Visual Storytelling in the 21st Century
The Age of the Long Fragment
- 2024
- Book
- Editor
- David Callahan
- Publisher
- Springer Nature Switzerland
About this book
This volume will explore varying contemporary strategies and examples of visual storytelling across several contemporary spheres: from street art to video games, from media for children to media for adults, from images in movement to static images.It reads these storytelling venues in terms of the ethical itineraries that we live by, or would like to live by, or wish the world lived by. In this sense it relates to the fact that the term “narrative” has become a ubiquitous shorthand for discursive dominance. Observers of widely varying aspects of social life talk, for example, of changing the narrative, claiming the narrative, overhauling the narrative, or owning the narrative. While these general contexts are well known, there remains a need to continually interrogate new examples of storytelling forms, new cases of the uses of stories in differing formats, and new stories in general. This perpetual need is what this volume aims to respond to by way of its mixture of contemporary storytelling locations and exemplars.
Advertisement
Table of Contents
-
Frontmatter
-
Chapter 1. Introduction: Visual Storytelling in the Age of the Long Fragment
David CallahanThe chapter delves into the seemingly contradictory trend of long-form storytelling thriving in an era of short attention spans. It examines how visual media, from movies to video games, have adapted to maintain audience engagement despite fragmented consumption patterns. The author argues that the visual storytelling landscape has evolved to accommodate and even capitalize on our tendency to dip in and out of narratives, creating a unique dynamic between length and fragmentation. This dynamic is exemplified by the success of video games, which can demand hundreds of hours of playtime, and streaming services that facilitate binge-watching. The chapter also explores how transmedial storytelling, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, requires and rewards high levels of audience attention. By analyzing these trends, the chapter offers insights into the resilience of long-form storytelling in the digital age and the complex relationship between visual media and narrative engagement.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractWe live in a visual age, but we also live in a narrative age. Despite doomsday warnings that attention spans have shrunk down to the size of a TikTok video, there is also a widespread appetite for storytelling that offers immersive intensity over much longer periods. The two tendencies are related through phenomena such as extremely fast-paced movies, as series that are so involving we might consume them in a weekend, as video games designed in such a way that we cannot stop playing them, or as the micro-narratives on social media platforms that quickly ramify via others’ comments into vast, multi-faceted processing of some event or feeling, usually accompanied by or launching off an image or images. -
Chapter 2. Forms and Order: Making the World More Just Through Video Games?
David CallahanThe chapter delves into the intersection of video games and Caroline Levine's formal categories, arguing that these categories—Wholes, Rhythms, Hierarchies, and Networks—provide a valuable lens through which to understand the political and moral dimensions of gaming. By examining how video games embody these forms, the author challenges traditional notions of representation and suggests that games can be seen as complex social and cultural artifacts. The chapter also explores the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the interactive nature of video games, highlighting the potential for games to evoke real-world emotions and ethical dilemmas. Overall, the chapter offers a compelling argument for the importance of studying video games through a formalist perspective, demonstrating the relevance of Levine's categories to the analysis of digital storytelling.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractIn her widely noticed book, Forms: Whole, Rhythm, Hierarchy, Network (2015), Caroline Levine prefaces her work by claiming that “hierarchies of value” concerning “unjust arrangements of power” are embodied in the creative forms generated by art in general and that as a consequence to think formalistically about artworks is also to think about these arrangements. Levine has nothing to say about video games, but her speculations about forms as articulating or embodying morality implicitly ask questions about whether video games could be brought into such a discussion. This chapter will attempt to examine the usefulness of Levine’s four categories to storytelling video games, particularly given the fact that power and morality are not only central to all stories, visual or otherwise, but are often invoked in outsiders’ vision of what video games are or do as cultural experiences: that is, video games supposedly challenge established moralities in harmful ways. The chapter will also touch on the development of generic labels in the world of video games and what they might add to the categorisations through which we mediate our encounters with stories. -
Chapter 3. Video Games as Animation: Inquiries into the Animatic Nature of Playable Images
