For this week’s blog post, I decided to analyze Mckenzie Wark’s, “Totality for Kids” I chose this project because I thought that it’s content-wise and visual-wise, it was very intriguing. The project is about visually representing the social state of Paris in the 50’s and 60’s and the relationships and effects through the Communists party. The content of the webpage shows how the civilians during this time were tired, frustrated, depressed, and simply unhappy because they felt constant oppression. Through the images and the phrases within the comic bubbles we can see that some of the problems that stand out deal with physical & sexual abuse, loss of freedom of speech, clash of unions, loss of trust, and the reluctance to obey.
Navigating the website was also very interesting. First of all, the title of the website relates to the visual representation. The title, “Totality for Kids” does not mean that this is a website in the shape of an interactive comic book, but it is meant to simplify it to the format in which it would be easily understood. The images are meant for an adult audience as it shows rape, murder, and physical violence (images below). Such images are not meant to be viewed by kids at all. The format of the comic strip allows for the content to be viewed in a way in which it grabs the viewer’s attention and it keeps it trough each slide of comic pages. There are 16 pages that show the social problems through Communism starting from the early 50’s and passover to the 60’s.
I think that the project is very successful because it is able to go above the normal level of teaching the viewers of this issue. It feels that by giving an innocent format such as a comic book, it allows you to see this in an alarming and propaganda-like piece. It also gives a more personal touch to the different problems that were occurring within closed doors during this time.
The only thing I would say that should be changed is the title. I understand the context of the title and the project, but if I would have been surfing the web looking for any website which helped make historical events easy for children to understand, I may have bee deceived with this website because of the word “for”.
-Karla Contreras