The Politics of Art & Authenticity

Waiting was never something I tolerated well. I’ve gotten better as I’ve grown up but as a child I was always very impatient, wanting time to pass so I could go to the party or get the Christmas gifts I had been waiting for since August. After watching The Waiting Room my impatience disgusts me especially because of the trivial things I am forced to wait for. Whether it be the train or for my class to be over so I can finally go home, nothing will ever compare to waiting for hours on end for a doctor to finally diagnose and illness that could be very serious. One thing that continued to perplex me throughout The Waiting Room was the fact that it seemed that each illness they displayed was progressively worse with no improvement in sight. For example, the bone spurs in the one man’s back seemed like a serious ailment until he was overshadowed by the cancer patient with a large tumor and the patient with the gunshot wound and the moving bullet in his leg. One thing that I definitely took away from this film was that one shouldn’t over look his or her health. I’ve always been reminded that I “have my health” when things didn’t seem to go my way and now I finally understand. These people waiting for hours had next to nothing on top of the fact that they also lacked their health. Most were unemployed and lacking health insurance which was why they were in the waiting room to begin with and on top of that they were afflicted with terrible illnesses! Although sick and in a vulnerable state these people in the waiting room remained very strong. The man I spoke of earlier, the cancer patient, had a large testicular tumor and although slightly uneasy, he is nowhere near as nervous as I would’ve been especially if I was in his financial situation as well. The patient with the gunshot wound also remained strong with the help of his family as they fought with the receptionist in the the hopes of expediting the process. All in all I believe that The Waiting Room has a very strong message that says to value what you have and avoid dwelling on the little everyday problems because when bigger problems come along you won’t be prepared to wait for them to get better. 

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It was mesmerizing to see women dance with these long pieces of fabric. Loie Fuller was an innovator who incorporated fabric, motion and light into modern dance. The constant swirling of the fabric made these images and shapes. It was astonishing how these people moved so swiftly and it seemed as if it were easy. It definitely takes effort, skill, and stamina to move that way.  Time lapse dance is a modern dance company founded by Jody Sperling. She helped continue this style of dancing and I appreciated it. I wish she would have done the performance live in front of us or did a tiny demonstration. It would have been really great if she brought these fabrics in and taught us a little move. I am glad I was introduced to this modern dance.

Anytime that the topic of any discussion turns to anything even remotely medical, I start to squirm. Usually this is because I tend to freak out when it comes to blood and needles, but I’m growing painfully aware that nothing good is coming out of our current healthcare system. After going to view “The Waiting Room,” my own experience of being stuck in a waiting room for a little over an hour pales in comparison to some of the stories this documentary revealed. I was shocked at just how crowded the room was, disturbed when I realized that all these people were without insurance, and appalled that we can call ourself a “first-world country” when our medical system is this bad. Beyond all that, however, the film gave me hope that this system can be saved, all thanks to an unbelievably optimistic and friendly nurse, and a doctor with superhuman stamina who’s seen working nonstop.

When you have people waiting in a line for hours on end, it’s inevitable that you’re going to get a few irritated “customers” when their number’s called, and when you’ve probably dealt with a bunch of them – in various states of medical distress no less – you usually get irked parties on both ends. Not with the triage nurse shown tirelessly assisting patients as they wait to be called to see a doctor. She genuinely cares for each and every patient’s well being, and she remains cheerful and sociable from start to finish, which is a welcoming sight when you’re witnessing a documentary that’s exposing the terrible flaws of the hospital system. She cares, and the fact that she goes that extra mile to bring even a small smile to her patients’ faces is a sign that if people like her can exist in this corrupted system, then it can get so much better, and be so much better for everyone involved.

The other “character” that stood out to me was one of the emergency room doctors, Dr. Scruffy, if you will.

It speaks for itself.

All throughout the film you see him running from patient to patient, going in to perform surgery and then heading back to make sure a stroke patient is able to find a way to pay for his medication. Then you see him holding a well-worn conversation with a repeat patient at the hospital, and the moment when he makes the decision to keep the man overnight because he has nowhere else to go is unbelievable. He’s an E.R., doctor, and he admits that his job is just to go and treat patients. Once that’s done, he moves on to the next. It’s not his job to worry about the safety of patients after they leave the hospital, but he does anyway – because nobody, and no other system will.

You cannot deny we have a broken, underpaid healthcare system, this film reveals too much to argue otherwise. But, maybe, if the world sees that there’s people like this nurse, and this doctor, overexerting themselves to the point of probably exhaustion for the sake of humankind, then maybe we can realize we need to make some changes.