Víctor Navarro-RemesalThe chapter 'Video Games as Animation: Inquiries into the Animatic Nature of Playable Images' delves into the animatic nature of video games, arguing that they should be studied as an animatic visual culture. It explores the historical roots of video games, connecting them to analogue games, literature, and experimental media. The author discusses the genealogies of video games, highlighting their connections to various forms of entertainment and creative industries. The chapter also examines the industry and intermediality of video games, noting the collaboration and exchange between the gaming and animation industries. Additionally, it explores the ontology and relation to reality of video games, discussing how the animatic nature of games influences our perception of reality and our experiences as players. Finally, the chapter highlights the impact of the animatic on player experiences, emphasizing the role of animation in shaping player-avatar interactions and the use of humour in games. Overall, the chapter offers a fresh perspective on video games, encouraging readers to think of them as animatic visual culture.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractVideo games are a hybrid media that can be studied from many angles. They have ludic, machinic, and narrative sides (Mukherjee. Video Games and Storytelling: Reading Games and Playing Books. Springer, 2015) that can sometimes be at odds in game analysis. However, there is another side that is often overlooked: video games are also animatic works. Our first contact with them is as playable images, a reality that places them firmly within visual culture, and by not studying as such we are cutting some much-needed ties. Even when they include the so-called live action footage captured from real actors and real locations, their representational and expressive capacities belong to the realm of animation. This is not just a technical observation with implications only for animators: it makes games belong within the animatic apparatus explored by Cholodenko (The Illusion of Life, 2: More Essays on Animation. Power Publications, 2007) and Levitt (The Animatic Apparatus: Animation, Vitality, and the Futures of the Image. John Hunt Publishing, 2018), an apparatus with its own formal structure, (an)ontology, and impact on our relationship with visual media. It also has further impacts on different levels. This chapter unpacks them in five fronts: (1) history, (2) genealogies, (3) industry and intermediality, (4) ontology and relation to reality, and (5) player experiences. With this, the chapter reframes video games from systems of rules and meaning to (digital) playable images, bridging game studies with visual culture studies in order to open new venues of dialogue. -
Chapter 4. Wonder, Awe and Negative Emotions in What Remains of Edith Finch
Bartosz StopelWhat Remains of Edith Finch, a critically acclaimed exploration game, uses innovative narrative techniques to evoke wonder, awe, and negative emotions in players. The game's story revolves around the mysterious deaths of the Finch family, with each death depicted through imaginative and unrealistic sequences. These sequences employ metalepsis, intermedial references, and defamiliarization to challenge traditional gaming norms and immerse players in a unique emotional journey. The chapter explores the game's cognitive and emotional structure, examining how it guides players through a transformative experience that culminates in a renewed sense of wonder and appreciation for life. By defamiliarizing representations of death and the gameplay itself, What Remains of Edith Finch encourages players to reflect on their own cognitive and affective responses to life and death, ultimately fostering a deeper understanding of human existence.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractThis chapter discusses the emotional structure of What Remains of Edith Finch, an acclaimed exploration video game. I argue that the game offers a working through of negative emotions associated with death, decay, dark family history and personal tragedies and attempts to convert them into a more appreciative outlook on everyday existence by way of eliciting emotions of wonder and awe. This occurs largely owing to the distinct visual storytelling of the game. Players are invited to suspend their instinctive puzzle-solving or sense-making operations involving the narrative mystery of the Finch family and are encouraged to enter a state of cognitive dissonance with respect to the utility and value of storytelling as a tool for thinking. In the service of these ends, the game foregrounds unrealistic enactments of the Finches’ deaths that defamiliarize visual aesthetics, embodiment and interactivity in the attempt to instil a sense of cognitive refreshment and wonder about human beings and their choices. -
Chapter 5. Look Behind You, Orpheus: Queer Archeology and Mythical Lesbians in Contemporary Film
Ana Bessa CarvalhoThe chapter 'Look Behind You, Orpheus: Queer Archeology and Mythical Lesbians in Contemporary Film' examines the portrayal of lesbian relationships and queer figures in modern cinema, focusing on the films 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' and 'Ammonite'. It delves into the themes of queer temporalities and haunting, exploring how these films engage with the past to challenge patriarchal norms and reclaim queer histories. The analysis is enriched by the critical framework of queer temporalities, which allows for a nuanced understanding of the films' dialogue with the past. Additionally, the chapter highlights the intersection of art, science, and feminism, showcasing how these films address issues such as the historical diminishing of women in artistic and scientific careers. The chapter also discusses the significance of mythical figures and their relevance to contemporary queer narratives, emphasizing the importance of looking back at the past to inform present experiences. Through a detailed analysis of these films, the chapter offers a compelling perspective on the representation of queer identities in contemporary cinema, making it a valuable read for those interested in film studies, queer theory, and feminist critiques.