Critic of the hypertext:
Here I want to explain how “Rainbow Factory” is built, images, different colours used, movement, links, sound elements, if the objects are clickable, or if you can manipulate them or not.
With hyper fictions it is necessary to use a program or authoring tool that makes the hyper textual structure possible, in this case, Peter Howard used Macromedia Flash (Adobe) and html with some JavaScript.
- The main page:
you can see the title of the hypertext and the name of the author appearing over an image of a rainbow (no sound effects here) and then you see a huge black gate opening (with an iron gate sound effect) and a text saying: “Were you expecting something beautiful, making rainbows is a dirty business”.
- After the main page, you can see the rainbow factory, and there is a comment inviting you to click on the windows of the factory to see what is going on in it…
- After clicking on the first window, you will see the industry of rainbows falling from a machine with sound effects. And the red stop button is the link back to the initial factory.
- And the window under it is the same but this time a broken squiggled up rainbow comes out of the machine and a an other machine that makes a vacuuming sound sucks it out before it falls in the box.
- The
next window to the left top row is as the first text of the page clears
out: How the colours came. It does not have sound effects, but the texts
that appear later are the seven colours of the rainbow, appear and
disappear fading and the “page” ends on it ‘s own taking you back to the
initial factory “page”.
- The opposite window below you can see nine different texts with affirmations like:
That rainbows are…
That it is ephemeral therefore vain.
That there are 7 colours, etc.
And a huge HERESY in red stamps on them with an impacting movement and sound effect. (This part is where you can find the parody about religion and maybe a critique about the Bible).
- In
the next window you can see how the manufacturers create the rainbow, with
sound and movement effects, the sunbeam appears first and finds a
refraction, the raindrop forms itself in the screen and then the total
internal reflection is created and after that another refraction that
becomes a rainbow, there is no link back it takes you directly when it
ends.
- And in the opposite window below you can see how not all of their attempts work out, as the sunbeam finds the raindrop it breaks into pieces, this time the screen has no explanatory text it only has sound and the movement of the coloured lines.
But to end this one an exclamation appears on the screen saying Oh bugger! And then you are back again at the initial “page”.
- The next window shows you a text and some images:
"Originally, rainbows were ordinary straight spectra,
though some were noticed to have a slight curve, and were much prized
for their beauty. (Image of a straight rainbow)
Over the centuries, selective breeding programmes have
produced the semi-circular rainbow we are familiar with today (image of a
semicircular, curved rainbow).
Some people worry that spectral engineering – directly
manipulating the individual colours of the rainbow- is unnatural, and may
have unknown long- term consequences. Here at the rainbow factory, we take
every precaution to ensure that all our processes are strictly controlled to
provide you with an attractive, servical, and above all, safe product."
Below there is a box saying:
"thanks for reading our educational literature (this is ironically
crossed out after a few minutes on screen). We hope you found it interesting
and informative. " The last rainbow is also crossed out in black and the
word Propaganda is tagged under it.
(This “page” can be seen as a parody about the industrial world and how they try to persuade the public into believing the unnatural creation of products are indeed safe, but I also saw a metaphor between the creations of paper books versus electronic literature, after re-reading it)
- In the bottom row the next window starts off, with seven slides or texts in a 50’s font, presenting “the movie they tried to ban” :
The whole show is silent although the slides whirl on to the screen and the word mutant flashes frontward before the word rainbow appears.
This one is clearly parodying the 50’s B films that were often announced in this showy but over-blown way although they were almost always terrible films.
(We can think this is also related to how the industry tries to cheat people into buying bad products)
- Next window on the top row again, we find in normal text:
The Library of The Rainbow Factory, where we are asked to examine the different catalogues, although you cannot click on them,
Here are a few example titles of the long list of books:
Reproduction & Breeding
Health
Rainbow Herd Management
Nutrition
Working pots of gold
General Flock/Herd Management, etc.
