Tag: analysis

Propaganda and subtle bias

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

No one is immune to propaganda, and all artistic expression is inherently political. These are two statements to keep in mind, as we approach this year’s eurovision song contest, and examine what choices were made, and which were not. There is much we can learn, simply from the roster of this year’s competition, as well as what arguments have been used where.

Each message has a meaning, and a purpose, even if that purpose is to have no meaning. This is particularly true in the measured and planned messages that are art, public speaking and entertainment. Deliberate choices have led to this year’s European Song Contest looking the way it does. Many are aesthetic, or economical, or even made due to crass necessity, but all of them were  made in a direct or indirect political context.

Russia has been excluded from the ESC due to their invasion of Ukraine, and been condemned for their war crimes against the people of Ukraine. The exclusion is an act that is hard to see as anything but political. Israel, another state that has invaded its neighbor, and committed well documented war crimes against its civilian population has been allowed to participate on the basis that The Eurovision contest.  This decision  has loudly been defended on the base that the ESC has is, and has always been an apolitical contest.

But, keep in mind what I mentioned before, with this statement in mind about messages and art. Is it possible to have an apolitical musical competition, especially one that has as many politically charged entries as the ESC. I want to argue in this text that there is a distinct difference between apoliticality and politics so agreed upon it becomes invisible. Expected truths, the statue que, and ofcourse, successful propaganda are often seen as apolitical, but are in fact, simply invisible.

In Sweden the ESC is exclusively played on SVT, Sweden’s state television, as is the national competition leading up to the ESC. The competition is touted and lauded as the people’s contest, by everyone and for everyone. Is it then possible to understand the directions that are made in the name of the ESC as anything other than political? To be of the people, and indirectly, of the nation, is to be explicitly political.

I would argue that it is easy to see things that we agree with as apolitical, especially if these things happen to fall within the purview of the statue que. Media becomes political in the mind of many viewers once it expresses opinions or emotions that goes against this status quo, or for that matter when the nature of the subject as political becomes unavoidable, or impossible to ignore.

Representation of minorities, such as POCs and queer individuals is a good example of this phenomenon. Their absence is part of the status quo and as a result, not political, and their inclusion, as a result is. This would be a great example of subtle biases, of expectations and what breaks with these expectations. For a long time have the explicit or implicit exclusion of the queer community been almost a given, at least until the monetary value of these groups became apparent. The same exclusion has been, until fairly recently, set on Russia and many of the former eastern bloc countries, on the not so subtle grounds on political affiliations with the former USSR.

The Russian revolution was clearly done on explicitly political grounds. More precisely as a punishment and statement of Russia’s invasion of their neighbor Ukraine. This is an invention that has recently been subtly reframed to be an Unlawful invasion, in contrast to Israel’s Lawful retaliations against Gaza. 

This  distinction makes Israel’s war seem, part of the common narrative in the west, as a simple fight against evil insurgents.  The decision to include them seems to be  apolitical as a result, while Russia’s actions so infidelity aberrant, and their exclusion as apolitical, or at least, understandably political.

Apoliticallity is always a choice, and it is a choice that very few of us have the privilege to make. Keep in mind that if a subject seems apolitical to you, it is more than often that you are blessed to not experience the negative part of said topic. Propaganda and bias is a lot easier to miss, if you have the option to be blind to the problem to begin with.

The library of odd things: A home for obsolete media, and rare finds: part five: Who decides what a library should be

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Introduction

The question of who gets to decide what a library should and should not be is deeply ingrained to what I aim to discuss in this series. There are several forces that need to be taken into account for this discussion, specifically librarians, patrons and policy makers. Each group has their own biases, needs and wants as well as underlying information when it comes to their news on the libraries collection. This chapter will break down how each group’s interests collide as well as contradict the creation of the library of odd things.

The patrons

The users and visitors of libraries are known as patrons when speaking in library terms. Patrons are individuals that use one or all of the services that are available in public libraries. Patrons have many needs and uses related to the library. Many patrons wish to borrow some form of media or read them at the library. Some patrons also come to the library to use printers, scanners and computers that are available at the library, as well as access to free internet access.

Many patrons already know what they want well before they enter the library, when they do not they often refer to the librarian on duty, regarding tips on fiction or nonfiction media. The answers they are given  are once again limited to the librarian’s skill and interest in that specific area. Sadly, it has been my experience that the Swedish librarians do not get enough time or resources to be as good of a source for this sort of help that I and many patrons would have liked. 

When the knowledge exists it is mostly the thanks of the specific librarian putting down their own time and energy to learn these things. This lack of knowledge infrastructure is one of many problems that needs to be solved if the Library of Odd things is to work as proposed.

With this said, many patrons already know what they want, and simply wish to be pointed in the right direction of where it is located. It is naturally in most patrons’ interest that the things that they are after are as close at hand as possible, something that might lead to less used or known texts getting pushed to the background.

This need for what they know they want is balanced by the patrons’ needs and wishes for novelty and new experiences, as well as the fact that the patron may not always know best what they need or want.

The patron also expects that the text that they want is also available to them as soon as possible. And here we find the first conflict of interest, both with other patrons and with the library staff. Due to the fact that the library has both limited budgets and space, is it impossible to make everyone happy, and often texts that are more often requested or are well known get preferential treatment to the texts that do not.

While it would be easy to fill a library with nothing but the latest top sellers, does this work against the library’s goals of education, democracy and the need for everyone to be able to find what they need in the library’s collection. This is a problem I have gone deeper into in earlier chapters.

The librarians

The role of the library is at the core of what this series of essays wish to explore, likewise are the role of the librarian at the core of what I wish to discuss. What should a librarian be, guides, guardians, curators?

The guide

In the role of the guide we are meant to lead the patrons to new experiences, new texts and new forms of knowledge. This role would fit particularly well in the library of odd things, as it would mean that the patrons would be able to get the most out of the library’s eclectic collections.

This approach would need a much larger amount of time and resource to be allocated to the education and training of these librarians, as well as the possible need to hire more librarians in order to be able to amicably cover all areas of the library to a satisfactory level.

The biggest downside of this approach, or way of looking at library work is that it takes up a lot of time for the institution as well as being costly to maintain. Furthermore can this hands on approach seem off putting to a fair few patrons who just want to get their books and leave.

The guardian

The primary role of the guardian is to safeguard the library and its collection, this has been a role that has been emphasized for much of the library’s existence, especially before the notion of a public library became widely implemented.

There will, as long as we live in a capitalist system of scarcity, always need to be some form of enforcers, guards and collectors of materials and protectors against damage. As the general social climate gets more and more brutal, and more and more social expectations and work is put on less and less resources, will the libraries find themselves exponentially more under stress by various aggressive and dangerous forces.

It would be an easy solution to lock down the libraries as much as possible, to add guards and remove as much freedom as possible from the patrons. This would undoubtedly go against all that the public library as well as the library of odd things wishes to accomplish.

While it is vital that the librarians and patrons feel safe at the library, and that the collection and building is kept in good shape, it is not in my opinion the primary responsibility for librarians to make sure that this happens.

The curator

Another large and important part of the library profession is the work of the curator. Curating collections are vital when they are limited by space and budgetary constraints. Decisions must be made about what should be kept, and what needs to be thrown away, as well as what new materials will proquired.