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractTaking the figure of Eurydice and its spectral presence in Céline Sciamma’s Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019), this chapter explores recent queer contemporary narratives concerned with revisiting the past, while reshaping it, in relation to what Heather Love defined as “feeling backward.” The chapter also investigates how feelings of shame and regret embodied by queer figures of the past must also be reconfigured and become part of a broader, more enveloping, and inclusive queer history, one that goes beyond the concepts of pride and progress. Through an analysis of Sciamma’s film, alongside Ammonite (Francis Lee 2020), another lesbian period drama, embodying the figure of the paleontologist, who also dwells on the past, more conclusions about this retrospective look that could be read as a process of “queer archeology” will be put forward, as both films seem to establish a dialogue in an intersectional space of transgenerational lesbian storytelling, the metaphorical—and literal—digging up of the past and what seems to be a general concern of queer narratives to look not only forwards but also backwards. -
Chapter 6. “All These Things into Position”: Intermedial Storytelling via Radiohead’s “Street Spirit,” the Novels of Ben Okri, and Feminist Dystopia
Alena ZhylinskayaThis chapter examines the intermedial storytelling techniques employed in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, focusing on the adaptation from novel to television series. It explores how the use of popular music in the Hulu adaptation enhances narrative themes and creates a hybrid medium that blurs the boundaries between literary and cinematic forms. The chapter also delves into the postcolonial and feminist themes that connect Atwood's work to Ben Okri's novel The Famished Road, offering a fresh perspective on the interconnectedness of these narratives.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractContemporary storytelling seeks to exceed literary, audiovisual, and technological boundaries in order to produce intermedia communication. The rise of streaming services and the phenomenon of “serialization” have advanced the means of integration, adaptation, cross-referencing, citation, and appropriation. The rapidly expanding field of intermediality studies accordingly requires a wide range of case analyses. This chapter examines the complex interaction between the TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Ben Okri’s written The Famished Road trilogy by exploring the function of the TV series soundtrack. Specifically, the chapter focuses on Radiohead’s single “Street Spirit” (aka “Fade Out”) featured in the third episode of season four, entitled “The Crossing.” The soundtrack plays a fundamental role both in Atwood’s novel and in its serial adaptation, which raises questions of the story’s source medium as being more plural than immediately apparent. In this light, the TV series soundtrack functions as a tool for cross-media and cross-cultural references and permits new interpretations of the series. The outlining of these connections is followed by a discussion of how the TV series’ particular choice of Radiohead’s track connects Margaret Atwood’s feminist dystopia with Ben Okri’s postcolonial novel, while at the same time recontextualizing them as parts of the larger discourses of feminist, postcolonial, and intermediality studies. -
Chapter 7. What’s the Story? How Hybrid Comics Against Gender Violence Rework Narrative and Support Artivism
Nicoletta MandoliniThe chapter delves into the use of hybrid comics in Italian feminist activism against gender violence, focusing on two projects: the Luchadoras project by Lucha y Siesta and the Matrioske Parlanti project by Non una di meno. It examines how the blending of comics with other media forms, such as street art and illustration, impacts the narrative potential and participatory nature of these artivistic practices. The analysis highlights the disruption of traditional narrative structures and the activation of a method that supports the needs of feminist movements. The chapter also discusses the implications of these practices for feminist activism and the field of narratology, emphasizing the strong engagement of the viewer in the construction of the narrative.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractComics and graphic narratives are clearly a predominantly visual medium (Groensteen, The System of Comics. University Press of Mississippi, 2007, 2–3) with strong narrative potential linked to their preference for sequentiality. Graphic narratives have also been described as a porous medium, whose exposure to intermedial and transmedial exchanges, as well as their propensity to adapt to distribution through different platforms (Rippl and Etter, From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels. Contributions to the Theory and History of Graphic Narrative. De Gruyter, 2013), have historically exposed them to constant evolution and formal changes. These transformations, which include comics’ development into the graphic novel form and into digital comics, clearly modify comics’ narrative capacity, either diminishing, increasing or complicating it. Departing from these general observations, this chapter proposes the analysis of a corpus of comics-based but hybrid products employed in the context of Italian feminist activism against gender-based violence. These products, namely, the Luchadoras [Fighters] project by Lucha y Siesta [Struggle and Siesta] and Matrioske parlanti contro la violenza ostetrica [Speaking Matryoshkas against Obstetric Violence] by Freedom for Birth/Non Una Di Meno [Not one woman less], blend comics with street-art, collage, and illustration. Such a combination results in the disruption of the linearity of traditional sequence-based comics narrative and in the activation of a method that, despite lowering the level of narrativity, serves the needs of feminist movements to perform open, performative, and participatory storytelling. -
