Tuesday 16 February 2010

Assignment 2B & C

I began this task by selecting three random images which included :




I then asked a selection of people to make up their own stories which linked the images together. Here are the results :

1. 47 year old male managing director
A merchant banker, walking through St James Park in London, is inspired by the beauty and simplicity in the plants living independently of financial support. He decides to move to the Somali village where his grandfather grew up, to become a fisherman and help educate young people.

2. 17 year old male customer service advisor
A fisherman loses his oars for his boat, in river weed so he cannot get back to the nearby town with his catch before dark.

3. 14 year old male school student
A man rests his head on the bow of his boat moored at the bank of the muddy river, surrounded by drift weed. On the opposite side of the river, the palace towers are illuminated by hazed lights tinged blue by the reflection of the water.

4. 19 year old female jewellery design student
After years of sailing along the river, a young man decided he wanted a new life of luxury and to live in a white tower with a beautiful woman. He went to search, sailing solo and finally came across a damsel in distress on a rock. His boat got trapped in weeds and the woman turned into an octopus and eats him.

5. 19 year old female textile design student
A boy who owned a boat took tourists back and forth to two local islands. One was historic and full of amazing architecture and the other was a more traditional, natural and earthy land.

6. 19 year old female textile design student
An African farmer who is also a fisherman has been growing crops for export to a large city, His produce so far has not been allowed into the country and politicians are meeting at night to discuss whether the produce should be allowed into the country.

7. 19 year old female fine art student
A young man sailed for 2 hours in his homemade boat across the river to harvest his crops. He worked all day and then sailed back to sell his harvest at the government building so he could afford to feed his family for the next week.

8. 49 year old female business development director
The man in his old boat was terribly unhappy due to the fact that he could not harvest his crops. He then received help from an aid worker, which allowed him to travel to the big city where the weekly market was held so he could earn a living to buy food and in turn support his family.

9. 19 year old male engineering student
An African boy grew up as a fisherman on a farm where they harvested grasses. He dreamt of a life in civilisation in the nearby city.

10. 20 year old male history student
A fisherman set out on a fishing trip. When he reached the centre of the lake he looked into the murky weed filled water where he finds the Lost City of Atlantis.

11. 19 year old female jewellery student
A man was sailing when he found a strange plant in the water. He decided to take the plant to be tested in the city and he arrived after dark. He could see the lights hitting the building as he docked.



It's clear that asking a broad range of individuals to explain a story from three images, results in many differing interpretations. The order in which the images have been placed shows some similarities in certain peoples thinking. The most common was the man in the boat followed by the river weed and finally the buildings at night. Although the stories show connections there doesn't seem to be any which show a exact replica of another. This is expected as no two people could possibly word their stories exactly the same. This experiment is already backing up Barthes theory of differing interpretations of the same source.