Paris

Lost in Paris

The first time I watched Midnight in Paris, I was mesmerized by the idea of a modern Paris by day and an ex-patriot Paris by night. Drinking with Hemingway, dancing with Zelda, visiting Stein – all of these things and more were events that I had always dreamed about, but knew would never actually occur.

But that’s the power of a great film – it makes the unimaginable come to life before you.

Midnight in Paris: Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), a 21st century writer, with his biggest inspirations: Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll) and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates). Sony Pictures Classics.

As I prepare to travel to the City of Light myself, it can be argued that I’m kinda, sorta, okay REALLY excited to see what adventures await me. But that trip is still a few months away, and in the interim, I still have several projects to finish and finals to prepare for.

But all work and no play has never been my strong suit. Which is why, when assigned an interactive fiction project in my Writing for Digital Media class, I knew that I needed to get the Paris of my dreams out of my head and put it into my project. Relying on the idea of an ex-patriot invasion from Midnight in Paris, I began to plan how the story would play out.

It’s a well-known fact that the writers, and, well, almost everyone, in the 1920’s were huge drinkers, dancers, and lovers of all things that were emblematic of the Jazz Age. With this in mind, I did a quick Google search of what were some of the favorite drinks of famous ex-pat authors, because I knew that I wanted to start this project off with the participant in a bar and ordering a specific drink, which would make one of the two men nearby to comment on the choice.

Creating the dialogue was my favorite part of this entire project, for I truly felt like I was there in that bar, sitting next to Fitzgerald, trying to have a conversation with him while Zelda went off dancing and drinking. I think that in interactive fiction as a whole, the story has to be engaging, descriptive, and overall, feeling real, like it could actually happen. The same feelings I had when watching Midnight in Paris were the ones I tried to recreate with words and actions, which wasn’t always the easiest thing to do.

I mapped out the different narratives I had created and actually had it completed on a Google Doc before planting it into Twine, an online, open-source tool to creating interactive fiction pieces. While Twine was completely new to me, I was very glad that I had already written my story, since I knew what my different options were and how I wanted the story to connect. As a whole, however, Twine is extremely user-friendly, and if you know how to code, your options for customizing your story are nearly limitless.

For me, though, publishing my story to a site that could host the .html file was tricky, considering that I’ve never done anything remotely close to the field of computer science, but with some assistance of my professor, my story was up and running in no time.

All in all, this project daunted me ever since knowing about it. It was something that I had never done before and was something that I simply assumed would be challenging every step of the way. But when I figured out that I wanted to create a Paris dream world featuring my favorite authors, doing the “work” became something that I looked forward to. And I think that is so important to realize in the bigger scope of life: if you truly love what you’re working towards, it won’t feel like work at all.

Paris at night. Google Images.

To play my interactive fiction game, “Lost in Paris,” click here.

To find out more about some stories behind Hemingway and Fitzgerald, check out this article about their first time meeting each other.

Unlocking the Past

In my Medieval Art class last semester, we looked in-depth at several types of Gothic cathedrals in France (yes, there’s more than just one type of Gothic). But the cathedral that really captivated me and eventually became the subject of my term paper was Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. This chapel is other-worldly; the highly ornamented interior, matched with the fact that the stained glass windows account for nearly all of the wall surface in the building, truly gives onlookers a sense of how powerful and wealthy the French monarchy was at one point.

A view of the upper chapel, which was reserved for Royal Family’s private use. Relics, such as The Crown of Thorns, The Spear of Wisdom, and a piece of the True Cross, were once placed under the apse.

Now, I’m sure all of you are thinking, “Okay, but what does this 13th century church have to do with, well, the modern times?” And the answer is simple: because of modern times, we now know more about the windows than anyone ever before, making this church a huge tourist site in Paris.

Specifically, this church uses a location-based narrative app that, once downloaded, helps tourists receive a better understanding of the scenes and people depicted in the windows. By pointing your phone’s camera towards a specific section of the rose window or towards the main windows surrounding the church, the app tells you the story behind the biblical or historical French scenes that encompass this beautiful space. Windows that are fifty feet high can now be understood for all that is pictured within them.

Think about it–this is a remarkable feat. For centuries, the only thing that people could see when coming into this space included the intense colors and some window scenes–never could anyone really see all of the art that was above and beyond them. By using the technologies of today, our generations now have the chance to unlock the past. We have ways to keep the past relevant and interesting by incorporating modern aspects to museums, buildings, and literature–making the people and stories of the past just as exciting as those of today.

For more scenes from Sainte-Chapelle, check out this video: