The satellite,the Screen,and the city: On Google Earth and the Life Narrative

Abstract

The implications of using satellite imagery like Google Earth to illustrate biographical narratives has scarcely been explored. The Wilderness Downtown, an interactive video by the band Arcade Fire that was launched in 2010, raises questions in this respect. The project uses geolocalization to demonstrate various points of view shown on Google Maps while shaping both the narrative and the generation of personal memory. However, in spite of the aesthetic novelty of this experience, the mental processes being activated are not without precedent, as we can see with the telling example of Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities. This opens a broader issue. To what epistemology of spatial distribution does such an encounter between satellite imagery and individual storytelling subscribe? We will see that Google Earth’s interface has a lot more in common with the city than we might initially think. Ultimately, we will see that the nature of the city involved is culturally specific and is in some ways confining.