MJSII: Final Proj. Thoughts

Thus begins the design process for Major Studio...

“Double Consciousness” WEB Dubois (‘The Souls of Black Folk’)

Personal Tie

As a young kid my mom told to always be careful and to have my guard up whenever is was in a large crowd. I always wondered WHY she felt so uneasy about these large crowds. I grew up in Exeter, Nh a predominantly white state. Did my mother’s worry stem from this idea of the ‘double consciousness’ that WEB Dubois introduces in his novel ‘The souls of black folk’?

“- a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelations of the world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of the world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.”

This idea of seeing one’s self through the eyes of someone else is how African Americans live their lives. We cater our lives and are constantly under pressure to be seen as being educated and sophisticated through the lives of others.

Due to past events is there a generational difference between the active response of the youth today versus our parents who were too young to truly participate in the Civil Rights Movement?

• How can we ease the nerves of the mothers and fathers who worry about their children protesting | marching | mobilizing?

Police Presence

• I believe that the root of a black mother’s fear is the police.

• History shows the stereotypes put on black people have always made them a target for the police.

• I want to show the increase in police presence and defense weapons when there’s a mass gathering of POC

Protection / Awareness

• Whatever I create needs to have at least one of these two components

Data

• I truly believe that data is a key element to push any agenda that brings awareness to the immense mistreatment of black people

Idea #1

• I want to create an interactive story experience that highlights this idea of a “Double Consciousness” and how our parents worry that we are not being cautious enough or that we’re not seeing ourselves through the eyes of the ‘white man’

• Scene = A march

• 3 doors

• 1st door = the user is put into the viewpoint of a protestor

• 2nd = the user is put into the viewpoint of the police officer

• 3rd = the user is put into the viewpoint of a mother looking at this protest on the tv screen

Idea #1

Using three mirrors:

Mirror 1 = HOW YOU SEE YOU

Mirror 2 = HOW THEY SEE YOU

Mirror 3 = HOW THE SYSTEM SEES YOU