Diagrammatic Storytelling – The Great Rock n’ Roll Pauses

The Great Rock n’ Roll Pauses revolves around the observations and interactions between Alison and the members of her family. There is already a sense of conflict between Lincoln and their father who does not understand Lincoln’s fascination with the pauses between certain rock songs. There is no concrete resolution, only a glimpse of it through Alison’s observation and the conversations she has during the night walk with her father. The only observational resolution we get is that Lincoln and their father come together to listen to something. The diagrammatic format helps to visualize the complicated dynamics between each member of the family in relation to Lincoln or Alison. It also gives a sense of how certain thoughts and actions relate to each other in order to move the story on.

In terms of inspiration to my own diagrammatic story, this type of story utilizes heavily on visuals of the text and uses very basic shapes that can be interpreted into different objects that the text draws attention from. The shapes help to illustrate out how the story flows and the inner turmoil certain characters have in the situation they are in. I noticed how in one of the instances within the story Great Rock n’ Roll, there was a scale with the father’s questions and Lincoln’s answers. The father’s questions and remarks later on are in red while Lincoln is green, the complementary color of red. This pattern of using complementary colors between Lincoln and the father caught my eye as interpreting their relationship as strained in some way. While these colors may seem random, there is a sense of purpose as to why they were chosen either to illustrate the scene or the relationships between characters.

 

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