"Pieces of Herself" Summary
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2017-11-18T11:14:20-08:00
“Pieces of Herself” by Juliet Davis is a work of interactive visual fiction that uses a dress-up doll interface to illustrate the societal struggles that women face in every day settings. The piece opens with an introduction page which shows an empty grey doll and the following text: “Her friends said she needed to ‘find’ herself. And sure enough, when she started looking, she found pieces of herself everywhere…” Next, the player enters the work and is provided the instruction, “Drag and drop pieces onto the body. Then, reposition them as you like (Davis).”
The player is given six bleak settings to visit: the shower, the bedroom, outside, the kitchen, the living room, the office, and main street, each of which are made up of many photographs combined together. The settings each have descriptions in the top right corner which make comments on the roles that women play in these places. Upon inspection, the player quickly realizes that each setting is filled with hidden, colorful items which can be dragged and dropped onto the doll. Each time an item is dropped on the doll, an audio file related to that item is played. The file may be a sound effect, music, or a clip of someone speaking. Juliet Davis utilizes segments from interviews of ten different women for many of these sound clips. These segments are heard out of context, but they still communicate meaning. For example, in the office, the player can drag a spine from a desk chair to the doll which plays a clip of a woman saying, “You know, it’s largely a job of the illusion of power…” The player can infer that this item is communicating the point that although many women hold office jobs, the real power in the office is still in the hands of men.
Once an item has been placed on the doll, there is no way to remove it without restarting the game. Some objects do not stop making noise, so a combination of sounds can build up and eventually become overwhelming. This may be a metaphor for how, in certain settings, it can be overwhelming to be a woman. There is no real resolution to the game, unless one were to call the end of the game the point where all objects have been collected.
Colin Crago