As I have mentioned before, more or less all space being used in most Swedish public libraries, and as a result is the only way that a new text will enter circulation, is if another one takes its place. These decisions, while made with oversight of rules, regulations and guidelines are ultimately at the hands of the librarians, it is up to them to make the final dissection of keeping or discarding a text. The direction making is made partly by their own knowledge and intuition as well as with the help of policy documents created by library leadership and management.

Furthermore does the ability to fulfill this part of the job come from the same skill set and interest that makes a librarian a good guide. The librarian needs interest and knowledge to be able to properly curate and take care of a collection, they also need time and resources to carry out this work properly. This will be extra important in my proposed Library of odd things, as these collections will inevitably contain both rare and often technologically obsolete texts that require extra time and attention to look after.

While I have chosen to split up the roles of a librarian into disparate parts, and to some degree pitted them against each other, it is the truth that every librarian is all of these roles, and more, often at the same time. How much time, energy and resources that a librarian can spend on each role is very much linked to the libraries organization and guidelines, as well as the policymakers that write them.

Policymakers

The ultimate power of the future and shape of the public libraries lay in the elected officials and governing bodies that control and oversee the libraries. In Sweden are libraries ruled by counties, and as a result are given widely different structures, budgets and assigned goals. There is for example no set rule for what department should take care of the county’s libraries. These can range from education and culture, to tourism and sports and recreation. The department that the library lands under often strongly dictates what form of starting position the library has when it comes to arguing for their budget.

Just as with the problem of adding new books to a collection, is there often a problem with adding new programs or increasing budgets for programs on a county level, often is the entire budget spoken for, and it is a question of taking from one department and adding to another. These arrangements are of course not set in stone, and can change as the local political landscapes shift and transform.

As a result it is often that there exists a somewhat antagonistic relationship between those that need the money, and those that make the budgets. As there is always a limited amount of resources to go around, does it mean that someone will have to work with less than they hoped.

The allotted budget for a library is the most clear and direct way that policymakers can be seen to make a difference for a public library. The budget directly dictates how much space the library has to its disposal, how many librarians can be employed and how many new texts can be bought in.

As mentioned before, can policy makers also make decisions on what can and should be in public libraries, though this is a much more controversial point of their power. Ideally are the actions of the policymakers, that are directly or indirectly elected by the general public through elections, following the wishes of said public. This public also involves the patrons of the library, this group might indeed take the library in account when voting for a local election.

Conclusions

To finish up this chapter I will quickly break down how the decision process of what will turn up in a library looks like. The patrons may choose to ask for a text to be added to the collection, as well as ask for a book to be removed in some rare cases. Patrons can also indirectly steer the role of the library by voting on officials that share their views on the library question.

Elected officials then decide the budget, policies and guidelines of the library, and in doing so create the framework that the library works within. The librarian and chief librarian then take both of these facets into account when making decisions regarding, staffing, curation, programming and other decisions within the library itself. This is ofcourse a simplification of a very complex system but one that I hope helps contextualize what I aim to discuss with this series as a whole. 

This leads me on to the topic of the next chapter, why any of this matters, and why I chose to start this series in the first place.

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The library of odd things: A home for obsolete media, and rare finds: part three: Known and unknown needs

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Introduction

This text is the third installment in a series of essays discussing a hypothetical new form of public library, the Library of odd things. This form of library focuses on providing new, old and novel experiences to their patrons, unbound by the need to show usefulness or to cater to statistics and loan numbers. This library is primarily meant to work as a thought experiment and present the readers with new ways to look at media curation and preservation.

In this chapter I will discuss two driving forces when it comes to acquiring new materials for a library, I will label them as wants and needs. What we balance and look at these terms, and how they are applied to collections will shape how our hypothetical library of odd things will take form. This text will discuss what a patron knows they want and need, as well as what they are unaware of that they want and or need.

What the patron knows they want

A modern public library must always keep in mind what it is that their patrons are most likely to want to borrow, as well as what they might need in their everyday life, work and studies. This way the library will be sure that the library has the texts that the patrons are most likely to ask for. This assurance can partly be made through the following trends, news and interviews within the book world. Patron tips and suggestions are also a great way to expand this part of the library’s collection.

It is in my opinion more common than not that the patron already knows beforehand what they are after when entering the library, often looking for a specific title, or a specific topic of research. The patrons more often than not have a specific title in mind. The optimal solution for these patrons would of course be that we have these texts at hand for them when they come to the library. If a text is popular or new, as it often is, they are presented in prominent parts of the library, easily accessible to the patrons that want them. Likewise are collections of texts such as detective novels or cook books often given more space than less well read topics, yet again for ease of use.

In our library of odd things, popular texts might still need to take up a large part of its collection, but not necessarily in the shape and form as in current public libraries, less used media such as vhs tapes would be presented next to books and dvds. As the patrons get more used to the Libraries of odd things, it is my hope that the patrons will learn how to navigate the library’s new form of collection. Hopefully, just with tool libraries the patrons will come to look for specific texts and machines used to experience them.

What they are unaware of

A seemingly conflicting goal of the library is to introduce their patrons to new texts and information that they had no idea that they needed. While sometimes aware of this unspecified need, the patrons are more often not made aware of it when they are faced with a solution to said need. This means that the more varied our collection, the more topics and perspectives it covers, the bigger the chance that the patron will find the answer to a problem or a need that they did not know they had, or that a library could help with. This can range from a reference work that helps them see a problem at another angle, or present an unsuspected solution to a conundrum, to a story that gives them the insight, comfort or inspiration they need.  

If a patron is unable to see the more specialized parts of our collections, it will be nearly impossible for them to become aware of it. By presenting the most popular texts and genres in the front, will the layout discourage hunting for new experiences and browsing around as the patron looks for their intended texts.

The easiest way to provide this need is with non fiction texts and other forms of reference materials. The realization that “I did not know that there is a book for that”, is an apt way of describing this unknown need. Perhaps a book on biology or botany may help a patron to get a handle on their garden slug problem. Maybe an obscure travel book is just what the patron needs to jog their memories. The examples are endless, and I have seen many examples of them first hand.

Fictional materials can likewise be used to solve problems that the patrons were not aware of, or to fill a need they did not know that they had. Once again is it a question of not knowing that they wrote texts about that, or more often than not, not being aware that there were books for them. As the adage goes, each book has its reader, and each reader its book.

This form of discovery will be the primary goal of the Library of odd things. As mentioned before, the library will have a large collection of popular texts, but the focus will always be on exposing the patrons to new and old forms of media that they would not be able to use otherwise. It is well noted here that the limits between known and unknown needs are not solid, and one unknown need is another patrons known need.

The problem of cataloging and finding texts

When it comes to known as well as unknown needs, we will run into the same problem of the patron needing to find the text, regardless if they are actively looking for it or not. First of all, must the library have the text in question at hand, bringing us back to the problem of curation and all that it entails. 

The second problem is the fact that the patron must be able to find the text in question. This leads us to a problem that we have not hit on yet, the problem of organization and categorisation. The problem of categorisation rejects simple answers and simple solutions, as there is no universal and true way of cataloging anything to the most optimal and objective standard.

This is especially true when it comes to texts, both fiction and nonfiction. While there are of course general guidelines to follow, like keeping the authors in alphabetical order, and organizing non fiction under topic and fiction under general theme, there will never be an absolutely perfect system.

