My boyfriend came back from the war

Title: My boyfriend came back from the war
Artist: Olia Lialina
When to release: 1996
Location:  Web 

Detail: 

*Combines the images and narrative
*Love story à a couple reconvene after the war 
*The screen is divided into several frames
*Audiences are able to navigate by clicking on the text and images
*New frames and pages are taken 

Technique: 

*Hypertext to give the user instruction

*contains links to other texts

*The audiences have no limit as it 

share some of features of other artist and art movement:

*Piet Mondrian

    à lines delineate the rectangular forms

    à thick lines make brilliant contrast against the background

   à primary color : black and white color 

*DaDa Art

    à uses the Internet as medium, and which

         could not exist in the real world

*Conceptual Art : focus on the idea and concept of the work over the materials used and the traditional aesthetics

    à hypertext  

Aesthetically pleasing :

 White and black are two mainly colors exist in the web, the big contrast reflect how a  person mentally change caused by the war. The first image depicts two people, one is colored with black while the other is colored with white, actually they are the same people, the white represents the man in the prewar, while the black represents him on postwar.

The noteworthy about this work: 

It is a browser-based cyberfeminist art, the artist  used the hyperlinks and frames to create to the art work by clicking on images and texts. It is considered as a breakthrough in art world because the audience not only can merely look at it, but they can also take part of it by clicking the image. 

Quote: 

1. Lev Manovich,The Language of New Media (First MIF Press paperback edition , 2002), 45.

'The spatial montage of My boyfriend came back from teh war follows the logic of simultaneity of the modern GUI... The user of Lialina's site can activate different hyperlinks that are all simultaneously present. Every action changes either the contents of a single frame or creates a new frame or frames.'

2. Tribe Mark , New Media Art, ( Taschen , 2006) 

 'But what is it that makes this particular work so influential? Perhaps it resonates with other artists because it is among the earliest works of New Media art to produce the kind of compelling and emotionally powerful experience that we have come to expect from older, more established media, particularly film.'

Mary Flanagan, [domestic], 2003 

Feature:

- represents Flanagan's childhood home in Wisconsin which was burnt down when she was seven-year-old

- reconstructs the three-dimensional environment in the computer game.

- In this game, players will enter a labyrinthine room, they will encounter fire and need to shoot    and  blast away enemies

-Unlike other game, domestic is not only a  first-shooter  video game  but also an exploration of childhood memory

-Also, the game is not only suitable  for boy, but also for girl. It is full of feminism  because replaces physical conflict with emotional exploration. 

Do you think it is an art or not?
I think it is an artwork
Reason:
-people can interact with it when playing the game
-it can express the artists emotion 

 Screening of Gamer Revolution:

According to the film, what are some pros and cons of playing videogames for individuals and societies?

The advantage :
Firstly, the videogame can stimulate the economic development, according to the film ,it mentions that the videogame produces almost 25 billions dollars every year,  in view of that , more and more investors are willing to invest money. The industry can not only provide the employment opportunity, but also can  make money to the country. Also, playing the videogame can release the pressure and frustration of players. Nowadays, many people are under high pressure coming from their work and study, they need something to release their pressure and playing videogame can satify their need.

The disadvantage:
the cost of buying videogame is quite high, the buyers need to buy continuously  to upgrade their game. Also, it will arouse their bad emotions, some games are bloody and violate, the players have to shoot all their enemies to win the game, it will evoke their aggressive emotion.

According the film, is there any evidence that digital games can encourage aggressive values and anti-social actions in the real world? Do you agree?

Yes,there are evidences
The games are full of bloody,it is almost about killing and shooting. in the American Army, it encourages players to kill their enemy as it's rule is the more people they can kill,the higher score that they will award.it cconvey a bad message to the society that using violence is the only a mean to solbe the problem.Besides, another game Under Seige which brings the real conflict between ISreal and Palestine into the vediogame.


Should government have the right to ban certain games?Why or why not?

No,the government have no right to ban.
Firstly, the games can bring so many benefits to the economy,for example Suser MArio Brothers sold over 155millions around the world.it can stimulate the whole country's enconomy ,it should be regarded as retail sale but not a game only.

Secondly, banning the digital game is an act of banning the freedom to create.digital game is a new form of art, banning them is as same as banning the films and the book. We are in HOng Kong our laws ensure we can have the right to speak , to assemble as well as to publish. Banning the digital game means to deprive our right to create to speaks and also to publish.

Finally,there is no a correlation between digital game and violence. Up untill now, no evidence or research prove And point out that playing digital games can train children to kill. On the contrary, the digitalgame are something that eencourage children to creat, to imagine, to relax .