#on multimodality

The key takeaway gleaned from Alexander and Rhodes’ On Multimodality: New Media in Composition Studies is that we as composers and instructors need to understand that text is not a necessary foundation for multimodal composition. Numerous examples were provided that showed how many of the old thinkers still rely on essays and structure despite attempting to work video and image into their classrooms. Of the numerous video literacies explored in their survey, many of them told stories that relied upon the linear style of essay writing, and many of the voice overs describing the literacies were merely written down and then read aloud. The authors point this out in order to provoke understanding and change in regard to composition of multimodal forms, specifically through their use and description of Kyle Kim’s “Closer” and the student’s instructor’s response to his composition. 

“Closer” safely illustrates how composition can soar beyond text. A story is told using just music and images, much like original black and white film did. While his instructor wished for more text within the piece, the authors point out how he misses the rhetorical function of video that Kim explains in his reflection. Their discussion of “Closer” reflects back to their discussion of Viewmaster in the introduction. They argue against the idea that “everything is writing” by comparing how, had they merely attempted the same feat of Viewmaster through an essay format, the unsettling urge of the conversation due to the position of the eyes would be missing. Calling out the fetishization and reliance on the essay provokes composers, readers, and instructors to consider how to remove ourselves from the continuous, linear writing loop. 

“Closer” and Viewmaster also highlight another key idea of the book, in that the qualities and criteria we affix to print texts is not transferable to multimodal compositions. At the same time, multimodal needs to be used to encompass more than merely using digital media to write, peer review, and revise standard essay like texts. As discussed more later in the conversation about the literacies of gaming, collaboration is an imperative part of composition that is often neglected in classrooms, but can be facilitated easier using multimodal forms. The primary example provided for such collaboration is “A Costly Increase” in which students created a zombie Claymation video to discuss rising tuition rates and the rhetorical devices of zombie films. The story itself is still linear, but the qualities of the film cannot be measured in the same standards that we would assign to a normal text because it includes visual and audio components that a written story or essay does not contain. 

Another major takeaway from the book is the section about gaming. As a gamer myself, I can attest to the fact that it requires vast amounts of multitasking and engaging with multiple communication devices at the same time, adding benefits to my general literacy. For example, when I play Code Vein on the PlayStation 4, I play with my best friend and communicate both through the voice chat function on the system and through text when we are not literally playing together. While not nearly as complicated as WOW, any form of gaming complicates normal literacy because it involves much creation and composition that is not text, such as character creation and story conventions. In Code Vein, it is possible to not engage in the full story if you decide not to interact will all of the side quests or collect all of the memories. Depending on the extent to which the player neglects the memories, the ending of the game is altered. Composition in games goes beyond making a game or writing out a story, as even actions and characters within the game can compose individual stories that are not easily mimicked by another player. 

Finally, the last major point that struck me is the conversation about subjectivity in relation to the Vtech shooting. I honestly was too young to be in the know and be involved, so I was shocked at first that it had happened at all. Getting past that, the idea that the internet and other multimedia outlets can so radically change a person’s subjectivity is fascinating. People either condemned or sympathized with the shooter and attempted to analyze his writing to figure out why and how a person could go on a shooting spree, which was interesting because of how quickly people judged and turned on the commenters that critiqued his writing itself rather than the subject. The hate that they supposedly saw in the subject (Cho) was then used by them to attack other people’s opinions. The subjectivity of the writing itself spread more hate than it did critical consideration, especially because most people simply assumed that the content matter was how someone could have picked up that Cho was going to shoot up a school. Stephen King’s comment against such an assumption seemed to interact with the medium that the writing was in as well, seeing as had Cho’s plays not been posted on the internet, they would not have gotten much attention beyond the school itself. 

Final thoughts: Our reliance on text and essays is detrimental for the current and future standing of composition and rhetoric studies because the world has moved beyond just using print. Also, there are many different types of compositions (like video games, which I excluded in my original thinking for some reason) and views on composition (such as queer considerations, which I am curious to know more about.)