Abstract
Interactive narrative requires new techniques in order to truly exploit the dramatic possibilities of the ergodic, first person experiential viewpoint. In the interactive 3D virtual reality installation Beyond Manzanar the author used concepts borrowed from music theory to focus dramatic development on the emotional states evoked in the user by interactions with the virtual environment. The piece explores parallels between the imprisonment of Japanese Americans at Manzanar Internment Camp in Eastern California during World War II, and Iranian Americans threatened with a similar fate during the 1979-’80 hostage crisis. Users experience the space in the perspective of the immigrant, their own movements triggering the dramatic inevitability of their own imprisonment.
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References
WWII internment of Japanese Americans: http://bss.sfsu.edu/internment/documents.html . Threats to Iranian Americans: Carter Cracks Down: Iranian Students Face Deportation, Seattle Post Intelligencer, November 11, p. A-1 (1979), Grabowicz, P.: Acts Against Iranian Students Disturb Japanese-Americans, Washington Post, November 23, p. A21 (1979)
Robinson, G.: By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (2001), See http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/pp/korematsu_II.htm on ruling that Internment was not justified, Also see Rep. Norman Mineta’s remarks in the Congressional Record: http://bss.sfsu.edu/internment/Congressional%20Records/19850219.html#n13
Fogarty, J.: Hayakawa to Seek Internment of Iranians, San Francisco Chronicle, March 12, p.1 (1980), Reactions to Hayakawa’s bill from the Japanese American community: Eastham,Tom. Hayakawa’s seize Iranians plan attacked, San Francisco Examiner, March 12 (1980)
Aarseth, E.: Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Johns Hopkins U. Press, Baltimore (1997)
Campbell, J.: Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton U. Press, Princeton (1972)
Meyer, L.: Emotion and Meaning in Music. U.of Chicago Press, Chicago (1956)
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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Thiel, T. (2004). Beyond Manzanar: Creating Dramatic Structure in Ergodic Narratives. In: Göbel, S., et al. Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment. TIDSE 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3105. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-27797-2_32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-27797-2_32
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