Photo Credit

We’re not funding the Arts, and people need to be more angry about that. Ms. Sperling’s dedication to reviving and reinventing the skirt dancing styles of Loïe Fuller deserves proper recognition from both spectator and financer, yet only the former seems moved to provide funds and grants to further this beautiful art form. Now, I’m coming from a very bitter, biased point of view – having experienced the lack of arts funding in the public school system – but I dare you to watch even five seconds of one of the videos on Sperling’s company website, Time Lapse Dance, and not be completely captivated.

A poster advertising one of Loie Fuller’s dance performances after she became known for her use of dramatic lighting.

The intention behind the skirt dance is fascinating in the sense that its intention is polar opposite to most other dances: to hide the body. Whereas in interpretive and modern dance, where the body becomes the instrument to express emotions and stories, skirt dancing has the performer hiding behind yards and yards of fabric, creating shapes and illusions with the help of two poles to help support the mass amount of fabric. Even more invigorating is the use of lighting to blend colors and project images onto the skirts. It’s a multimedia presentation in the sense that it’s both a dance and light show, and I’m surprised this style isn’t more popular today – think of the possibilities with the lighting technology of today…

Dedication to a craft as unique and gorgeous as skirt dancing, like Ms. Sperling exemplifies, is what we need if we want to keep the Arts alive.

 Photo Credit

I find it fitting that the name of the hospital featured in this documentary is called The Highland. It’s the high land. It’s a land where people trek up to and eventually, for the most part, become treated or healed. I have high respect for all of the staff members who work there. Especially since my own mother is an I.C.U. nurse, I know how tough work life can get. Not all patients are a cup of tea, you know. Like how the doctor is forced to stay professional and calm when an outraged man curses and demands some medical apparatus to be taken off of him, my mother stays calm and professional. I understand the amount of patience one must have in order to take an attitude like that from someone. The amount of positivity and care that it takes to handle patients like that is also outrageously high. To me, the main nurse of the documentary, the lively one who talks to everyone as if they’re family, symbolizes the softer side of the hospital,  the humane rather than the business side. I fondly call her the soul of the waiting room.

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Other than my initial reactions, I found it incredibly frustrating how some people take advantage of the public health care system. Because of people who keep returning because of reasons that are their own faults, many people in need can’t get a bed. Therefore, they cannot be treated as soon as they should be treated. Although it is ideal to care for everyone, something in the system needs to change. People who deserve to be helped should be prioritized.

With no where to go and no option available, millions of people without insurance are forced to go to the emergency room to receive every day healthcare. This troubling idea is explored in the documentary The Waiting Room, which is just a look into one day in an emergency room in California. I’ve always known that people seek out the emergency room since a hospital isn’t allowed to deny admission to anyone on any grounds. The various cases, from a man with a bullet moving in his body, to a guy just going for a refill on diabetes medication, all had the same thing in common, none of these patients had insurance to pay for a regular doctor. They would still have to pay for the hospital’s services, but at least they got the care they needed. This is by no means a solution to a growing problem. People all across America are unemployed and have no access to health insurance and are forced to go to the emergency room when they can endure no more. In some cases these people wait for hours on end till they receive care since the hospital has to choose on basis of severity. Sometimes, no matter how severe the case, a patient can’t be seen by a doctor because all available beds are being used. There seems to be no right answer to this puzzling problem in America. In all other first world nations, universal healthcare is a given because the public is willing to give up more in terms of taxes, but that simply isn’t an option here in the good ol’ US of A. Obamacare, while a good idea, doesn’t seem to have the solution necessary to help the ailing healthcare system. Universal healthcare has to be just that, universal, on all levels. Americans need to take more responsibility in order to help themselves and society itself.

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With no prior knowledge of dance and no real connection to what the very nice presenter was saying, I was simply lost in the strange life of Loie Fuller, an innovator of dance in her lifetime. I can only imagine what the first shows played by Fuller looked like with manned lights going on and off all around her and her dress becoming its own living entity. But it does seem somewhat easier with todays technological advances and the way theater works creating a stronger show for the audience to see. The videos seen did help capture some of the emotion and essence of the serpentine dance, but without truly knowing it, the whole thing just seemed pretty to me. If there was less of a history lesson and more a show, I would have been more immersed in this strange dance style. I just wanted to watch and enjoy Fuller at her best, the same way she wanted her audience to feel when they saw her shows.

Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Koloman_Moser_003.jpg

The flowing choreography of Loie Fuller is unlike anything I have ever seen. The technique she exhibits is so foreign to me because in all other dances I have seen, the dancers try to emphasize their body movements but Fuller uses a style that hides them. The way in which her long, flowing dress billows and moves enables it to hide her almost entirely while creating a brilliant spectacle. The dress is the true star if the show much like a puppet being manipulated for an audience. One of the most perplexing things about this presentation was that I had never seen anything like it before. How had something this original evaded my awareness until now? I hope that with the help of new dance companies this dance can continue to live on and I will hopefully be able to see a live performance some day.

http://www.timelapsedance.com

Before, when I thought of dance, I automatically thought of ballets, hip hop dances and traditional dances from each countries. When someone would approach to me and ask of what I felt about modern dance I would automatically think of people trying to convey some abstract idea with their bodies making funny movements and it would just look odd and hilarious to me. It seemed to lack that authority and prestige of that of ballet or other traditional forms of dance. But then I was immediately mesmerized as Jody Sperling introduced us to the world of Loïe Fuller.

