Caroline's Blog Post 9

 When I first think of virtual reality, I think of it as a way to elevate the individual's experience.  How can one be entertained/see visuals before them that makes the viewer's experience as real as possible?  What Chris Milk claims, however, is that VR is an "empathy machine" - in other words, a vehicle to spark empathy and emotional connection between the viewer and the story being told.  "Clouds Over Sidra" and "Bashir's Dream" are great examples of how VR can bring the viewer into the shoes of someone else's world, and even if only for a few minutes, can kind of understand what their reality is like.  I especially liked "Clouds Over Sidra", a story told by a 12-year-old girl who is a Syrian refugee living in Jordan.  The first thing I noticed that VR enhanced was how big Sidra's world is.  The first scene is her walking through the vast dessert, the voiceover indicating she had to do this to exit Syria - VR allows the viewer to scroll and see how enormous this dessert is.  I even like the act of manual scrolling, because as I do this to get the full 360 picture, it feels like I'm Sidra turning her neck, trying to digest the world around her.  Similarly to the opening scene, I especially felt this "turn of the neck" sensation in the room full of boy's on computers.  I empathetically felt some anxiety as I spun around and around that room, watching boys have fun and intellectual opportunities that Sidra won't have because she's a woman.  Sidra's voiceover combined with scrolling through the VR really meshes to be an emotional experience.  

VR also enhances the big world view "Bashir's Dream".  Bashir becomes handicapped after being shot by a sniper and is bound to a wheelchair.  Still, he dreams of playing basketball.  VR allows us to see and imagine Bashir's perspective - we learn that Bashir's world is much bigger than the bounds of a wheelchair.  We watch him shoot hoops on a basketball court, but then his dreams take us to a world much bigger than that one court - one that's limitless and as big as his dreams.