Out of Inner Chamber is a pop-up book that combats China’s societal norms on women’s choices. The book allows audience to make choices for the protagonist and walk through a non-linear story experience by interacting with paper mechanisms.
Gender issue in Chinese society has been pervasive throughout history. Nowadays, gender stereotypes can be seen in all life aspects, from career choices to family roles, it largely hinders women’s freedom on life choices. Under this context, the pop-up book Out of Inner Chamber focuses on a key theme many young Chinese women face: parental control. Parents’ opinions are mainly shaped by the societal-wide stereotypes. ACWF (All-China Women’s Federation 中华全国妇女联合会) coined the term “leftover women” (剩女), which means single women above the “proper” marriage age. This label not only reinforces the idea that a woman’s value is no more than being a “good wife and wise mother,” but also causes anxiety in parents on girls making independent choices. Thus, parents tend to pressure their daughter into fitting social expectations and take full control of their daughters’ decision making. This projects combats the negative connotation that is associated with women who have the courage to break social norms and make decisions independently. It also aims to encourage young Chinese women to make their own decisions by following their true desires regardless of social norms and external judgements. Ultimately, the project would contribute to the formation of a more tolerant society towards women.
As a pop-up book, Out of Inner Chamber tackles this problem through an interactive non-linear storytelling approach. When the audience unfolds the first spread, a starting point is shown where the protagonist is admitted to a university and is struggling with her choice of major. Two options are provided and the audience can choose either one by unfolding through either direction. After the first decision is made, another problem appears, and the audience can keep choosing from two options. The story will separate into four different endings, all of which are happy endings, however the end states of the protagonist are very different from each other. As people may define happiness differently, the book does not favor any particular choices or judge any decision the audience made. At the end of each story branch, a mirror is provided for the audience to reflect on themselves. The mirrors metaphorically express the idea that anyone may be the protagonist and face the problems the protagonist faced.
This form of interaction fills the blank space between “choose your own adventure” books and traditional linear storytelling pop-up books. In addition to the essence of a book, it contains both physical interactive elements and non-linear story experience. The playful medium softens the shock of the sensitive topic and makes the central argument easier to take in. As the audience unfold the book, they also unfold the life of the protagonist. They are given the ability to choose freely unlike in real world. By using interaction to explore numerous possibilities, young women will feel empowered to look at a future outside of their parents’ or society’s desires. The intimacy embedded in the physical interaction connects the audience with the protagonist’s sufferings. In this way, the idea of the projects is conveyed subtlety.
The book utilizes affordable “2D materials” to create a “3D experience” in order to achieve an effect commonly performed in digital ways, which largely increases the accessibility and physical interactivity. The use of traditional materials challenges social obsession with digital approaches in art making. The project bridges digital design with traditional handicrafts, adding paper engineering to aesthetic design. This is an inspiring direction with large potentials for future projects to develop. At the same time, this project shatters people’s stereotype on pop-up books as “only for children” and without much value. The serious content and realistic stories ask people to re-evaluate this art form and do further study on both the medium and the content.
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Final Presentation
Tags:#Pop-upBook#ChinaGenderRoles#PaperEngineering