Media Bodies Wk 7 – Smell

What sense did this week’s video and written text (Perfume) give you of what it might be like to be a body in the environment shown/described?

  • Extremely descriptive language = heightened awareness of the embodied environment
  • Being in the environment shown would be sickening and claustrophobic. The smell is depicted to be overpowering and lingering everywhere, making it feel as though there is no escape.

How did they do this? (What techniques did they use?)

  • Video Clip = Descriptive narration, disturbing and gory imagery, unpleasant spot sounds of fish heads being slammed off as well as the sound of diseased insects crawling around on food being sold.
  • Written text: Repetitive and descriptive writing

What are some of your ideas about the affordances of the different media modes? (What do the different types of media allow you to do with/for an audience, or for/with the story?)

  • Video affordances = Able to visually depict the smell meaning that a descriptive narration isn’t always needed
  • Written affordances = Able to describe the smellscape without distractions of visual movement

What is one idea or concept from the reading this week that interests you? Why does it interest you?

  • ‘Many  of  the  participants  in  this  study  equally remark  on  memory  as  a  connotative  and  performative  activity  that significantly intersects with ritual sensations of unique “smellscapes” (cf. Porteous 2006: 91)’
  • I find this really interesting, especially in relation to having an embodied experience. Certain smells cause people to feel nostalgic, and that feeling is thought of mentally but felt physically within the body. Trying to depict this through the media could be an indulging task.

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