“High Muck a Muck: Playing Chinese” - Personalizing Immigration
“Take a gamble and immigrate.” These are the opening lines to the digital narrative “High Muck a Muck: Playing Chinese”, an interactive audiovisual poem from a collaboration of nine Canadian artists and programmers that captures the experiences of Chinese immigrants into British Columbia. While this could have been told in another medium, the choice of this group to have “High Muck a Muck: Playing Chinese” as a digital narrative offers a more personal connection to the reader through its combination of immersive interactivity and audiovisual presentations, providing further insight into Chinese immigration and culture.
This project begins by giving the viewer an immigration lottery ticket of sorts which lands them in British Columbia, Canada, already inviting them to be a part of these experiences. From here they are given options of exploring various cities in the regions through a hub area of painted blue dots and learn about the backgrounds of various immigrants. This is a non-linear experience where the viewer is able to jump in and out of each city at will. Each area is littered with clickable icons that reveal poems, interview audio, and abstract videos. A reader can learn how Chinese immigrants in Victoria attempted to make their Chinatown feel as close to home as possible but struggled with true immersion due to old buildings and familial associations to the area. In Richmond, explore how these immigrants were faced with communist stigmas, how this affected their lives and how they combatted this. Vancouver offers experiences of Chinese-only jobs, Chinese-only cemeteries, etc. due to a xenophobic culture in place.
The ability to interact with these stories at the viewers’ leisure offers a more personal experience than if this was simply in a novel, movie or other medium. Instead of reading or watching these people recount their backgrounds, clicking on each drawing offers a connection that is only available through digital narrative. It’s almost as if they’re having a conversation with the viewer directly, highlighting the importance of what they’re saying.
The site is more effective in being able to grasp the almost infinite directions this game of chance, immigration, can take a person. While other formats like a series of TikTok’s or a short video on Facebook might have a greater outreach, these hypertext poems, videos and interviews give the audience a chance to be a part of these stories through an interactivity that isn’t offered on those more viral platforms. With each section the reader opens a new beautifully crafted hub of immigration stories that bring a culture with it. These aren’t poems that should be simply be printed out or read aloud but experienced by the reader’s interaction. Because this may be a little more longwinded than a snapchat story, it may never go “viral”, but it encapsulates a broader but more thorough understanding of the immigration lottery.
The way this site isn’t viral can almost speak to the way we approach media today. With modernization in narrative technology, “High Muck a Muck: Playing Chinese” is a great example of how story can adapt to all sorts of different mediums. The story, however, isn’t effective in reaching a wide audience, something Nicholas Carr would probably agree with. As the digital age has advanced, Carr argues that the internet has changed the way people absorb information from a process of deep reading to quick headlines and virality. While those reach audiences faster, this also means they aren’t as easily entertained in absorbing more information. If given air to breath, these stories can be the most effective in not only immersing oneself in Chinese culture, but in the struggles these many individuals from all walks of life face when immigrating to a completely different environment.
Aside from the general interactivity, “High Muck a Muck: Playing Chinese” offers a great aesthetic throughout the project with its visuals, also contributing to viewer immersion where other mediums might not be able to. Visual representations reminiscent of Chinese watercolor paintings are present throughout the project. These watercolor images, including a boat crashing through waves in the Pacific Rim, a woman crying outside of a segregated cemetery, a man being denied entrance to a hall, a plane landing in Rebel, and so many others highlight, not only the origin, but the personality of these interconnected narratives. Even the hub map of British Columbia is painted on the back of a person, symbolizing the labor these individuals went through, as well as an intimacy to their stories.
Similar to the watercolor artistic decision, the typography throughout the piece is also reminiscent of Chinese culture. The poems and other aspects of the work are done in an ink-brush font that similarly captures this immigrating culture. It allows for the audience to feel this culture spilling out onto their screen.
In addition, there are five-minute video sections that go along with each region. Some of these being more abstract than others, but for the most part, they use historical footage in combination with the narration of the overarching poem written for each city. These short five-minute clips are able to stick with the rest of the digital narrative thematically. While they aren’t watercolor animations, they offer the same emotions evoked by the other aspects of this work.
The site doesn’t have a specific ending, which can be taken symbolized through the video under the section “Everywhere and Nowhere”. The video played by clicking on a yin-yang symbol between two people. The video starts with a black and white image of an older Chinese man as it ever slowly pans in on his eye to the equally slow and beautiful music. This man is then double exposed and eventually faded and zoomed out to show a newborn baby in its place. This in combination with the yin-yang symbol can be taken in context of the immigration motif, as it’s never-ending, this series of poems doesn’t have a beginning or end either. A look deep into the eyes of immigrants old and new reflects back the personal nature of these stories as well.
Visuals only cover a portion of this project, and as immersive as they can be, the audio ties the rest of this narrative together in a nice bow. Boats crashing into the downturn of waves, trains halting to a stop, birds chirping, shop bells ringing, this project utilizes deep soundscapes for each of its explorable areas. These soundscapes do an excellent job of keeping the audience involved, captivating them in these scenarios.
The background music throughout this work achieves the same purpose. Various gongs, in-tune humming and Guzheng strings are just a few of the vehicles that drive this musical environment. Similar to the watercolor paintings and typography, this culturally appropriate music engulfs the background and keeps the audience invested in these stories in a culturally relevant way.
While the music and soundscape enrich, the most important audio aspect of this story are the click-able interviews with Chinese immigrants that migrated to these specific towns and cities. Denoted by watercolor icons of ears, they explain their own tensions between cultures and race as they navigate their new homes. It’s essential for grasping the intent of this narrative, to give light to these experiences, as the listener hears directly from those involved.
“High Muck a Muck: Playing Chinese” is an excellent interactive narrative that explores the struggles of Chinese immigrants throughout British Columbia, Canada. While these stories are captivating in their own right, the digital medium through which they’re told makes the viewer that much more sympathetic to their themes. A book might be able to offer the typographic elements, a song can convey similar emotions, a movie can show the short clips, or even the painted visuals, but they wouldn’t be nearly as effective in personalizing these immigration stories through a combination of a digital narrative’s interactivity and audiovisual elements. It’s through these and their cultural aesthetic that while might not have it go viral, is the most powerful use of the information to illicit a compassionate response from readers.
