#thesis paragraph

INCLUDING ALL THE CONTRAPTIONS ON THIS PLANET. ALLOWING HIM TO OFFICIALLY AND PERMANENTLY ASSUME CONTROL OF. A PROPERTY OF HIS EXPERIENTIAL CONTINUUM WHICH I HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE IS CALLED. "THE NARRATIVE". 

see, like Calimourn has control of the narrative  and this is expressed by his control over the imagetext and other multimodal elements in the narrative work, including the font color of the main text, and the diction used throughout the normal narration. 

to make it seem like i have actually done work look at these beautiful parallel pages:

http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=001982

http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003904

http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003905

When reading a multimodal narrative there are a variety of details in different mediums an individual must take in.

One example could be the syntax, grammar, of text as well as the font color it's written in. In Homestuck, characters communicate with each other through online chat clients, where each individual character has a unique way of typing, and types in a different color. From a technical stand point, this makes conversations between multiple characters much easier to read, but in the narrative itself, the way the text is written and the color it's written in serve multiple purposes.

The purpose of typing in different colors reveals itself to the reader after the introduction of 12 aliens called “trolls” who's font color matches the color of their blood. The trolls live in a distopyian society where blood color determines an individual's social caste, with purple representing royalty, blue nobility, green the middle class, and warmer hues the lower class. Because the trolls type in the color representing their caste, the reader can tell the social status of the character. When the trolls first start interacting with the humans, they assume that the humans' font colors reflect their social status as well, which leads to some misunderstandings early on.

The importance of syntax and grammar is reflected in the two characters Karkat Vantas and John Egbert. The two characters are foils to one another, which is reflected by their personalities, with Karkat being consistently pessimistic and John being consistently optimistic, and in their typing styles. They both type with perfect grammar and syntax, however Karkat types in all caps, and John types in all lowercase. John and Karkat are both leaders of their respective teams, however John is overly modest, and Karkat is slightly egotistical.

Syntax became even more important after the introduction of Mituna Captor, an alien who suffered from massive brain trauma, which is reflected in his illegible and difficult to read typing style.

Outside of the actual text you have the panels that go along with each page. These tell you of the character’s physical actions, and mood, through the use of simple animations as well as facial expressions and body language. The characters are rendered simplistically, especially early on, which allows the reader to easily pick up on a character’s changing moods and emotions based on the simplified facial expressions.

but here goes

Ok, so the net major goal for my thesis is... Jesus fucking christ am i distracted  I typed those first three sentences hours ago. ah ha ha ha. So notes here we go

Describe the physical effect of reading a multimodal narrative:

When reading a multimodal narrative there are a variety of details in different mediums you must take in. In homestuck specifically, important details to clue in on in the written text itself include the text color of the character, and their syntax and grammar in addition to the usual diction and word choice. How a character types can give you clue to their speech patterns and personality. The color they type in, especially when considering the alien race of trolls, tells the readers their cast in society, and where they fall on a complex social hierarchy explained in-story.

Outside of the actual text you have the panels that go along with each page. These tell you of the character's physical actions, and mood, through the use of simple animations as well as facial expressions and body language. The characters are rendered simplistically, especially early on, which allows the reader to easily pick up on a character's changing moods and emotions. Sometimes symbols are included in these panels which reference a concept or theme that won't be introduced until much later. An example of this would be on page 4,203 when Spades Slick shows Karkat his blood. Karkat is the Knight of Blood, and his godtier symbol is show on Slick's hand and reflected in Karkat's own eyes, even though The symbol for the blood got tier hadn't been revealed yet, and wasn't revealed in story until page 6,386 (it was first revealed in merchandise hoodies and t-shirts).

So, in addition to what's written, in a multimodal narrative you have to pay attention to how the text is written (syntax and color are important) as well as what is in the images. 

Mostly a repost from last week.

Also I started a side blog for my notes called "weeklythesisnotes" Yea

Ima be crosspostin everything here though, so the only reason you'd want to follow it is if you were here for my thesis and only my thesis. P much the only reason I eel-fin made the blog is in case my .doc's didn't attatch so I can have something online to send to my mentor/advisor anyway

whale, here you go (also feel free to answer my semi-rhetorical questions):

I’m going to focus on multimodal narratives, but very specifically, Homestuck, using it as a case study of the genre. I’ll analyze it from a literary perspective, borrowing analysis techniques from the analysis of comics and graphic novels and video games and visual novels. Those are gonna be the main ones I explain in my lit review. I should also familiarize myself more with analysis of the written narrative, however I don't think I'll have to explain this one as much in my lit review.

 I’ll also explain what makes homestuck unique. Why isn’t it a comic? Why isn’t it a video game? It uses elements from both but unlike a videogame, you don’t really have control over the outcome. And unlike a comic book, there is some level of limited interactivity. There’s such a wide variety of elements. It’s too text heavy to be a computer game by traditional definitions in its current form, and it’s too gif heavy to really be published as a book. Even ignoring the gifs, you couldn’t publish it textually without including supplemental materials like DVDs and etc to include the  flashes like Cascade, but even then how would you work in the interactive walk arounds? I guess if you had it all on a CD-R, but isn’t the point of a book to be able to read it without a computer? It’s possible, I suppose, to publish it as an app or an e-book, with is strange to think about. Is it really a book if the ONLY way you could publish it as a book is in an app format? And can you consider it a video game if only some parts of it use the traditional video game format?