From the video clips I could see that hers and, of course, Jody Sperling’s dance were exquisite but what was more fascinating was that with some bold attempts and “think-outside-the-box” mindset you could create and initiate a whole new field. Become expert of your own artistic area. Obviously the type of dancing and costume were slight modifications from what already existed. Quite frankly, as I was watching her videos I couldn’t stop thinking of the resemblances to some Korean traditional dance, using long white silky materials and choreographing movements inspired from that of animals and nature.

Dong Rae Crane dance

Korean Shamanic dance

Korean Traditional dance

The main difference would be the dynamics and use of light.While Korean traditional dances focus more on the subtleness within the continuous slow movements, Loie Fuller takes full advantage of the rapid dynamic movements. I really admired Loie Fuller’s use of light, especially concerning her time era, which film making and stage directing was not much developed. But I have to say, the coloring process in the old films could have been done with more sophistication. It was so funny how the coloring were so rough and 2 dimensional that it looked like a coloring work of a two year old. But I guess it shows how difficult it was at that point.

Through out the lecture I feel like I learned so much, especially hearing about the financial difficulties artists face, I realized  there’s a shade behind every light no matter how glamourous they seem. What was really interesting though, was how Jody Sperling came to realize her path. Her story of how she became involved in Loie Fuller and her work (starting from a single picture and a note from a colleague) really inspired me and made me realize sometimes you have to wait for the right moment. Lately, I have been stressed out with choosing my career path and realizing what I want to do with my life but stories like hers really helped me in so many ways.

I love watching documentaries.  It’s one of my guilty pleasures.  So when Professor Davis told us that we would be going to the IFC theatre to see The Waiting Room, directed by Peter Nicks, I was pretty excited.  The film shows one day in the emergency room of Highlands Hospital, in Oakland, California.  Throughout the entire day the waiting room is completely full.

It gives the audience an insight on how the other half of society must seek medical help, without any insurance.  Numerous patients’s stories are told throughout the film, and it makes people see that everyone has a story and struggle.  The documentary definitely served its purpose on exploring Obamacare and the general health care policy in America.  I know for myself, and hopefully for a lot of other viewers, my opinions of health care policy have definitely changed after viewing this film.

We see a man in his 20s, planning on getting married to his girlfriend, and has just found out he has a testicular tumor.  Neither him nor his girlfriend have insurance and the tumor must be removed immediately.  When I saw how long it took before the hospital staff was able to take care of this man my heart dropped.

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I also felt sorry for the man who was sitting for hours in the waiting room with a bullet lodged in his hip.  And for the staff, this is just a normal day.

There aren’t enough public hospitals across the nation to help all the people in need of medical attention, and it makes me see why health care initiatives, like Obamacare, have been formed.  There are so many people struggling each day to get by, and they’re trying to find jobs to get out of unemployment but it’s difficult.  America shouldn’t deny people basic health care because they can’t afford it.  One father was so worried about his sick daughter, and the audience could see is pain in knowing that he can’t provide the things he wants for his children because he’s out of work.

I know there’s also the other side to the story.  Some people take advantage of government policies and don’t try to make their situation any better.  There was the one patient who was a drug addict and had over a dozen visits to the hospital in that year alone, all due to alcohol poisoning or an overdose of drugs.  It’s people like these that make tax paying citizens annoyed that they are giving money to people who are abusing the system.  It brings up the question if the good outweighs the bad in the health care situation?

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My answer is yes.  I might be a little optimistic and look at the good in life, but why should the people who work hard and try with everything they have be punished?  Even if only one person’s life is changed for the better due to Obamacare, it’s one more person than being no one at all.  I feel like a lot of the people against Obamacare just look at the numbers and think it’s too much money for too many people, but they have to see that each person has their own story and issue.  They have to look at the situation on the personal level and realize that it’s worth the extra taxes to help hundreds of thousands of Americans every single day.

I think what I like most about documentaries is that it makes people think and look into the life of someone else.  And The Waiting Room definitely accomplishes this task.  Documentaries should  leave an impact on the viewers and make them want to do something about the situation they just saw.  It might sound a little crazy, but I would love to be able to make a documentary one day that will impact people’s lives and motivate them to create great change, just as this film made me want to tell people how much Obamacare helps citizens of America.

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