Many texts can be categorized in several topics at once, for example the history of medicinal plants, does it belong in history, medicine or botany, and how granular should a collection be with cataloging. The problem becomes even more complicated and granular when we are talking about fiction. What genre will we pick out, what genres will be placed in general fiction, should be pick out things like lgbtqiia+ characters for example. There are no simple and straightforward answers to these questions, but it will fundamentally shape how the patrons are interacting with our collections.

Just as mentioned with the comparison between large and general collections, and smaller more specialist collections will each specialty category lead to more work, and more space in the library. Each fiction genre we split will need its own space in one form or another, and each non fiction topic that we break down will mean more work, and cataloging for the library. These might not seem as great concerns, but over an entire library collection it will make huge differences. 

Conclusions

How we present our collections are vital to how patrons can interact with the texts within its limits. The reason I split known and unknown needs between each other is that their goals are often at odds with each other when it comes to designing library spaces and other collections.

As mentioned before, will the patron that knows their need either go directly to the part of the collection that they want, or ask the librarian to send them to the right part of the collection. Because these patrons often are looking for similar things, would it make sense for these kinds of patrons to present the most borrowed texts in the front of the library, both physically and digitally.

This comes in conflict with the library trying to present the patron with texts that they are not aware of, or discovering texts that the patrons are not nearly as aware of. A patron looking for a specific popular detective novel for example might be annoyed that they need to traverse the entirety of the poetry collection to get there. On the other hand may moving forward the poetry section lead to patrons discovering a love for poetry the would never have found otherwise.

There are no right and wrong answers to these conflicting goals, but they will be very important for my project for the Library of odd things. This conflict leads us to our next set of questions, what should the library be for, and who gets to decide that purpose.

Media literacy 101, part 4: The voice of the narrator

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In the previous chapter, I discussed the role of the antagonist and protagonist within most narratives, and how understanding these roles can help us understand a text as a whole. Just like the point of view of these leading characters, can the point of view of the narrator also tell the reader a lot about the narrative as a whole. There are several types of narrators, a few of which I will go over in this blog post.

By discerning the voice of the narrator, can we parse more about the tone, theme and mood that the text is going for. A serious novel usually has an omnipresent, implied narrator, while a comedic novel might choose a more  overtly present narrator that is able to discuss and comment on the plot of the text itself. Contemplating how these narrator voices are used and in which context, can also help you become a better writer yourself.

First, second and third person narrations

The first definition I will discuss is that of point of view. The point of view in this context refers to which kind of perspective we are getting from the narrator. First, and third person are the most common forms of narrative styles, but other narrative points of view, like second person does occur, if a lot less often.

In a first person narrative, is the tale told from one or several people, ei “I walked down the road”. The narrator and the protagonist of the narrative are the one and the same person. Travel journeys, horror stories and other narratives where the internal monologues and feelings of the main character are important often use the first person form of narration.

The second person narrative refers to the reader themself as the point of view character. In other words the narrator is addressing a “you” in the text, for example “you find yourself in a dark hallway”. This is not a very often used perspective, but one that can be effectively used in horror. It is mostly used in choosing your own adventure novels and visual novels and other kinds of interactive fiction.

Third person narrative refers to a narration where the explicit or implicit narrator is telling a story about someone else, more about this in a bit. Most modern fiction is told this way, where a narrating voice describes the narrative of one or more protagonists. For example “Tom walked through the door, he felt a rush of fresh air”.

In deciding which perspective to set the narratives, do you also in part decide what kind of relationship the reader will have to the characters in your text.

Reliable and unreliable, explicit and implicit, omnipresent or not.

The voice of the narrator is a strong tool in storytelling, and can tell the reader a lot about a text. Besides setting the narration in first, second or third person, can the writer also put different kinds of levels of involvement that the narrator has in the story, as well as how real they are within the narrative itself.

First let’s discuss how or if the narrator exists within the fiction itself. An implicit narrator often only exists as a tool to tell the narrative, and only the text itself implies its existence. They exist soely as a medium for the telling of the tale, the words themselves. It is also possible to view the implicit narrator as the voice of the author itself.

An explicit narrator exists as a character in the tale itself. One example is Dr Watson in Sherlock Holmes, where the books are supposed to be Watsons own notes and journals. The explicit author can have an active role in the tale or not. A first person narration always has an explicit narrator in the form of the character telling the story.

A narrator can be omnipresent, or only be able to present a certain point of view of a narrative. An omnipresent narrator is present everywhere, and can be used to tell a story from every single angle, as needed. Third person narratives are often presented as omnipresent, in order for the author to jump between settings and points of view. An omnipresent narrator is useful to tell a full story of many points of view. A first person narrator is by its very nature confined to the character that is telling the story, and as a result can only tell the things that this point of view character is purview to. It is common that a narrator only follows a few or only one character, and can as a result only present a narrative from their points of view in the narrative. This is an easy tool to create suspense and mystery, as the reader is only previewed to the information that these characters have.

Lastly is the question of the reliable vs the unreliable narrator. These terms relate to how trustworthy the narrator of a text is. Most narrators, especially those told in third person narration are to be viewed as reliable narrators. In short, are these narrators that can be trusted to tell a tale as it supposedly happened. Just as with being omnipresent, are implied narrators also reliable by their nature of nonexistent. Most modern novels you would read follow this trend, unless adding an unreliable narrator would make the tale more compelling or interesting. With a reliable narrator can you assume that the things it is telling is true.

An unreliable narrator on the other hand is a narrating voice that you can not trust to tell a tale truthfully. Or rather, contradictions and falsehoods are baked into the storytelling style, making it harder to discern what happened within the context of the story. First person narrators are unreliable narrators due to their highly subjective point of view. For example, many of Lovecrofts main characters are highly unreliable narrators, as many of them are at the brink of insanity and despair. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter, S Thompson is a great example of both a first person narrative, Hunter himself, and an unreliable narrator, due to the melding of time and space that comes from both the surreal location of Las Vegas and the many psychedelic drugs the main character uses during the story.

An unreliable narrator is great to create a sense of confusion and fear in the reader, as well as a heightened sense of suspense. After all, who can we trust, if we can’t even trust the one telling the story to us.

Final thoughts

I have in this text, tried to present a series of narrative points of view and discuss a few ways they are often used. These definitions are far from the only ways to break down the voice of the narrator, but they are ones that I have found useful myself.

By dissecting how and why a narrator is presented in a text in a certain way, can the reader dive deeper into the message and theme of the text. It is worth putting some extra time in choosing what kind of narration that fits your story the best. While the omnipresent, implicit and reliable narrator is one that most know, and use, playing around with the voice of your narrator really changes the perspective on your writing, and your stories.

Essey: mellodifestivalen, a tale of big egos and low expectations

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Melodifestivalen is the Swedish regional part of the eurovision song contest. Here is where Sweden’s representation is chosen in a several week long media spectacle. Seeing how this is the Swedish broadcast networks (SVT) biggest crowd pusher of the year, it is no surprise that the company wants to get as much out of it as possible. This can be most easily seen by the extension of the contest that has happened over the many years of its run.

Melodifestivalen is  one of, if not The must see television show on Swedish TV. This can come from genuine enjoyment, scorn, an unwillingness to miss out, or a combination of all the above. In this essay I will use the series as a way to deconstruct two major themes that can be found in many of SVTs productions. One being that of a sense of ego and inflated importance, as well as a sense of entitlement to lowered standards. There is this air of SVT productions that are expected to be measured with a lower standard because they are “just public television”. I will in this essay aim to discuss how these two modes of thinking often contradict each other.

