dissertation stuff

was just sitting here reading everyone's blogs, and skim reading those that ramble too much, and wishing that someone would challenge us all to post more. cheers sita! its a valid point that we dont have long left here, as scary as that sounds, and its our last chance to talk to other like-minded people and share ideas and have a general moan.

anyway, so i'll talk first about my dissertation. It been based around the design of the grotesque for a while now, with main referencing to The Young Ones


Not really that grotesque in terms of appearance but my essay was looking more at their personalities, interaction and their context within an 80's Thatcherite society. After a long and at first confusing talk with Micheál he pointed out that its not enough just to talk about television, especially something thats over 20 years old. He suggested that i look at online socialising and the avatars as well. I hate it when he's right.

so i had a think and did some research and the essay is still sticking with the theme of the grotesque but looking at online avatars as well. Its interesting to look at how users either make perfect versions of themselves, or become exaggerated grotesques. You just have to stroll a while in Second Life to either see 6 foot blonde babes or monsterous creations.






What's even more confusing is that some people combine both.. sexy monsters? That's something i haven't even started thinking about yet!

According to Sherry Turkle the computer has become less of a tool and more of a mirror in that we are ‘able to step through the looking glass’. We can live in virtual worlds, play and socialise. However the mirror analogy though relevant, is slightly redundant, in that now due to the age of the avatar and increasing popularity of sims, second life and world of warcraft to name but a few, we can change our appearance and change how others see us. The anonymity of the internet has huge allowances for escapism in that the user can be whatever and whoever they want.