8. Voices of Graffiti in Urban Settings: Symbolic Contestation and Political Narratives
Patrícia Oliveira, Carlos Vargas, Cristina Montalvão SarmentoThe chapter delves into the political significance of graffiti in urban settings, particularly during the 2008-9 financial crisis and subsequent austerity measures in Portugal. It argues that graffiti serves as a powerful expression of symbolic contestation and political narratives, influencing communities through visible messages. The analysis covers the conceptual dimensions of graffiti, its role in political protest, and its impact on urban settings. The study also highlights the evolution of graffiti from its roots in New York to its contemporary manifestations, emphasizing its role in shaping urban identity and political discourse. The chapter concludes by discussing the future of graffiti as a democratic tool and its potential to influence contemporary political narratives.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractGraffiti is one of the most powerful visual expressions of symbolic contestation in urban settings. The 2008–9 financial crisis in Europe, and resultant austerity measures, gave voice to renewed public protests with specific cultural responses and political narratives. In this process, graffiti is clearly eminently political. The occupy movement as a transnational and urban attitude of political activism became vital to support alternative visions to dominant politics and at the same time to debate national pathways for coping with the crisis and to participate beyond the traditional mechanisms of representative democracy. Public spaces in urban settings were taken at this critical juncture and marked in many streets by graffiti as an output of protest democracy and as evidence of frustration with conventional discursive sites. This chapter aims accordingly to analyze an example of the political dimensions of graffiti in this period, embedded not only as a cultural practice but mostly as a political urban setting for contestation. Methodologically, this chapter focuses on a set of photographs of several graffiti taken in the city of Lisbon between July 2012 and April 2014 (therefore many of them no longer exist), simultaneously as a record and as a catalogue of the historical and political momentum of a time of dissent. -
9. Bourne-Again Bond: Retooling the Spy Story in the New Millennium
Anthony BarkerThe chapter 'Bourne-Again Bond: Retooling the Spy Story in the New Millennium' delves into the transformation of the spy genre in film, particularly focusing on the impact of the Bourne Identity franchise on the James Bond series. It discusses how the Bond franchise, which had been a staple since the Cold War, faced internal and external pressures that led to a crisis in credibility and relevance. The introduction of the Bourne Identity in 2002, with its more plausible plots and gritty realism, influenced the reboot of Bond, culminating in the 2006 film Casino Royale. The chapter examines the technological shifts, action sequences, and narrative structures that differentiated the Bourne films from traditional Bond movies, highlighting the influence of Bourne's grounded and character-driven storytelling on the Bond franchise. It also explores the evolution of action sequences and the representation of advanced technologies in both franchises, showcasing how the Bourne films brought a new level of realism and urgency to the spy genre.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractThe James Bond and Jason Bourne movie franchises have at least one thing in common. They both started on or around the time of the demise of their literary creators, leaving film producers with an almost free hand in conceiving films adapted from successful novels, before leaving the novels behind altogether. But the spy story is acutely attuned, more than the crime story, to the geopolitical realities of the time of their making. These franchises have therefore evolved along particular lines of development, broadly speaking, from a Cold War context to détente to more fluid and unstable relations between the great powers. One such change is the decline of Britain as a force in the world order. Following Watergate, the spy story has also turned in-house, looking at treachery and dark ops within one’s own security establishment.This chapter seeks to explore the plot lines and visual stylings that have informed these geopolitical themes in action/adventure movies. How have spy stories kept up to date with other aesthetic developments in movie-making? What kinds of theme do they espouse? In particular, the chapter will look at the competing demands of glamourization of the secret agent figure and attempts to inform him or her with elements of documentary realism. It is a truism of film criticism that the success of the Bourne films has influenced and updated the Daniel Craig Bond cycle. This proposition deserves further exploration, especially in a context where franchises and plots appear to ramify and repeat themselves, as has clearly been the case with the Mission Impossible cycle. -
10. Monsters in Animation and Related Nightmares in Contemporary Popular Culture