Low standard and the sense of being “just SVT” is something that is easy to spot in the production of Melodifestivalen. Despite being played in a grand arena, having a grand budget, almond raking in millions of views, is it always a sense of amateurish feeling over the production and script writing of the show itself. The jokes are corny and not very well thought out, the presenters give off the feeling of uncomfortable convention hosts. Many of the jokes that are pulled from this real or perceived amateurishness, like the ironic use of comic sans, or the fact that a joke did not land, being the punchline to the joke more often than not.

This is not an opinion I am alone with, and as I have alluded to,  are there many that watch the show to groan at the bad jokes and corny performances, as well as the often sadly misguided musical performances. This is a fact that SVT is well aware of, and has on more than one occasion made light of in their comedy often at the expense of their detractors.

A good example of this is the year that SVT used muppets to present their different viewers and their reason to watch. One pair of these puppets being an elderly, upper class and intellectual couple that watched the show seemingly in pure duress, and spent the entire show berating and degrading it. This would have been a fine thing to do, even though the Muppets did it first and better with the peanut gallery, if it wasn’t for the fact that the old couple that “just didn’t get it”, were always right!

This attitude of casually dismissing criticism as overly intellectual snobs is something that can be found in other productions then just Melodifestivalen. Many of their shows like Uti Bugda and similar comedy show as a distinct lowbrow, and yet mean spirited tone towards their perceived audience. This is furthermore followed by yet again a notion that any low production values or bad quality from their part should be forgiven due to their state of public television, and as a result, not as fancy as commercial television.

SVT was, for a long time the only television that was available for the Swedish population, as the first and only tv channel made in, and for Sweden. They were from the beginning, and still are fully funded by Swedish tax money, and operate, at least in theory, fully free from both government and commercial interest. SVT is considered to be a public service, much like the BBC in the UK, and as a result is meant to work in service of the public. This project involves trying to cater to as wide an audience as possible, and to make sure to give something for everyone, or in other words, for the general public. This runs the gambit from low brow comedy shows, to high concept discussion shows on art, faith and science. In later years has this responsibility been spread over several channels where SVT 1 remained the most focused towards, in lack of a better word, mass audiences, where SVT2, Knowledge channel, and the SVT kids taking over many of the more specialized roles. It is not perhaps surprising that Melodifestivalen is hosted only at SVT 1. This sense of being in the service to the public, as well as being the first TV channel available has, I would argue, led to an elevated sense of importance amongst the executives of SVT.

SVT today does not exist alone. And for decades they have now had to contend with the competition of other, nonprofit and for profit TV stations and conglomerates, and it is in this relationship that both of their self images can be found and understood. On one end does SVT tout their role as, free (in a way) entertainment, education and culture for the public. That they serve a higher purpose than the commercial TV stations as their role as public services. On the other hand does it also seem to exist a certain defensiveness in SVTs many shows about, not being able to, and in fact, that they should not be expected to be as good as the big commercial stations with their enormous budgets and talent pools.

Nowhere else I would argue, is this dichotomy more apparent, then in the case of Melodifestivalen. There is a grand sense of being the People’s entertainment festival, and there is indeed in theory possible for anyone to join and possibly win the entire contest. There is a sense that SVT is almost doing the nation a service by providing the Swedish people of something to gather around, be proud of, and more importantly then all, to take part in, And yes, here I have to give credit where credit is due, as Melodifestivalen does rake in thousands of dollars for charity every year. At the same time the show is mired with flat comedy, self referential and erogatory comedy and an overall sense of, Don’t bully us, we are just the silly show Melodifestivalen.

This contrast is what, in my opinion, makes Melodifestivalen uniquely frustrating to watch, and I have to admit, I do still watch it every year.

Warhammer 40k an in depth analysis: Part 5, The Orks: part 4, Comedy and the importance of narrative points of view

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This chapter will discuss how the Orks points of view turns atrocities and horrific events into darkly comedic situations using context and dramatic irony. The primary role of the Orks, besides their use as a constant antagonist to the major point of view factions humanity, do they also serve as a form of comic relief. The Orks are often featured in comedic cartoons and comics, and the narrative that follows them as the major point of vire characters are always centered around comedy and more often than not, slapstick.

The Ork mentality and War

I discussed in earlier chapters that the Orks are not affected by warfare and strife like any of the other races are. To them mortality is not something to consider or worry about, and war is nothing but a fun and exhilarating adventure. This mentality allows the reader to temporarily join the Orks in this mentality via suspension of disbelief. Note that this narrative form seems to mainly be used against other Orks, where both sides of the conflict are equally as unfaced by injury, trauma or death.

The Orks are furthermore described as having little to no empathy for the suffering of others, and when they do show concern for another, or even save another of their kin, it is always a close friend, and the interaction is soon forgotten. Lastly, are the Orks shown to be irredeemably violent, destructive and by most definitions evil. This description makes it easier for the reader to laugh at the struggles that the Orks suffer and are subjected to. Games Workshop primarily uses the Orks as a comedic foil in this manner when they are facing other military forces, or other foes that are capable of fighting back in one way or another. An Ork act of genocide of civilians or any similair atrocities are mostly described as the tragedy it is, and the image of the comedic relief is instead replaced with that of a faceless, remorseless murderer.

For an Ork, there is little to no difference between besieging a planet, and fixing the rear axle of a truck, both are equally pedestrian in the lives of the Orks. This, if anything, shows the mundanity that warfare takes up in the lives of the Orks. 

Enthusiasm and slapstick

The Orks are given an eternal can-do attitude, and endless energy. They are not describe as being dumb, just short sighted and overly eager. The first solution is always the best, and that solution is often poorly thought out, dangerous and most importantly, funny. It is easy to draw parallels between the Orks shortsighted plans of, for example ramming a rocket in to the side of a wall before firing it “to make sure it hits”, and the convoluted antics of Tom from Tom and Jerry, or the Calories from Loony Toons. The audience’s knowledge of the inevitable failure, contrasted by the character’s ignorance is where a lot of the comedy comes from in this form of comedy, and the buildup is just as important, if even more so then the finale.

One example of such logic comes from the Ork campaign in the game Dawn of War 3, where the Orks after building an enormous gun, realized they had no way to bring it back. After realizing that the gun was not properly secured and would violently jump every time it was fired, the logical solution was to simply shoot it all the way back to the base!

This kind of mentality and the situations they create is at the base of much of the comedic relief that the Orks bring to the setting. By approaching each task, regardless of how bloody, painful and pointless with a sense of pure enthusiasm, do the Ork work as a great contrast to the otherwise bleak, hopeless and dread filled setting of Warhammer 40k.

Dramatic irony

The concept of dramatic irony pertains to the idea that the reader understands things that the characters in the narrative do not, or have information they are not allowed to have. This allows the reader to make connections that the characters in the text are robbed from making. This narrative device is often used to underscore tragedy or tension. 

Much of the comedy, as well as the drama relating to the Orks lies in the fact that the Orks can never truly understand the pain and suffering they are bringing on to the rest of the universe. Likewise are the rest of the races in the franchise unable to grasp the logic and emotions behind the Orks’ seeming acts of random and unprovoked violence. This tension between viewpoints, and the lack of information that each faction has about their opponents is what drives most of the drama of the setting, and as I have shown with the Orks, also the comedy.

