Electronic literature part two:In depth examination: My Body by Shelley Jackson

Investigate for 30 minutes

*added additional information due to assignment overlap (10/4)*

What sets Jackson's work apart from all the other hypertext fiction work I have encountered is that each section can stand alone. Each link is a separate anecdotal story. "My Body" is essentially an anthology of sexual, discovery, and identity stories. I have no doubt that it could easily translate to paper.

(I went down the "hip" path)

The author's tortured soul agonizingly recounts experiences with her body, often degrading her own while comparing it to models. A detail in the hip path leads to shaving legs. That story was a little horrifying, having to picture a woman who loves her leg hair and attempts to braid and/or dreadlock it. Just from reading those two short sections, the reader can tell the "author" has body image issues. She is different, yet her thinking is influence by society. She hates her hips because they don't match the images of perfection depicted in Greek art. What she probably doesn't know is that Greek art did not strive for realism (here comes a theater history tangent). It saw to correct reality, so in no way should a person strive to become a "Greek goddess". Mortals don't look like that, and never did.
 
Still, the affect of an image on a person is a powerful thing. Insecurness about hairy legs leads to insecureness about hair on other body parts, like the feet. (The more insecure the author got about her body, the deeper the reader dived). Once again, two conflicting images (hobbit and a girfriend) torture our "author" What was is the right way? There is no right way, because people's bodies differ, and can do unique things. While one person may be able to dance en-pointe, another may be able to play the piano with their feet.

 The body is constantly experimenting. I'll spare you what this part was talking about experimenting with. But in this section was a link that ended the story: all tales connected by a single theme: possibility. Each click is a new discovery about the story, which in turn is a new discovery about the body.

That format was very effective. Graphic or non-graphic, not once did I pause and wonder whether a tale was necessary or relevant like in "The Heist". The main difference between "The Heist" and "My Body" is that not all elements in "The Heist" were well connected. I picture "The Body" as a map, where all points are part of the whole, and it is up to you to find the connections. But the connections are there.

In revisiting "The Body" today (due to the fact that it was actually assigned for monday and I chose it was a selection on wednesday because I dodn't look at monday's coursework first), I can see that through creating a hypertext exploration of the body, Shelley illustrated the deep insecurities and questions the character has. At first, most of the issues seems superficial and the author self-conscious, but as the links dig deeper, the reader finds that "The Body" is not about insecurities, but about discovery and acceptance. From insecurities comes wonder and question, which lead to new discoveries and acceptance. Every acceptance about the body utimately culminate in acceptance of yourself.