Rebeca Cristina López-GonzálezThe chapter 'Monsters in Animation and Related Nightmares in Contemporary Popular Culture' examines the evolution of monster representation in twenty-first-century animated films, focusing on seven commercially successful movies. It discusses how monsters are used to confront and teach children about fears and anxieties, highlighting the shift towards 'cute' monsters and their potential impact on children's emotional development. The analysis includes a comparison of traditional and contemporary monster portrayals, and the cultural and psychological significance of these changes. The chapter also explores the global dominance of Hollywood in shaping popular culture and the role of animation in transmitting cultural values and fears. By examining specific films like Shrek and Monsters, Inc., the text provides insights into how these representations influence children's perceptions of monsters and their own emotions. The study concludes with a call for a reevaluation of the 'cute' monster trend, emphasizing the importance of monsters as tools for emotional growth and understanding.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractStorytelling is a social activity that in its origin configured the confrontation between good and evil, often with malevolent characters, particularly monsters, standing in for anything that aroused fear and anxiety. This well-known etiology, however, has become severely diluted in the twenty-first century as pressure has developed to spare children’s feelings and avoid the potential for negative imagination. Despite child psychologists having warned mediators as far back as the 1970s (Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. Penguin, 1976) about the risk of excluding such characters from tales for children as restricting the possibility of understanding the inner monsters within us, monsters in their extreme evil form are now frequently taboo in children’s literature. Revision of the monster stereotype will be analyzed here in terms of how, in contemporary visual storytelling for children, the monstrous character stereotype has evolved in the animated film industry. Seven animated box-office hits from the twenty-first century (The Shrek saga, Monsters Inc., Monsters vs Aliens, and Onward) will be discussed in order to outline how Western society is intentionally ignoring or “ghosting” Bettelheim and others’ advice regarding the essential role played by such creatures in child development. The analysis will also tentatively propose that the modern-day monster for children fulfills other visual/narrative functions than those in traditional folk and fairy tales. -
11. The Graphic Self of Public Intellectuals: Chinese Tiaoman as Digital Practices of Self-Representation on WeChat
Chen LiThe chapter 'The Graphic Self of Public Intellectuals: Chinese Tiaoman as Digital Practices of Self-Representation on WeChat' examines the rise and impact of tiaoman, vertical scrolling comics on Chinese social media platforms like WeChat. It focuses on how these comics, such as Xu Zhiyuan's Uncle Lion Diary, serve as a new medium for public intellectuals to engage with contemporary issues and audiences. The study explores the communicative effects of tiaoman, their role in constructing a public persona, and their impact on public discourse. It also delves into the commercialization of these digital practices and their significance in shaping modern Chinese digital culture. The chapter provides a unique perspective on the intersection of digital media, public intellectuals, and contemporary Chinese society, making it a compelling read for those interested in media studies, sociology, and cultural analysis.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractThis article focuses on tiaoman, or Chinese scrolling comic strips, a new genre of comic strips and digital art developed on mobile media. They are a type of digital comics arranged in vertical rows with multiple single-panel comics, and they are designed for reading on smartphones. Like Japanese manga and Korean Webtoons, Chinese tiaoman pluralize and challenge the aesthetic concepts and values of contemporary visual cultures. In online civic expressions, mobile internet users increasingly employ tiaoman in their public engagement. However, few studies explore the cultural effects of tiaoman in the field of public intellectuals. This research focuses on the tiaoman series Uncle Lion Diary posted on WeChat, a major mobile, instant messaging and social media platform in China. Uncle Lion is a cartoon portrayal of a prominent Chinese intellectual, Xu Zhiyuan, whose public opinions have frequently incurred controversies inside and outside China. With the theoretical lens of digital practice, and combining persona studies in the arena of public intellectuals, this study investigates tiaoman as an intellectual practice of visual self-representation in social and technological systems. The results show that tiaoman serves as a carrier for supplementing a transmedia self, in order to construct and marketize Xu’s already existing public persona. Further, they help create online–offline spaces for the commercialization of certain lifestyle and aesthetic tastes among their audiences. -
12. Through Etched Glass: Representing Urban Place in Christina Fernandez’s Photographic Series Lavanderia