Final thoughts

By presenting the Orks in the way that Games Workshop does, can they inject an element of comedy, if not a decisively dark one, without sacrificing the grim and depressing tone that permeates most of the franchise as a whole. It can be argued though that the series of Warhammer 40k has gotten less deliberately comedic and more serious in tone as the franchise has gone on.

The flexibility of the Ork depictions allows them to be used as both a comedic foil, and as a horrifying threat as the narrative needs it. I am aware that the Orks are far from the first, or the only way that slapstick and dark humor has been used this way. The Orcs in the Peter Jackson films for example both play the role of primary antagonists, and foils much of the movie’s comedy. While many of Warhammer 40,000’s characters and themes can become comedic by the nature of their grandness and extremeness, I would argue that the Orks is the only place where this is done fully intentionally. 

Next chapter will conclude this part of the series, as I will combine all the parts of the Orks as a narrative device and set of characters, and combine them into a unified whole.

Warhammer 40k an in depth analysis: Part 5, The Orks: part 3, Futurism and facism

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Modern facism is intrinsically linked with futurism in their love for violence and glorification of warfare. Power and the subjugation of the week are also concepts that both movements share. These are ideals that can be found amongst the Orks. 

I will not dive too deeply into either of these movements in this chapter, and I will mainly show enough evidence to present certain similarities between the Orks in Warhammer 40k and the aforementioned movements. 

I want to start with specifying that my arguments here are somewhat of a simplification of the movements and their motivations. There is for example, an anxiety over economic and cultural values being diluted that exists within facism that have little or no direct links to the Orks. Futurists, and fascists alike like to point towards a corruption in the current system and a need for change that is not present in the Orks, as the Ork society itself is already in constant flux and change.

Futurist Orks

Depictions of Orks tend to reflect some elements of Italian futurism. Italian futurism was founded and spearheaded at the beginning of the 1900s by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and some like minded artists in order to escape the decadence and corruption they saw in their society. They believed that the past had forever entrapped their nation in a state of stagnation and decay. They saw ruins of ages past, and museums dedicated to old masters and they despaired. The Orks do not make history, and have no interest in preserving their own or others. (Games Workshop. 2014, Rye. 1972)

The futurists, as their title entails, praised the future and a forward motion, and despised the past and traditions. A purist futurist would burn all the world’s museums and exhibits, and would expect their followers to do the same. The new world was one of automation, speed and war, of thrills, fast cars and big guns. The future was for the bold, strong and young. The Orks are likewise obsessed with guns, fast machines and loud sounds. (Games Workshop. 2014, Rye. 1972).

Machines and cars

The speed and novelty of the car and motorbike is something that tends to appear in Futurist art. Futurist art tends to display the glorification of these machines, and most specifically for the speed it provides. One needs only to look at the Futurist manifesto to find several examples of the joy of speed and the allure of industry. The power that comes from driving a large, fast or powerful machine, or from the heavy industry that takes part in its manufacture, the Orks are likewise obsessed with speed and machinery. (Rye. 19722)

The thrill of speed and loud engines is something that fascinates the adrenaline hungry Ork. The Speed freaks are the most prevalent example of the Orkish need for speed and the allure of the reave of engines and the smell of gasoline. Like many other of the Ork, and Futurist obsessions does the love of machines steam from the sensation of adrenaline, danger and power that they exude. This is particularly true for large, fast or otherwise dangerous machines. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Guns and war

The Futurists despised pacifism, moralism and what they weakness in any form. Many times this was professed through their love of weaponry and war. It was only through the conquest and killing of the weak that the strong may rule. But more importantly, the act of wanton destruction and violence was in and of itself, an expression of art and freedom. (Rye. 19722)

The links to the war hungry and weapons obsessed orks is not a difficult one to make. Just like the futurists, the Orks also seek war for its own sake, and destruction for the joy of it. The act of shooting a gun, or burning down a building is very much seen as expressions in and of themselves, and acts that are enjoyed not for the outcomes they bring, but rather for the joys of performing them. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Kill the past!

A grand statement of the Futurists was their object hatred of the past. To burn down the libraries and museums of the past, to let the foundations of the old cities were seen as ultimate expressions of freedom, and a way to lead humanity into the future. The Futurists lived for the future, yes, but more importantly they lived in the present, and they embraced the fact that one day they too would be discarded for the future generations. (Rye. 19722)

While the Orks do not have an outspoken hatred for the past, they do not spend much time or energy in preserving it. Besides some storis and legends carried by the Runtherders, an Ork profession dedicated to slavery, are they not described as creating any lasting monuments, cities or works of art. An average Ork is described as being a creature of the present, rarely having a plan further than to his next meal. They live purely for the moment, and for the violent and turbulent experiences of the present. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Orks often end up destroying and burning the past of other races in their conquests, many of who have their own relationship to their past. The Eldar as described earlier are representations of a bygone age, of the glory of the past, a trope depicted by the Elves first in Tolkien’s works, and then in later fantasy novels that followed in his wake. Humanity is depicted as being in fear and reverence of their past in equal measures, and the Necrons are creatures of the past brought into the present. In other words, does the Orks not necessarily follow the Futurists hatred for the past, or their wish for its destruction, but their actions non the less leads to these goals. They are an expression of Futurist goals, if not intentions. (Games Workshop. 2014)

The asexually reproducing warrior

It is impossible to speak of the Futurists without mentioning gender. As the astute reader have already noticed does the interests of the Futurists, and the Orks fall within activities that would in the 1910s, as well as today, fit into a stereotype masculne stereotype. The love of war and guns, the need for speed and industry are all traits that are labeled as masculine. The hatred of the femenine and as a result, the queer is something you once again only need to look at the Futurist manifesto to find. To detest women and feminism is clearly and overtly stated as one of the primarily goals of the Futurists. Womanhood and femininity is seen as weak, nurturing and pathetic. One of the Futurists dreams were to device a way for many to be able to reproduce asexually, without the need of women. Creating an unbroken line of voulent, adrenaline hungry men.  (Rye. 19722)

While the Orks are not openly antagonistic towards women, they are described as despising many of the traits stereotypically related to women. Empathy, emotions and softness are traits that are often given to the Orks enemies, by the Orks. More importantly are the Orks all depicted as masculine, being referred to, and referring to themselves as He. The Orks also reproduce Asexually, once agian expressiong Futurist goals, if not intentions. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Facism and the right of might

Many of the same questions and goals that drove early Italian Futurism also came to drive both German and Italian facism during world war 2, and beyond. The ideas of facism has been discussed in the Imperium of man segment at large, but I will go over some of the points again here, as I relate them to the Orks.

The hierarchy of might

One of the founding tenets of facism in its many forms has always been, the fact that might, gives the right to rule.  While this might be physical in the case of the Orks, this is not always the case. This might come from perceived breeding, intelligence or ideology. The important part is that a group uses a perceived superiority to control another, and that it is the fate of said group to be ruled by their supposed  supperiors. (Nathan Crick. 2022)

The Orks, as I have shown, is a highly hierarchical society that uses violence and intimidation to keep those under them in line. It is quite literally the rule of the strong. Orks do not care for intelligence, carisma or vision in their leaders, only strength, brutality and fearlessness. The Orks are described as being instinctively receptive to follow the biggest, meanest and strongest of their kind. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Us and Them

In order to have a society of might, you must have clear definitions of a we, and a them. In order to have a superior class of rulers, there must always be an inferior one to be ruled. This distinction is the basis of many alt right movements, the Italian fascists included. In order for the ideology of facism to truly work, there must be an eternal enemy, an eternal theme that We can show superiority ovcr. For a facist narrative to work, they must first present an in group of the We. Most often is this we took the shape of a nation state or a specific political organization (Nathan Crick. 2022).