This “page” does not include any flash movement or sound, you just have to scroll down and then you find a link that says: Please leave quietly that takes you back to the factory.
- In the bottom row next we can see a gate and pickets in movement, protesting for rainbow rights, etc., bouncing up and down. And under the gate a text saying: Get rid of them George. And a clickable grey round spot that takes you back to the Factory.
It immediately reminded me of the protesters that were often in front of the white house in Washington and how they are ignored by the government.
- In the next window there is no sound but you can see a presentation of the Research & Development Department (regular text)… Possibilities for tomorrow’s rainbows…
After clicking on the link that flashes when the cursor is on it, you can see the Rectangular Rainbow (text definition that appears slowly and image) and another link that takes you to see the Monochrome Rainbow (text and a grey rainbow) and another link that shows you the Pastel Rainbow (text and image) and after clicking the fourth time a text that says: “and finally” (which appears and disappears) you can see the Dynamic Rainbow (a rainbow flashing and text) to return you have to click once more on a link with the form of an arrow.
(This as Peter Howard explains is a parody on the fashion industry and consumerism)
- The opposite window below shows us images of a broken rainbow bouncing around coming up and down, back and forth, diagonally, horizontally, and vertically, with a squeaking sound effect. There is a grey arrow that links you to the next rainbow.
A rainbow breaks down (no sound here but the arrow is flashing)
Then a rainbow rocking upside down (with a wooden rocking sound effect) and again the flashing link.
A rainbow breaks to pieces (breaking sound effect) then the grey arrow link appears with a “ping” sound, and it takes you back to the factory.
- (Next window is a clear parody of the Microsoft Windows help files that never help)
You can see the typical Microsoft font and text saying: “Select Fault…you are experiencing.”
Then there is a list below of 16 faults to click on.
“Rainbows stop playing, I receive the error message: Display problems, this rainbow cannot continue,” etc. You can click on all of them but they all answer the same: “Thank you for reporting your fault we will look in to it meantime continue tour.”
And it takes you quickly back to the factory page.
- The opposite window below give you a list of 16 answers to the faults, like: We don’t know why rainbows sometimes stop playing, Now go away and leave us alone, etc. (No sound effects or movement and all texts of the list also link back to factory)
·
Next you can see an antique looking frame with a an
ancient text scrolling up quickly (Peter Howard 2008) “It's supposed to be an
ancient text extolling the economic virtues of The Rainbow
Factory. I
used some archaic spelling and the long form of the letter 's'
(it looks
like an 'f' but has a shorter cross-stroke and was used in
English
typography but died out by the nineteenth century -
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s ).”
It takes you straight back to the factory after ending, without any link.
·
And for the bottom window Peter also explained to me in an email about it “I wrote the piece
around the time of the last stock market panic, i.e.
the dot com bubble. So it's investors panicking, which is why
it's
chaotic. The price of god's blood comes from "How the colours
came"
(window 2, top row) "red from the blood of a dying
god" and the fuckers
in the temple caste is an extension of that. I was thinking that
getting
blood from a dying god would be the job of priests, and that in
a
society where this was important economically, those priests
would have
a lot of power, and also be likely to be hated when things went wrong.”
The screen shows text flashing around fast, appearing and fading, this time without sound effects over a fixed text in red. And you can see a box down on the right corner that simulates an electronic stock ticker. And the link back to the factory is a big red square with the word SELL on it.
- The last window on the top row is supposed to be a farewell from the tour: “Thank you for visiting …remain longer route” and a link << that takes you back to the factory (the link flashes when the cursor is on it) or “if you would like to leave…exit Gift shop.. >> It takes you here (out of the hypertext, to Peter’s web page)
Images
taken from the copyrighted hypertext, Rainbow Factory, Peter Howard: http://www.hphoward.demon.co.uk/flash/rainbow.html
Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Julia Valenzuela
juvaru@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press