There’s also the relationship between the reader and the author to think about, if only in passing. The fandom does have a pretty extensive influence over the narrative, though determining what exactly that influence is right now could be difficult. Unlike in early pages where the suggestion box was present, reader influence comes in the form of AH observing our culture from the shadows and putting in subtle jabs at the fandom, but even that’s just speculation at this point. Fandom shouldn't be the actual focus though, but I think it would be something interesting to look at, and is worth mentioning, because hussie's stated on numerous occasions how he's purposefully used this online format to allow for a closer relationship between himself and his readers.

Another interesting thing, though I'm not sure if this would relate to the thesis broadly, is Hussie's self-insertion. He breaks the fourth wall by making himself literally a character in his own comic. In some sections, he even alters the header of his website to put himself in his comic, sort of like background antics. And in the most recent game he published, you can even talk directly to his avatar, where he explains what the personalities of 12 new characters are a parody of. He's done stuff like that before, usually he just posts stuff like that on his blog, and not in the actual comic, which was interesting.

==> Focus shifting to using Homestuck as a case study of sorts for the multimodal narrative genre. Things to include in the lit review are analysis techniques for graphic novels and video games.

==> It will become necessary to define why Homestuck doesn't fit into the traditional categories of video game or book or graphic novel.

==> Would Hussie's relationship with the readers, and the reader influence on the comic be something worth looking at?

A thesis thing. And since I have new followers, I may as well go over what goes down during thesis posts:

These are mostly brain storms and paper exerts. Most of these whale be stream of conscience. I don't use read mores when I'm posting them, mostly 'cause it makes it easier for me in the long run (like when I'm looking back through my blog; it helps if I don't need like 30 tabs open), but sometimes they can get long. Just blacklist "thesis paragraph" if you don't want to sea them.

A'ight, moving on. So, I'm fin-ally starting back on thesis. I'm going to send weekly e-mails to my mentor, explain' where I'm at in my thought process, what I need kelp on, and what I'm thinkin' of at that moment.

My foscus is shifting yet again. I'm going to focus on multimodal narratives, but very specifically, Homestuck. I'll sort of be using it as a case study of the genre. I'll analyze it from a literary perspective, borrowing analysis techniques from the analysis of comics and graphic novels and video games and visual novels. Those are gonna be the main ones I explain in my NEW AND IMPROVED (soon to be, at any rate) lit review. I should probably also read up on analysis of written narrative, just to familiarize myself with the subject.

Okay, cool. I'll also explain what makes homestuck unique. Why isn't it a comic? Why isn't it a video game? It uses elements from both but unlike a videogame, you don't really have control over the outcome. And unlike a comic book, there is some level of limited interactivity. There's also the relationship between the reader and the author to think about. The fandom does have a pretty extensive influence over the narrative, though determining what exactly that influence is right now could be difficult. Unlike in early pages where the suggestion box was present, reader influence comes in the form of AH observing our culture from the shadows and putting in subtle jabs at the fandom, but even that's just speculation at this point.

I still need to type more. Part of my homework is to brainstorm shit so this is wwhat I'm doin. Let's see.... hmmm..... Work brain, work. Bluh. ummmm.... Maybe... Homestuck is a thing. on the internet. But it can't exist outside the internet. There's such a wide variety of elements. It's too text heavy to be a computer game by traditional definitions in its current form, and it's too gif heavy to really be published as a book. Even ignoring the gifs, you couldn't publish it textually without including supplemental materials like DVDs and etc to include the  flashes like Cascade, but even then how would you work in the interactive walk arounds? I guess if you had it all on a CD-R, but isn't the point of a book to be able to read it without a computer? It's possible, I suppose, to publish it as an app or an e-book, with is strange to think about. Is it really a book if the ONLY way you could publish it as a book is in an app format? Food for thought, I suppose. 

Summer is over this wednesday which means I have to get back to work on.... Thesis.

Yay. 

So, I've gained a few followers since I stopped working completely on my thesis so I figured I'd give everyone a rundown of what's about to go down.

I'm going to be working on my Thesis, which is on Multimodal Narratives. Basically, homestuck. Yay. So, since I basically did NOTHING all summer, that means I'm going to have to be producing content EVERY WEEK until I'm done. Which, will be posted here.

Now, here's the thing. I hate using read mores, because it makes it more difficult for me to find content, so that means if you don't like having massive walls of text on your dash, then please block the tag 'thesis paragraph.' (and maybe also thesis paragrap because sometimes I post this shit when I'm tired as FUCK and I misspell my tags)

If you find my posts interesting, then feel free to send me an ask, I'd love to talk about it, bounce ideas, etc. If your teacher made the mistake of letting you choose your own topic to write a paper on, you can use my information because you CAN cite this blog~! Just make sure if you use any of my terms or whatever that you cite it. I will even write the citation for you.