Facism often grows in the wake of discontent and worries. The facist arguments works by taking these negative emotions, and forcing them on a real or projected other. Immigrants, national or religious minorities, social and medical others are all common targets for this other (Nathan Crick. 2022).

When it comes to the orks is this distinction is twofold. Firstly there is the distinction of the Orks and the rest of the universe, then there is the distinction between the Orks of different clans, and even Orks within the same clan. Though not ideologically driven most of the time, the Orks seem to primarily use this us and them mentality as a justification to start fights with everyone around them. (Games Workshop. 2014)

The eternal war

As mentioned before, does facism in its many forms need an enemy to show its superiority over. This always necessitates an eternal war or struggle against this other. In order to unite the we, there must, scoring to facist rhetoric, be a they to unite against. To be superior, there must be an Other than can be inferior. Facism can not last without an enemy to fight. There can, in other worlds never be a peace, as peace would imply that there is no longer an Other to use to put the self in relationship to. If an external enemy can not be found, I would argue that an internal one needs to be created, something that we have examples off in Nazi Germany, but also Stalinist Russia.  

The Orks are quite literal in this sense, as they can not thrive, quite literally, without being at war. The concept of peace is not only undesirable, but utterly outside of the Orks world of understanding. Life is strife and war, and fighting, there exists no peace, only periods where there is currently no fighting happening. (Games Workshop. 2014)

When the Orks can not find an external enemy to fight, they are more than happy to fall upon each other in civil wars, vendettas and enslavements and destruction. Due to the ways that the Orks are described to work, does this lead to a net positive for the Ork society as a whole. The Orks are in other words proof that, at least for them, the Facist doctrine does work, war and strife, where the strong survive, is truly the only way towards success as a civilisation.

Divine destin

A grant part of the facsit mythos is the idea of a divine, or preordained destiny, of the We. A destiny to rule all others. For example did the nazi ideology in based on the concept that the Germans were the rightful inheretor of the Arian race, and are destined to rule al of the Euriasuan continent. Divine destiny is something we have discussed before, and I indeed dedicated an entire chapter to the concept when discussing the Imperium of man. Many movements, be they religious, like the Crusades, or secular like the European colonial projects, have used the justification of a divine or otherwise preordained plan to justify their atrocities. (Nathan Crick. 2022)

The Ork version of this is known as Ragnarork, the myth that one day we’ll all of the galaxy be covered in war and strife, and on this day the Ork gods will materialize into the moral realm and lead their children to ultimate victory. The Orks, as most of the other factions in the franchise, see themselves as the galaxy’s true and justified ruler. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Conclusions

As I have attempted  to show in this chapter, do the Orks follow or live up to many of the Facist and Futurist aspirations, while not always having the same motivations. The Orks live the life of a warrior and destroyer, while existing within a deeply structured and hierarchical society. Many  core concepts liek asexuality and eternal conflic ois something that is fully, and intricate built in to the Ork society, and the Ork as an individual.

My second goal with this chapter was to introduce the reader to a deeper understanding of both Facism and Futurism, as well as to point to how these two movements are linked with each other.  As facism, and its justification is a big part of the Warhammer 40k setting, especially when it comes to the Orks and to the Imperium of man, is it vital to have at least a surface level understanding of these concepts.

References

Games Workshop. (2014) Codex Orks 7th Edition

Nathan Crick (2022). The Rhetoric of Fascism [Elektronisk resurs]. University of Alabama Press.

Rye, J. (1972). Futurism. London: Studio Vista.

Warhammer 40k an in depth analysis: Part 5, The Orks: part 2, nature of the beast

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Introduction

This chapter is meant to be an introduction to those of my readers new to the franchise. This series will focus on the seventh edition Orks, to keep with the rest of the series continuite. These Orks do look a bit different from their modern counterparts. This notroduction will be crucial to understand the rest of my arguments in this series. I will make plentiful references back to this chapter throughout this mini series, so feel free to return back here whenever you need it.

Nature and nurture

The Orks are some of the primary antagonists of the Warhammer 40k setting, an ever present evil that forever threatens the other races with their warfare and raiding. Described to be one of the oldest races of the galaxy, the Orks were with the Necrons and the Eldar at the beginning of the beginning of the history of the Warhammer universe. The Orks are described as being genetically engineered by the Old Once, woh created the Orks toghter with the Eldar to fight the tyrannical Necrons. The Old Once play the role of the predecessor trope, common to many sci-fi settings, as well as conspiracy theories. Notable examples are the Alien series by Ridley Scott, and the Old once in HP Lovecrofts series, a source of inspiration I have mentioned earlier in this series.

The Orks are described as being musculair built with very little body fat, no hair, and with a height that would outstrip a human if they “would just stand up straight”. They have small red eyes, almost non existent noses and  the huge sharp teeth of a predator. Everything in the descriptions of the Orks physical appearance aims to convey the sensation of a creature breed to kill. The are for all intent and purpose, purebred killing machines. The Orks are secribed as reproducing asexually, and reproduce by relesing spores in to their environment throughout their lifetime.

Furthermore the Orks are depicted to get stronger from the strife and pain they endure. More specifically, Orks grow stronger, bigger and tougher from the act of violence, be it a bar room fight with another Ork or a prolonged firefight with an alien army. All these sensations of violence are described to be highly beneficial to the Ork in question. Even the act of preparing for a violent act, such as making weapons or preparing once armor is described as beneficial to the Ork. The fact that the Ork, unlike most of the galaxy, requires this form of activity to remain strong and healthy, is the basis for much of the setting’s conflict, as Orks has no real choice then to seek out conflict wherever they can.

Warfare as culture

As mentioned above, are Orks dependent on a steady diet of foolhardy violence much in the same way as a human is in need of food and sleep, and will go to great lengths to acquire this stimuli, including taking any opportunity to start a brawl with a fellow Ork. These acts of random bloodshed would make the Ork society highly self destructive if it were not for their toughness and positive reactions to violence, as well as their instinctive desire to follow those bigger and stronger than themselves.

The Ork society is deeply rooted in the notion that might makes right, and it only seen as natural that the bigger has the right to boss over the smaller. In the hierarchy of the Orks, there is almost always someone smaller than you to bully. For each large Ork there is a smaller Ork, and for each smaller Ork, there is a Gretchin etc etc.

Much of what an Ork knows, and believes, he gets directly from his DNA. An Ork is predisposed to have certain traits, such as a need to go fast, or have an unquenchable thirst for looting, depending on what faction that each individual Orks grew from. Ork experts, such as engineers and medics are also born with a rudimentary knowledge of their craft, that they can later improve by experimentation. While the Orks have specialists, the most prominent fields being engineering, and medical care, much of their advances in technology and science are described to be due to their ability to will a certain reality into existence.

Mind and matter

I have discussed in earlier chapters the concept of the Warp, and the psychic energies that flow from there. While humans and Eldar are able to directly affect and direct these energies, are the Orks not as much in control of psychic energies, as they exude them. The Orks are described as creating a sphere of energy around themselves that subtly changes reality to what the Ork in question believes it to be. For example, does many Ork guns work, partly because the Ork wielding it believes it to work.

