Nov 26 2009
Crazy Much?
As I walked into the exhibit “Reflections on the Electric Mirror: New Feminist Video,” I couldn’t help but think, “What on earth is Professor Davis making us see now?” A lady shifting boxes, a lady chugging drinks and smoking blindfolded, a lady acting crazy on the train… At first I couldn’t wrap my mind around all of these ideas. I just kept staring thinking, “What is the point of this???” and then *click* I got it!
The video that really caught me was Klara Liden’s Paralyzed. This was a video of her in a Stockholm subway car acting like a maniac. She would definitely be one of the people I avoid on the train. She was “dancing” (if you could call it that), stripping, and doing all sorts of crazyness. When she started to take off her pants, all I could think was “Please, please, please don’t do that,” but of course, she did.
After staring at it long enough and then reading the description, I understood. She didn’t care about how other people saw her; she didn’t care about what other people were thinking. She was doing what she wanted to do, regardless of the consequences. Her idea was more of, “let people stare.” She was breaking free of the conventions of society itself. She was defying our social norms by doing all of this in public. And yet, she made a point.
What I took away from her was that, it’s okay to be yourself; to do what you want to do. What people think about what’s “ladylike” or “right” isn’t as important as how you feel about yourself. If you’re a little bit crazy, let it out. Don’t hide yourself from the world, but be true to yourself. While I think I’ll take her advice, I do plan on avoiding making my crazy that publicly known.
I wish I had that “*click* I get it” moment…
Despite the commentary she tried to put forward with that video. I feel like she didn’t succeed because of the fact that the train car was pretty empty. Even if she went through all the trouble to do that, it’s meaningless of no one’s there to watch.
I agree with Amrita in that the crazy dance and partial stripping of the woman in the train symbolized her stripping away all the customs of the society that limit women’s liberal growth. I also agree with Sai and Zerxis that the information provided besides these videos was very essential in understanding the meaning behind these videos.
When I saw this video I thought she was trying to catch attention by acting more like a monkey rather than a woman. But then when she took off her pants I realized she was wearing boxers, so then I thought she wanted to be more like a man, and stand out. Personally, I think she succeeded, I bet the people on the train will never forget about her.
I understood the meaning, but I personally liked Sharron Plumbs commercials the best. I think that most of the videos do have deeper messages then they appear to have on the surface, but I loved that I did not have to read the caption for her commercials. I just had fun watching without having to think about the meaning and what she was trying to convey. It was all about laughter and expressing yourself–which does not have to mean acting crazy.
Agree with you Sai!
I was also totally clueless about the meaning behind many of these videos at the Brooklyn museum, until I read the information besides them.
Yes, these videos are indeed odd at first glance to the extent that it looks like they have completely lost control of themselves. However, a closer analysis on these videos as well as that handy info on the wall, brings the focal point of their objectives into a more comprehensive understanding for the audience. This exhibit is not my personal favorite, but they do contain elements of a powerful attribute-perseverance.