In The Language of New Media, Manovich compares databases and narratives. He explains that “the database represents the world as a list of items” while “a narrative creates a cause-and-effect trajectory of seemingly unordered items” (225). He goes on to state that “… web sites, and other new media objects organized as databases correspond to the data structure, whereas narratives, including computer games, correspond to algorithm” (226). I have found that I do not follow the narrative structure of some of the works we examine.This may be because I was not exposed to databases in their creative form before this class. However, narratives cannot compete with a database’s ability to constantly add more data.
The Whale Hunt blends the narrative and database well. I really enjoyed the collection of photographs because of their narrative and the story they told. The photographs can be characterized as a database, but also have a clear narrative. One common theme from the photographs that stuck with me was the constant daylight in Alaska. I was trying to categorize this as being part of the eerie and uncanny or the sublime but was unable to do so definitively. On one hand, I would not say this constant daylight invokes feelings of uneasiness or uncertainty. At the same time, I do not think it is overwhelming in any way, such as in size or magnitude. As someone who has not experienced constant daylight, I think it would cause a feeling different from either the sublime or the eerie and uncanny.