The Orks are in other words projecting their own reality onto the “objective” reality around them. The extent of this ability varies from edition to edition, and writer to writer. In some cases is this psychic power able to make any form of machinery work as long as they roughly look the right shape. In other cases does this ability simply provide the last push needed to get a barely functioning device or weapon to work.

A large quantity of Orks has the ability to draw others to its kind, if they happen to be part of a particularly intense battle, or if a particularly powerful leader is preparing an invasion. This combined invasion, colonization effort and sacred war is what’s known in universe as a Waaagh!. Many narratives are started, or fully driven by the arrival of a Waaagh! on a planet, or in a star system.

The kingdom of shrooms

Lastly, I will spend a little time discussing another point that makes the Orks such an interesting antagonist and driving force of the Warhammer 40k franchise. I mentioned before that the Orks reproduce by leaving spores to create new Orks, but this process creates far more than just Orks.

At first this process will only create more mushrooms, large fields of them in caves and other shaded areas. These mushrooms will form the basis for the Ork diet, as well as provide everything from fuel to medicine to alcohol. Next comes the Snotlings, weak miniature Orks whose only purpose is to tend to the mushroom fields and the squigs that form alongside them. Squigs are aggressive reptilian creatures that form all manner of functions in the wider Ork society, from food to tools, these creatures make the backbone of the Ork ecosystem.

Following the Snotlings and Squigs are the Gretchin, larger creatures that share many of the tropes of a fantasy goblin (source), in that they are malicious, greedy and not very smart. The Gretchin function as the slave class, making everything from builiding shelters and carrying supplies to making breakfast and shining boots.

Lastly does the Orks emerge, taking the longest to form. When they do emerge, they do so to an environment custom tailored to their comfort and approval, with food, medicine and servants enough to focus all their time and energy on waging war on anyone in their reach. The Orks are in other words, not only designed perfectly to fight, but their entire society grows organically to make sure they can spend all their time doing so.

Conclusions

The information in this chapter will form the basis of my analysis into the world of the Orks in Warhammer 40k. This chapter is not meant to be exhaustive by any means, and as usual if you wish to get the full experience I suggest you go and read the source for yourself. This rundown is simply meant to give enough background that a reader with no prior knowledge of the setting will be able to follow along with my reasoning and discussion.

Next chapter will focus on the ties between Facism and Futurism, and how both cultural movements can be seen within the depiction of the Orks in Warhammer 40k.

Games Workshop. (2014) Codex Orks 7th Edition

Essay: Ebooks, and the tactile feeling of turning a digital page

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

I have thought about why the sensation of reading things on Archive.org or in games like Skyrim had a much more satisfying feeling than reading something on a pdf. The reason is the tactile feeling these texts have. In this text I will explore the sensations of tactility, and their effects on the sensation of, and appreciation of reading.

Introduction

Tactility is something that has often been touted to describe the superiority of physical books over digital ones, and I have to agree with them. There is a completely different feeling to reading a physical book, flipping the pages, and holding the book, than scrolling through pages on a phone or PC. The feeling of flipping a page, of pulling your finger through the page. The ability to earmark a page or put in a bookmark. There are of course other senses that also play in on to this, smell sight and sound are some of these senses that can not fully be integrated into a reading on a digital book. This text will focus almost primarily on the sensations on touch, and how they relate to the feeling of experiencing a book. I personally find that I can draw a much closer connection to a book if I am able to touch it, flip through its pages, and run my hand along its spine. Just the sensation of flipping a page is enough to highlight the importance of touch when it comes to reading a book.

By tactility, I will in this text relate to the sensation of physical touch or feel, or as you will read, the digital approximation of this sensation. I aim to show that tactility is not limited to the sense of physical touch, but also the digital recreation of it. Heat, pressure and texture are all important parts of the sensation of touch, and tactality as a result. The sensation of a book can be as varied as the books themselves. From the brittle pages of an old tomb, to the rough pages of a cheap paperback novel. Many of these sensations, such as heat, can currently not be transferred to a digital medium, but I will argue in this text, that some approximations of other tactile sensations can still be found.

The PDF

The first type of text I will discuss is the one that most people are familiar with, and that most of my viewers have used in their daily lives, the humble PDF document. This document type is designed to be read only and is not written over, making it difficult to be modified (though exceptions do exist). A PDF document by default is meant to look like a physical piece of paper, with the text represented on it as if it was printed. The text itself is presented in the centre of the program, and may take on a number of forms. Different colors on the background paper, and the typeface may have been used, as well as different fonts, just as with any physical book. The program itself is made out of the previously mentioned central reading area, as well as a black and white border, where several options of reading can be found.

The PDF reader has a few options on how you may read your file, size, amount of pages on the screen at once etc but the base is still going to be of a number of pages on a blank background for you to scroll through. I bring up the PDF primarily to have something to compare the later texts with. While I do find reading a PDF document slightly less tiring than say a word document, it is still not what I would call an enjoyable experience. Why I find PDF files less tiring, I could not say for sure.

Epub and Kindle

A slight step above the humble PDF document is Adobe’s own digital book reader. Note that the same problems and advantages can be found with things like kindle readers and the like, but I use Adobe digital editions simply because it is the one I am personally the most familiar with, which is why I have chosen to use it as my example.

These platforms will present the text in a slightly more book emulated fashion, but still not very close to the actual feeling of holding a book. You are still reading text documents much in the same way as you would in a PDF document, though with a few more bells and whistles a more customizable outline of the book’s pages. Note that the books often retain some of the page layouts and typefaces of the physical books they are based on, which do lend a bit more of a tactile feeling to the experience, though this can equally be done with a PDF document.

Project Gutenburg

First and foremost, must I say that Project Guthenburg is an amazing initiative and that has done wonders for the academic world. It is an amazing project to digitize and make available enormous amounts of materials from the public domain. Most, if not all of these can be downloaded and read in formats such as Epub and kindle, which makes these texts very easy to work with. Their dedication to continuing to make available otherwise difficult to reach texts is truly the be commended. 

With that said, their reader on the website is atrocious to say the least, large blocks of text with huge margins on each side makes the writing stretched out in a strange column, and the empty spaces makes it hard to focus on any area in particular. Not to mention that the font choices were not chosen to primarily be read on a screen. It is unfortunate that such a wonderful collection of texts should be limited in its use by a less than user-friendly interface and reading experience. This is a good example of the importance of tactility, even in digital reading materials.

Archive.org

The project of archive.org is similar to that of Project Gutenburg, though larger in scope, as their efforts stretch way beyond books and other printed materials. But for this text I will simply focus on the texts, and at that the more professionally scanned and presented texts that can be found within the website’s archives.

These books have not only been masterfully digitized using state of the art techniques, they have also been recreated and presented in such a way to have the books be readable, as physical books. 

With this I mean that every single book to Archive.org in this way has pages that can be flipped through as if it was a physical book. Each page can be flipped back and forth, and the process of doing so is fully animated. This seemingly simple addition gives a dimension to the reading that is not present in any of the other digital alternatives I have mentioned so far.

The fact that the book itself is scanned and not just the text, means that the color and texture of the page itself is also preserved, for better or worse. Due to the books being recreated from photographs, also means that any notes, scribbles or stains are kept from the original. These slight imperfections further create the illusion of dealing with a physical book rather than a digital recreation. The addition of front and back covers, that can be flipped open and closed, also adds to the experience of reading through a physical book.

