The Final Piece!

For the brief of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, analysis of the story highlighted the aspect of social conformity to me which I began to focus on to direct my project. Conformity is evident throughout by the Emperors reliance on others opinions before forming his own, which I have chosen to represent through the combined use of dominoes and braille, creating a braille domino.

This was a conscious decision as I felt that a domino displays the effect of conformity by representing the impact that conformity has on us as a society by demonstrating the chain reaction that occurs when an individual yields to a majority influence. The name ‘Domino’ ultimately derives from the Latin dominus, meaning “lord” or “master.” Master has connotations of power and therefore portrays the informational conformity which is displayed within the short story as we look to people with power to gain answers. Dominoes also maintain an unvaried design as all in the set are indistinguishable; either black or having some common design, which relates to the lack of identity an individual can suffer when following the crowd. The aim and objectives of dominoes also further relates to the concept through blocking the opponent therefore obstructing individuality, and to create equal values which then relates to conforming to correspond with others.

The input of braille which spells ‘conform’ is an obscured instruction towards the viewer and fundamentally society, relating to the story where we seek answers from people who we believe to have more ‘power’ than us, therefore following what we believe to be the right thing. Braille is a tactile writing system used by the blind, and in this case, is combined to raise awareness of our failure to recognise the effects of conformity. The braille also conveys the attitude of conformity by spelling out this instruction in a less than conventional way, illustrating that society appears to be oblivious, just like the Emperor, to the effects of conformity and the way it is inflicted upon society by those with the power to do so.

In the case of reading conformity, we often look for alphabetical letters to read, but by replacing letters with braille, I am stimulating another sense of touch and therefore encouraging a different approach and reawakening the way we view things. Most individuals would not know what the braille reads, some may not know it is braille upon the dominoes at all, but once it is recognised, it can be read and then acknowledged, in the same way that it took the young boy to point out to the town that the suit never existed.

The whiteness that overwhelms the piece is representational of the loss of identity that comes as a result of conformity, by changing ourselves to fit in with others. Relevant research into the colour white states that it also conveys isolation and emptiness which expresses the feelings felt by someone who feels the pressure to conform, similar to the Emperor’s situation; they fear being an outcast therefore adapts to suit the company they are in. White is also an unspoiled colour, depicting a society overcome by conformity as everyone shares the same opinions and values with no real individuality existing and since white provides little stimulation towards our senses, this counteracts with the use of braille. Intuition in the sense of conformity is overruled when an ambiguous situation arises, therefore avoiding what we might already know just to follow the majority. The placement of the dominoes finally displays an unavoidable stance, as conformity is exposed for the viewer to interpret and recognise, again reinforcing the collective mentality that is created by conformity.