Inside Anna's Many Murders

Viewing the machinima posted in this publication on 6 August, I found myself quite intrigued by it. I wondered what was behind it, the motivation or inspiration or, even...compulsion, if that were the case.

I contacted the creator of the machinima, Bryn Oh, whose responses to my questions were quite intriguing to say the least. Anna's Many Murders was born of a daydream when Toronto's subway lost power. All passengers had been lost in their own electronic worlds (blackberries, ipods, etc.), ignorning those around them. When the subway came to an abrupt halt, everything else stopped and the silence and stillness in the car was eerie (enter the Twilight Zone?).

The daydream was of a future where no one would carry additions to their bodies but instead have them surgically implanted. For example, a nose app would "smell fresh baked bread 3 blocks away" and an eye app would "set out a digital course...to find the bakery."

Hence, the victims in this machinima are largely metallic in shape and Anna symbolically appears more human. This is representative of the world in which Anna lives, a world where everyone has become almost inhuman because of the many apparati they carry.

Trapped in this dehumanized world, Anna is desperately lonely. She glosses over reality with her own imagination in order to function and be happy. In the process, she becomes quite mad and in her madness, she seeks to annihilate those mechanical beings which make up her world.

Anna's Many Murders is somewhat (and I use the term loosely) representative of today's society, the world in which we all live. Filled with digital "apps" that we can't seem to live without, we have lost touch with reality and the beauty of nature which surrounds us.

Unfortunately the patron who had supplied Bryn Oh with the sim to build Anna's Many Murders had come into hard times a few months ago when Anna's opened and Bryn could no longer afford to keep up the rent. The build has since come down but fortunately for us, she was able to make a machinima of her exhibit beforehand.

Shellie Sands

Bryn Oh's "Anna's Many Murders" Exhibit to Close

Checking Second Life artist Bryn Oh's blog, the "Anna's Many Murders" story art exhibit will soon be closing.

Unfortunately the patron who had supplied me with a sim to build Anna's Many Murders had come into hard times a few months ago when Anna's opened and I took over paying for the sim. I can not afford to rent the sim any longer. So the build will come down in a week or so.

The build is on Bryn Oh (67, 208, 186)

Bryn Oh did finish a machinima of her exhibit recently.

Bryn Oh's "Anna's Many Murders"

Anna was an enigma to me on my first visit, so I went back several times. Anna is a creation of the SL and RL artist, Bryn Oh, who imagines and dreams many, many things.

Her book about Anna will lead you through fields of grasses, to a dark house where you will begin a journey to see what Anna is all about. Bryn offers you a notecard to help you find the lighting that is most effective for the viewing along the way. Take the time to adjust the settings . It is worth it. The way is not an easy one so be careful as you open doors to pass to the next page, or whatever you may see. Look at everything or you may miss some things as I did on my first visit.

Bryn was greeting people as they arrived at the house. After I finished the trail I wondered how she got this idea . She told me that once on a subway all was silent in the car and as she looked around at all the people, each was either on a phone, a blackberry, or some such instrument. Then she saw them all with attachments to their human body.

“So this story is about people adding to their own body until they are no longer human in a way,” She told me, you will see Anna adding things to people, opening them up and adding a leaf or something she thinks of as nature.” But, as you will see, Anna is also losing something of herself, her mind.

This was a creation that Bryn made to rest from the emotional completion of the Rabbicorn stories. I found it to be not as relaxing as she did, but she said “I like blue humour.”

Visit and follow the story along to the watery end. I plan to visit one more time at least.

Bryn Oh (69, 209, 186).

Gemma Cleanslate