Lady GaGa performing a remix of Dance in the Dark at the Brit Awards in honor of fashion designer Alexander McQueen’s death
David Wojnarowicz, A Fire In My Belly, 1987
So, my video has changed quite a bit over the course of today. I realized that relying on just the sounds of the edits I did, it just was not going to be as powerful as I wanted it to be. The ideas and content/clips are still the same but it’s going to focus much more on remix culture and a regurgitation of media rather than the effect of the sound edits…
Has it gotten better since AIDS decimated a generation of gay men? In San Francisco, certainly. But when America’s signature cultural institution can be so easily bullied by bigots, it’s another indicator that the angels Keith Haring saw on his death bed have not landed in Washington just yet.
1. CONCEPT
From the beginning, I knew I wanted to make a video of some kind. I intended to do some kind of performance, something similar to a one minute sculpture. But I couldn’t decide on one theme, so I scratched that idea and decided to do a video similar to our sound remix project earlier this semester. I really enjoyed them and I knew that it would be flexible in terms of what footage I would want to use because the cuts/sounds would be the biggest focus.
2. RESEARCH
David Wojnarowicz has been my biggest influence over the past few weeks. He was one of the most controversial queer artists of the 1980’s, perhaps even the most controversial still to this day. The recent censorship of his video piece at the Smithsonian really struck me. Even after his death, he is still being silenced. This led me to want to make something related to censorship. Controversy is inevitable with art, but the lines between what is censored and what is not are really messed up, and I think it’s really scary and wrong that groups of people have the power to completely silence an artist. Justin also gave me the idea of seeking out clips related to sexuality/clips that can be made erotic that are not trying to be erotic in any way, and I thought that would be a really interesting contrast.
3. DESIGN
The design is pretty set, as I knew what clips I would *like* to use and focus on. I just need to piece them together as a short video, and then edit edit edit cut cut cut edit edit edit cut cut cut. I’m a really indecisive person and I know right now it’s kind of all over the place, so I just need to be a little more organized and decisive for these last stages…
4. BUILD
Current stage. Proving to be a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I have the inclination to use more clips, but I know less is more and I should keep it sweet and simple. I’m afraid it will be a cluster of nonsense. I want the purpose of the video to be as clear as possible, so I’ll be working on tightening it all up…
5. TEST
Soon…
Edward Vigiletti - The Other Side
this video caught my eye…
“Adults train kids to become sexually mature in a manner they approve of. We clap and laugh over all the little moments meant to prepare them for this; we give them gender appropriate toys that will prepare little boys for a manhood of tools and trucks and little girls for a womanhood of kitchens and babies, not to mention makeup and high heels. We take “kissing cousin” photos of little boys and girls mimicking grownup sexual behaviour and proudly frame them or put them in our wallets to show strangers because children mimicking adult sexual behaviour is adorable (so long as it’s the correct sexual behaviour). We teach little boys that they’re not supposed to cry and we teach little girls to spend their lives wondering what men are thinking of them. The second the physical aspects of sexual maturity start sprouting, we organize social events to push them toward each other; first, the fumbling and terrifying middle school dances, then the process gets increasingly formal the closer the kids get to maturity: freshman dances, sophomore dances, proms and homecomings, all to push them toward that aisle, and the socially approved method of romantic love and baby-making.
Gay kids get none of that. Not one bit of it. The fact of the matter is, bullying is the natural result of all that socializing that reinforces heterosexuality as the norm and everything else as… well, so under-represented that it might as well still be a taboo. Teenagers see thousands of murders depicted on screen by the time they reach 18 but most of them never see a boy kiss another boy or sing him a sweet love song. You want to prevent gay kids from killing themselves? Push for more scenes like [“Teenage Dream” in “Glee”]. Giving a young gay boy the dream that someday Prince Charming will come and sing a love song to them? You cannot imagine. You simply cannot imagine how revolutionary such a thing is.” - Project Rungay’s review of Glee
This episode of Frontline asks if the internet is uniting or dividing us while trying to figure out the effects of technology on today’s society. I thought it was interesting how one professor commented that today we are facing an “instant gratification education.” Students (for the most part) believe they can multitask well, when in fact they are far less efficient.
The most alarming idea that the video presented was in chapter 8 and 9 - that virtual experiences can actually change us. Even more frightening is the military’s “gaming arcade.” I had no idea that video games are actually being used for recruitment. One man said that kids are smart enough to understand the difference between virtual worlds and reality. I always thought that this was true, that violent video games don’t cause violence because I believed kids would know the difference between right and wrong. However, this video made me quickly realize that today’s younger generation is completely different because kids have grown up immersed in this technology, whereas I grew up at a time when it was still up and coming. Kids will believe they swam with whales at Sea World, the military now uses virtual spaces as therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. I know it may seem paranoid and sci-fi of me, but are these not directly connected to a form of brainwashing?
I was reading the comments under the video, and one person wrote that it is dangerous to make conclusive statements about this dynamic time period. However, the video seems to merely come to the conclusion that we don’t exactly know how the internet is affecting us, but we should definitely stop to think about the possibilities.
“There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening, (25).” OK. This book gave me goosebumps. I mean, it is well known by just about everyone that the media affects you/your family/your education/your job/your governent/etc. but we’re so conditioned (massaged) to digest what we see and hear that we never stop to contemplate what. is. happening. With his ideas laid out so simply yet chaotically for us just ready to be consumed (ironically) they’re like a slap in the face.
RELATIONSHIPS
The part that was the most shocking, for me, was his few lines about how the media affects our relationships with groups of people. I mean…in 1967 he actually said this!? “In an electric information environment, minority groups can no longer be contained, ignored. Too many people know too much about each other. Our new environment compels commitment and participation. We have become irrevocably involved with, and responsible for, each other, (24).” Obviously this is far more true for today. This was his most political idea that I encountered, and it’s fascinating because not only has our “electric information environment” changed the way we communicate and what we know about each other, but it has completely dismantled our traditional hierarchical structures.
AUTHORSHIP
Originality will also then become dismantled. McLuhan writes that the invention of printing created the public and the idea of copyright. Then, xerography complicated that. According to him, “As new technologies come into play, people are less and less convinced of the importance of self expression. Teamwork succeeds private effort” (123). How will copyrights even function 50 years in the future?
missin it
lady gaga kaleidoscope (done in processing)
lady gaga kaleidoscope (done in processing)
