Digital and Social Media Adaptation

 

This project functions as an adaptation in the form of a response of sorts. Ode to an Orange highlights the emotional journey and nostalgia associated with eating an orange, especially as it relates to his family experiencing it together. It very nearly thanks the humble orange for providing such positive memories (as well as immune support). While reading this ode, I was taken on a journey that reminded me of my own experiences with oranges: my dad pulling over in California to pick up oranges that had fallen from trees, every Christmas morning finding an orange in the toe of my stocking. It got me to thinking: what kind of an ode would oranges write to us? Now, obviously it would likely be more of a plea for their lives; I chose to take some creative liberties, imagining that the beautiful orange enjoys being an emotional and physical support to us. Thus, my adaptation of this ode was born.

The texts being used are greatly varied from one another, not only by time and subject matter but by the very medium being used. I don't know of one person who would assert that Tik Tok is a 'text' outside of scholars of media literacy. It consists of a wide variety of genres, and is mostly used for a combination of entertainment and (more recently) education/raising awareness. It fosters every type of art from the most literal to the most artistic. I have a fair amount of experience in consuming media on this app, but am still fairly new to the mechanics of creating videos using it. I wanted to make a far less literal adaptation of the Ode, and figured that doing so on this kind of platform would get the best reception (not that people really see my videos). 

My process consisted mostly of looking for a song that the "orange" would sing as an ode to us. I knew I wanted to do something non-literal and open to broad interpretation. I eventually settled on "Make You Feel My Love" for the lyrics in the opening verse, especially "I could offer you a warm embrace/to make you feel my love". The promise of a warm embrace is how I think about nostalgia and other things that bring me joy. It is silly and quite odd to place a face on an orange, lipsynching to a love song, but I feel that I was able to demonstrate the intended message. 

In terms of literacy, I am still a little iffy on the intended meaning but I feel that after this experience I understand a little better how I can combine very different texts in an entirely new way.