Summary:
"I Got Whacked in the Face with a Baseball Bat” (which will be shortened to "Whacked") by Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries is a humorous social commentary about being different, and describes the narrator being hit in the face by a person who did not like their face. The story brings up many topics, but the main idea is that the narrator seems to
confuse reality with fantasy. The narrator uses his story to bring up points on being humiliation and how that can cause envy and violence in people. In addition, the story discusses how being different from the rest, in the way the narrator looks or acts, is something that is out of the control over the person. The main basis of this argument of being different is around his want-to-be girlfriend, who the narrator is awkward around. It brings up the point that the narrator was powerless and humiliated when the guy hit him with the baseball bat, since when the narrator was hit, he felt as though his deepest secrets and fears were exposed. The play on words both in the literary and digital sense was an important component to the piece.
Composition:
The narrative is created as a video using black text in a white background with upbeat music and varying font sizes. The fluctuations in the music are timed to work with the changing of the text on the screen. The typography of the work is significant since varying font sizes with the simplicity of the overall piece amplifies the intensity of the work. There is no manipulation to the narration itself, but the sensory components play an important role in experience of the text. It creates a sense of empathy to the text, and makes the reader feel every word that that comes on the screen. This empathy allows for the readers to engage with the text even more.
Argument:
In "Whacked", the lack of control to the readers is prevalent. Even though the freedom to manipulate the story is not provided to the reader, the authors seem to focus on the format and composition rather than the interactive component. This leaves the reader powerless, since the components of the work do not give them to freedom to slow down the video or change the order of the work. This powerlessness adds to the lack of engagement with the readers. In "I Got Whacked in the Face with a Baseball Bat" by Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, the addition of music and the use of typography compensate for the overall powerlessness with large font sizes and uplifting music that make the readers more engaged.
