can be transmitted through layers of multimedia.  

The spoken word poem is an oral representation of the visual, the photo of the contents. Through evocative literary devices in both the oral and written representation (transcript) of “what’s in my bag”, the audience can construct meaning with their world knowledge to envision the contents. I incorporate personification to provide a vibrant life to the otherwise still life objects, hoping to give them a voice and insight on their roles as my “friends.” I created this with very little revision to show my initial impressions instilled in these items and to record my sensory experience as I reflected on the texture, the scent, the sound, and the emotions evoked by each one. I hope to unfold their backstories buried deep inside my bag. 

The audience members are likely to visualize these items as they hear them appear through oral representation. If this were a video, gestural representation would have also been an aspect of influencing meaning, embodied through the presenter’s gestures and facial expressions in the performance. It can even be argued that the use of poetic devices could evoke vivid imagery enough to trigger tactile meaning making. When has a piece of writing or audio moved you? Perhaps you might have felt a deep, guttural sensation running through your body, so visceral like no other, distinct from how others imagine it. Perhaps you could feel, and almost taste, what was being described. The whole experience could be so palpable, as if you could pick out the words in mid-air and they would transform to that object or transport you to that very experience. You connect and feel the piece like no other, based on your own personal experiences, emotions, and characteristics. The whole interpretation is based on you, as a human being.  

Cope & Kalantzis (2009) indicated that “the different modes of meaning are, however, not simply parallel, and this is something we have come to recognize more clearly in the work we have done over the past decade. Meaning expressed in one mode cannot be directly and completely translated into another” (p. 180). The image of the contents of my bag cannot be compared to a video of me describing and showing them, or a written text narrating the details and history of each item, or a musical composition as a more abstract representation. Each mode presents the same thing in a different manner, and in turn, the audience experiences it differently, depending on how they perceive (and prefer) each mode. The organization and the order in which they interpret the objects and how they construct them in their minds are not the same either. The narration and presentation (linear or organic), the details, the placement, and the flow of thought (guided, situated, or free flow), all attribute to meaning making.  

What did you find different between the visual representation and the oral representation of the contents in my bag? Which one was more detailed? Which one evoked a more elaborate understanding of the contents and the owner themselves? Did one mode show something that another could not have shown? What made you think this way?  

Reference 

Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. (2009). Multiliteracies: New literacies, new learning. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 4(3), 164-195. DOI:0.1080/15544800903076044