VR Diaries: ‘Zambia: Gift of Mobility’ Needed to be More Personal
The most powerful and my personal favorite part of the virtual reality story “Zambia: Gift of Mobility” was the opening. I love that it started with so much joy, with everyone singing, laughing, and having a great time. And throughout this piece, I was constantly being shown different perspectives through VR, whether it was me on the ground and those with working legs towering over me, or me in a higher perspective, towering over those with no mobility. I also loved seeing a single little boy in a group of people staring at me (essentially the camera) inquisitively, because he can’t help but be distracted by something foreign to him — it was as if I was really there.
The weakest part of this story was the narration. The narrator’s voice distracted me from the entire experience. It was a very broadcast-package journalist voice in which she tried to sound extra sympathetic which made everything all the more unnatural. She sounded like she felt bad for these people, which we clearly do, but that’s something you should let the audience decipher on their own. She directed the story in a particular and biased direction, and I didn’t like that. In the VR story “Fight for Falluja,” the narration — although not from a refugee and from a journalist — was very conversational and raw.
The part that I remember most was seeing someone without mobility for the first time, and how the person crawled on his knees and hands, while also having a helping hand from someone who did have the fortune of having working legs. It was such a foreign and heartbreaking sight.
That being said, this was my least favorite story so far. I didn’t come out of it with much empathy, only sympathy. The storytelling techniques were not up to par that I was distracted the entire time. I came out of this VR experience annoyed — not only did I not like how the story was narrated, but seeing the narrator behind me and everywhere was also a distraction.
For this particular piece, I would recommend more personal interviews with the residents of Zambia, and I’d avoid relying on the journalists’ voice and perspective so heavily. In terms of technical aspects, one thing that really bothered me was in an interview with a patient that had polio, there was a giant floating screen showing the people who can’t walk that we visited in the beginning of this piece — it just didn’t belong there and it was so weird to see. I think they meant for the audience to see it again as a reference but it unfortunately took away from the interview.
What I took away about VR from watching this piece was the extent of the multitude of perspectives you can use. As mentioned earlier, it was cool to be on the ground, as well as in the point of view from a standing human, able to walk. But overall, this was my least favorite VR experience thus far. I think they should have further explained in the beginning or iterated why their body turns immobile, becoming unable to walk — that part of the story was never very clear, even though one of the mothers in the beginning mentioned she doesn’t know why this happened to her body. I still wanted more information because pondering on that the entire time was an immense distraction. Sadly, this piece didn’t change my subject matter more because although it’s such a sad topic, it didn’t feel personal. I didn’t get any empathy (sadness or hope) out of it and it leaves me feeling rather disappointed, because the subject matter has so much potential to be told in a much more meaningful manner.
Lastly, the silence at the end was too long. First, I thought it was a good technique to experience Zambia in the natural environment, in silence, but it lasted too long (until the end) to the point that it took away from the experience because I thought that there was a technical issue.