The Elder scrolls

The Elder Scrolls series are far from the only game series that has readable books, and not the only one that presents them in such an interactive way. I choose this series for a number of reasons, first of all is it a series that many of my readers are familiar with, it is also one that I have a lot of personal experience with personally. 

I furthermore think that the Elder Scrolls  does an exceptional job at presenting its texts in an immersive and enjoyable way. The books are written in a distinct handwritten style, the paper of the books in Skyrim and onwards are unevenly cut, making the illusion of thickness to the book even more apparent. The books also have clear animations for each page being flipped, accompanied by a satisfying page turning sound. 

Many other games have presented their written in universe materials in similar ways, and one can argue that there are examples of it being done better, but the Elder Scrolls is non the less a good example of what I aim to show with tactality. Their plentiful books and journals are easy to find in all the later iterations of the games, and can in some cases be rather integral to solving certain puzzles and quests in the games.

Conclusions

I wished to show in this text, that the tactile feel of reading a book, or for that matter carrying out most tasks, is not necessarily limited to the physical touch of that item. Digital recreations of certain items can come close to, even if not fully replacing the tactile notion of the real thing.    

This same feeling of tactality can be found in certain puzzle games, or simulator games, such as the The Room series of games. Virtual reality technology like the Oculus rift will most likely take this tactile experience even further, but for this text I have chosen to solely focus on the recreation of flipping a page. 

I furthermore wish to show the importance of these tactile elements being taken into account when designing a digital reading experience. By giving the reader a more, sensuary complete experience can they come closer to the text, and hopefully get less fatigued from the reading experience. At least, both of these outcomes have been true for my own experience, but further research is needed to say anything definitive on the subject.

Warcraft 3 and the otherness of the Horde: Orcs

~ SamRandom ~ 1 Comment

The archetype of the Orc is perhaps most well known today as the primary foil for the heroes of the series Lord of the Rings as well as many Dungeon and Dragons campaigns. The Orcs, just as the other factions discussed in this series have had a history of being portrayed as villains and monsters, obstacles to be dispatched by various heroes and forces of good.

Introduction

The Orcs of the Warcraft world is described as warlike and proud, living a life of conflict and warfare. The Orcs of the warcraft world live for the honor of their clan and their name, and will rather die than to lose either. The influences of war and combat can be seen in most depictions of their culture and traditions, from the titles of their leaders, to the layout and construction of their buildings (Blizzard 2012).

The comparison between Orcs in warcraft and certain stereotypes relating to African natives is a topic that is very well handled in the text by Spiecker (2011). I will in this text primarily focus on the Orc as an expression of the other. Here the Orc will be positioned against the more westernized human. This dichotomy is something that has existed since the series inception. The humans always presented as logical, civilized and faithful. The Orcs, and later the hoard being their opposite of vilient, illogical and savage.

The other

The Other is one way of describing the object of the self, is to relate it to, or contrast it with something outside of the self. This outside force or individual is known as the other, and by defining the other, the individual can use said outer to describe what they are not. This sense of otherness can be used to draw lines between, secualities, nationalities religions and cultures. Otherness can furthermore be related to individuals, as well as to groups of people, be them companies, religions or nation states.

I will primarily use the other to discuss race, and nationality, but also religion and politics to some extent. The other has been used to describe the underlying motivational forces, and justifications for western colonialism, where the western white and supposedly enlightened race was set against the so called savage and wild African and later Native American nations. By describing what the European explorers saw as wild, savage and uneducated, they could place themselves as cultured, logical and educated. The Others were creatures of wars, cannibalism and brutality while the Europeans represented peace, enlightenment and prosperity. The process of describing the west by a perceived other is what  is in academic circles often described as Orientalism. (Mountz 2016)

The otherness of the Horde

I have described in earlier chapters how culture and religion has been used to present some of the members of the hordes as stereotypically “non European”, starkly contrasted to the eurocentric Alliance. The same sort of tropes that were used by Europeans to describe the other is present within the Horde, and within the Orcs in particular. Characteristics such as violence, superstition and “primitive” craftsmanship are all things that make out the visual language of the Orcs and the Horde as a whole.

Due to the Orcs and the Humans being the most fleshed out factions, being the only ones playable in all three original games, it does make sense that these factions, more than the rest, color the visual language of the games. It is not a far stretch to imagine that the human is meant to be considered the protagonist of the series, seeing that the writers, as well as the players are indeed human. As mentioned before, human architecture and cultures borrow heavily from western medieval costumes and architecture, something that’s made even more apparent when taken in account the witness of all of the major human characters’ skin.

One source of the creative decision of the Warcraft series comes from its original inspiration, Warhammer Fantasy. A series that is set in a fantasy version of Europe during the late medieval period,, Indeed most continents are present in the Warhammer Fantasy world, but with a large focus on Europe or “the old world”. Warhammer fantasy is a series I will return to later on.

Orcs are, as discussed earlier, often used as the typical antagonist in modern fantasy, a brutal warlike evil that can be set against the heroes and can be dispatched with impunity. While Warcraft, especially Warcraft 3 goes out of its way to humanize the Orcs and give them more redeeming qualities throughout the campaign, they still represent a society of war and strict hiercies. Where the humans have kings and ministers, the Orcs have warchiefs and warlords. Instead of building citides, they create war camps and forts. Each thing the Orcs create seems to be geared towards violence and aggression.

While the human faction also has soldiers, and fought in wars, it is not described to be so integral and tied to their culture and way of life. While not necessarily the intentions of the creators, this distinction nonetheless points towards a trend in western fantasy of the era. By tying certain cultural traits and tropes to the human factions, the text creates a link between certain culture, and humanity.

The image of the Orcs supposed savage nature is driven home by their architecture. Their buildings use bones and leather, giving them a more “primitive” look, when placed next to the human versions of the same buildings. The human buildings are mundane town houses and straw roofed hamplets. The orc houses are in comparison made out of stone and spiked poles, clearly made to be defensive structures. Even the seemingly civilian wood cutting structure of the Orcs is known as a War mill, further defining the Orc culture as one with a focus on martial traditions.

This dichotomy can most clearly be seen in buildings that create spellcasters. The Horde has a tent that brings to the imagination northern native american tribes. The human arcane sanctum that draws the imagination to alchemists and astronomers, with astrological devices and strange glowing runes. This distinction can be found in the units these buildings create as well. Where the humans have sorceresses and priests, the Orcs have shamans and witch doctors. Terms that I have discussed earlier in this series, but that rings of a clear Western and Non-western theme.

Conclusions

Throughout this series, I have used the trilogy of Warcraft to discuss the concepts of otherness when it pertains to race, faith and culture. In this final chapter I have discussed how the use of war and warlike traditions is used to differentiate between the more civilized Humans, and the savage Orcs. This destinction is one that has been used several time in human history to justify slavery and conquests. The example I have chosen in this chapter is the European colonisations of so-called “less civilized people and nations”. I hope to show with this comparison that no piece of media is made in a vacuum, and we are always colored by what came before us. But by becoming aware of this history, can we make more active and informed decisions of what kind of stories we wish to tell, and listen to in the future.

This series was made primarily to show that pop culture can be a great way to explore the people, societies and cultures that created it. It can help us understand ourselves and others, and our place in the bigger context of the societies we find ourselves living within.