<aside> 💡 Assignment: like ****it’s not a lot of work but it’s also a lot of work

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• Cezar:

  • brand hijacking, i.e. how Supreme capitalised off of Barbara Kruger’s work
  • it’s better to just collect the videos manually lmao building a video database is too much
  • since I mentioned that I want the shopping site to be a balance of a branded shopping experience and visual essays/research, he said it’s important to choose when to be in-character vs out-of-character, i.e. am i the “consumer” shopping for the first time or am i the all-knowing “researcher” who knows everything
    • also to be aware of over-explaining and let the material speaks for itself
  • do i plan to manufacture these artifacts into real products??? probably not in the next 4 weeks. some of these artifacts are real and working, they’re just not materialised

• Mimi:

  • so Mimi gave really good feedback!!! that broke my brain!!!! it really helped me recognize the pre-conceived notions that im carrying
  • she asked “what’s the angle that im presenting this project from?” and whether i have talked to other Americans about these references
    • i haven’t & most of my insight into the american’s pov are from books, it’s one of the blindspots that im still unwilling to face
  • while these references (like Wentworth’s “this water tastes like Vietnam") doesn't resonate with me, it actually make sense to Mimi, who experienced the aftermath of the Vietnam war in America and can attest that these references do carry real-life significance and meaning
    • this took me by surprise, since i have been operating based on the assumption that these references are comical for baseless reasons, hence referring to them as "myths” or “caricatures”, which they are to a certain extent, but i also forgot to acknowledge that there are some truth to the core of these sayings, that they exist for a reason
  • one of the other Vietnam refs that frequently showed up in my research is Frasier’s "oh no no, im not getting into that Vietnam"; in this context, I read Vietnam to mean “mistake”. To Mimi, it reads as a bog, a swamp, a quicksand, an endless pit with no way out, which can be understood metaphorically (the war went on for so long) and literally (there are many swamps in vietnams jungle). so in a way, it’s even worse that a “mistake”. The My Lai Massacre was mentally derogatory for anyone who learned about it.
  • so while i read many of these references as being "anti-Vietnam" or "anti-communism", to many Americans, the references may actually read as a reflection on the difficult guilt that many people live with, like a constant aching reminder.
  • sayings like "that water tastes like Vietnam" makes sense since it utilize the long-lasting trauma that is deeply embedded in America’s psyche, the war was so traumatising that the sheer mention of the word “Vietnam” is enough to trigger a sensory experience. to “smells like Vietnam” is to smell the stench of the swamp, or agent orange, or death
    • but she also did say i should turn the “that water tastes like Vietnam” into a spray ;)
  • TL;DR Mimi said to be clear about my point of view, that this project came from my reading of how "Vietnam" is portrayed through the America’s pop culture lens, rather than a "universal truth" or just calling it "an American lens" since not everyone will read it that way
  • she also suggests other ways to add immersion/context to the experience, since the concept of a “shopping website” can be indirect or vague
    • she suggested looking at bus tours! those new york tourist bus experience packages! or a walking tour of chinatown! basically examine any form of structured guidance and see how they operate, what they choose to show & in what order (”if you’re an alien being guided through this “vietnam” for the first time, what would you see first?”) since im sitting on lots of thoughts and research, i need to give it some sort of container (Tong Wu also mentioned this) to connect the work together, and providing a guided “tour” into my reading of what “vietnam” is like through american lens would be a good way to present my thesis.

• Sam Lavigne:

  • “Vietnam filtered through American’s imagination”
  • “a punchline, a blunder, a terrible American atrocity”, Henry Kissinger/McNamara related
  • “helps people question the US government”
  • “there’s power in number”
  • no need to try and package it as a shopping site, just make a website, have a statement & show the small projects
  • find a way to open it up to the wider community – ask for contributions!

• Nicole He:

  • introduce the presentation as a “tourist guide to “vietnam” “, present this “vietnam” as if it’s a real place
  • find a specific reference (Lonely Planet, etc.) and mimic the format – find a way to frame the presentation as ironic
  • play up the tourism guide language, add a layer of fiction to it
  • presentation as a performance
  • do a live demo of google home since it’s the most well-received piece so far – it will add realism & excitement to the presentation
  • be conscious of the character I’m presenting and avoid breaking the fourth wall – that means that if I’m presenting as a tour guide, I cannot talk about my process working on the projects

  What’s Next?

  • I’m starting to finesse the presentation! general feedback is my points are clear and they came across well, but I do want to change up the way I present in the final prez
  • also need to add more slides to break down each project, how they work
  • The projects I have so far:
    • A digital archive of Vietnam clips
      • maybe I can make a website for them to live on
    • A sitcom where all the references are Vietnam
      • need to finesse more
    • A voice assistant that speaks in America and Vietnam
      • setup live demo for google home
    • A desktop performance of propaganda
      • this may break character so I may have to change it idk let’s see
    • A tour guide to fictional/fake Vietnams around the World
      • need to finesse more
      • make a guidebook + map + live google traveling map????????
      • maybe print out multiple copies for the final presentation
  • most of my concerns revolve around how to package them, Sam said I don’t need to, Mimi said maybe try a tour guide, Nicole also agreed that instead of a shopping site, some sort of tourist-related metaphor would make more sense
    • if possible I may make a small shopping website to sell “Vietnam” artefacts & that can be my last project
  • Nicole’s suggestion of doing the google home live makes sense since it will add realism
  • https://www.sceen-it.com/