It is incredible that old stories can be restored through modern technology and techniques. Even though we know 'Alice in Wonderland' when you see a different set of pictures attached to it because it is set in a different time it will give you a new perspective. A man called Joe Hale has translated some well-known stories using emojis.
An emoji is a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion in electronic communication such as the smiley faces that you use in instant messaging. Emojis are almost like modern-day hieroglyphics, An enterprising individual, Joe Hale, has created special emojis and used them to make a four-foot-tall Wonderland Emoji Poster that tells the story of ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
The tale begins with a combination of "backhand pointing down," "rabbit," and "heavy large circle," to depict Alice's journey down the rabbit hole. Alice, represented by the princess emoji, encounters a Cheshire "smiling cat face with open mouth emoji," a mad "top hat emoji," and frightening "crown emoji" of hearts. Hale painstakingly translated these images, along with dozens more, from Carroll's original text, layering over 25,000 separate symbols until "the emoji text was sufficiently dense that [he] could transliterate the emoji back into a crude version of the original."
Joe believes the idea, ‘"Alice in Wonderland translated into emoji," is powerful enough to create images in the reader's mind's eye, and anybody curious enough can develop these images into their own personal Wonderland in their head and escape to that place. People should just use my poster as a visual aid to think about Wonderland, trip out and explore their imagination. Or: be inspired to read some Lewis Carroll!’
Here is a couple of examples of his translation of the ‘Alice’ text to a set of images. The emojis below translates as:
We're all mad here
The Hatter was the first to break the silence
Other Alice quotes as emojis can be seen on twitter account @emojiwonderland
Joe says “this project has taken inspiration from the intensely visual atmosphere of the Disney Alice in Wonderland film, William Burroughs' writings on hieroglyphics and the Buddhist concept of visualisation.”
'He described the creative process. 'When I was translating I put the emojis on in layers—almost more like painting than writing—until the emoji text was sufficiently dense that I could transliterate the emoji back into a crude version of the original. I think I put about five of these layers on, then countless read-throughs, cross-checks, etc. until I was reading through the text and not changing anything. It was a dreamy, dizzying endeavour.'
I wonder if this use of emojis might be a step in the direction of a new form of cryptography.
The poster is available online for $29.95 at http://joehale.bigcartel.com/product/wonderland-emoji-poster. I will confess that I bought a copy as an appreciation of his quixotic, creative idea.
No comments:
Post a Comment