Sheila BranniganChristina Fernandez's photographic series Lavanderia (2002–2003) is the focus of this chapter, which examines how the series represents urban place and community in Eastside Los Angeles through the lens of launderettes. The analysis delves into the social and historical contexts of these neighborhoods, highlighting the struggles and resilience of the Mexican American and Latino communities. Fernandez's artistic approach, which includes the use of graffiti tags and the portrayal of everyday life, is explored in depth. The chapter also considers the influence of other artists and the significance of the Eastside's multilingual environment. The series is presented as a powerful visual narrative that challenges traditional perceptions of urban communities and offers a unique perspective on the everyday lives of its residents.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractIn visual culture studies, photographic meaning is understood as being informed by theories of language as a system of signs, yet photography does not function in exactly the same way that language does. For example, reading the photograph as a linguistic text disembodies the photograph and removes its distinct nature as a visual object, as Stuart Hall argues (Visual Culture: The Reader. SAGE, 309–314, 1999). In Jan Baetens’s words, “taking into account the image itself as a thought- and knowledge-producing device can only intensify our attention toward everything that escapes or exceeds verbal language” (Baetens, “Conceptual Limitations of Our Reflection on Photography: The Question of ‘Interdisciplinarity’” Photography Theory. Routledge, 68, 2007). Taking the photograph as constitutive of meanings in this fashion, this chapter explores the series Lavanderia (2002-2003) by the photographer Christina Fernandez. Fernandez engages with the environment of eastern Los Angeles, and personal and social dialogues in the series. The chapter considers how the contemporary notions of location and dislocation emerge in the works, through the portrayal in the series of places of the intensities of migration and gendered spaces in the American urban landscape. Given the increased relevance of both migration and gendered stories in the twenty-first century world, and the interface between the history of photographs as record and their current presence as personal manipulation, the attention of art practitioners to the continuing possibilities of photographs as morally trustworthy stories becomes of heightened interest. -
Chapter 13. The Artwork in Geological Time
Roger DavisThe chapter delves into three future-oriented art projects that tackle the challenge of representing human experience across geological time. It begins with Edward Burtynsky’s photographs and films, which document the industrial scars left on the Earth. The analysis then shifts to Cedric Blaisbois’s short film 'Autocannibalism,' which contrasts local nightlife with geopolitical tensions, capturing the immediate violence of the present. The chapter concludes by examining three projects that engage with the uncertainties of the human future: Katie Paterson’s 'Future Library,' Earth’s Black Box, and the Onkalo nuclear waste facility in Finland. These projects, situated in geologically stable locations, aim to preserve information and manage waste for future generations, serving as time capsules that defer judgement to the future while inviting speculative judgement from contemporary audiences. The projects grapple with the difficulties of visualizing and communicating the vast scales of geological time and the environmental impacts of human activity, offering a unique perspective on the intersection of art and the Anthropocene.AI Generated
This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.
AbstractThis chapter examines a series of artworks that imagine the future of life after the environmental collapse of human civilization. Beginning with Edward Burtynsky’s documentary photography and films about resource extraction (Manufactured Landscapes, 2006; Watermark, 2013) and moving into Cedric Blaisbois’s short film Autocannibalism (2018) about the chaos of contemporary life in the cellphone era, the chapter focuses on three projects that imagine a sentient future. Katie Paterson’s The Future Library, the co-constructed Earth’s Black Box, and Michael Madsen’s Into Eternity: A Film for the Future (2010) present different timescales for future consideration, yet all are anchored in some of the stablest geography on Earth: Norway, Tasmania, and Finland, respectively. Put simply, the chapter argues that, despite our increasing certainty about the end of human civilization, these artworks desire to return to the stability of geology and, by extension, the stability of the artwork to record, to witness, and to critique environmental catastrophe. The artworks participate in varying genres and timescales. Burtynsky is documentary and historical. Blaisbois is digitally frenetic and contemporary. Paterson is narrative and future certain. Earth’s Black Box is data-based and geologically uncertain. Madsen is imagistic and post-nuclear and, arguably, post-human. Despite these wide-ranging aesthetic choices, all projects rely almost exclusively on the capacity of the image to communicate, either through singular simplicity or data-rich complexity, to some future audience that will presumably care to understand stories of our demise. -
Backmatter
- Title
- Visual Storytelling in the 21st Century
- Editor
-
David Callahan
- Copyright Year
- 2024
- Publisher
- Springer Nature Switzerland
- Electronic ISBN
- 978-3-031-65487-9
- Print ISBN
- 978-3-031-65486-2
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-65487-9
PDF files of this book don't fully comply with PDF/UA standards, but do feature limited screen reader support, described non-text content (images, graphs), bookmarks for easy navigation and searchable, selectable text. Users of assistive technologies may experience difficulty navigating or interpreting content in this document. We recognize the importance of accessibility, and we welcome queries about accessibility for any of our products. If you have a question or an access need, please get in touch with us at accessibilitysupport@springernature.com