Godfrey Reggio "Evidence"
Hallå. Via ditt länkflöde hittade jag filmen med barn som tittar på TV. Dom såg ju helt döda ut! Vet du vilket sammanhang den producerades i -- jag menar vad var det meningen att det skulle vara "evidens" för?
E-post "Evidence"-filmen (2007-12-03)
Hej Simon.
Jag hittade Evidence via en spalt i Bon #41.
Den är regisserad av Godfrey Reggio (iMDB), en amerikansk konstnär/filmskapare som bland annat gjort Naqoyqatsi i Qatsi-trilogin, samt Angela Melitopulos (Artfacts).
Filmmusiken spelas av Philip Glass (Officiell/iMDB/Last.fm).
Filmen, där barnen tittar på Dumbo, producerades när Godfrey Reggio var vid Benettons forskningscenter Fabrica:
Fabrica is Benetton’s communication research centre, created in 1994 from Benetton’s cultural heritage. It is located in Italy, near Venice, in a complex which Tadao Ando restored and enlarged.
Fabrica’s challenge is both an innovative and international one. It is a way of marrying culture and industry, using a form of communication which no longer relies only on the usual kinds of advertising, but conveys industrial culture and the company’s intellect through other media: design, music, cinema, photography, publishing, the Internet. Fabrica has chosen to back the hidden creativity of young artists/researchers from all over the world. Following careful selection, they are invited to develop concrete communication projects under the direction of some of the main players in these areas.
United Colors of Benetton Fabrica (2007-11-15)
I en text om filmen på Qatsi-trilogins webbplats skriver de även om Evicence:
Evidence looks into the eyes of children watching television - in this case Walt Disney’s "Dumbo". Though engaged in a daily routine, they appear drugged, retarded, like the patients of a mental hospital. Evidence is about the behavior of children watching television - an activity whose physiological aspects have been overlooked in the current controversy surrounding television.
[...]
The phenomenon recorded in Evidence relates not to programming or software, but to the medium itself - television the household appliance, the cathode ray tube, the radiation gun aimed at the viewer. This gun can be reasonably compared to a tractor beam that holds its subjects in total control. The physical, spiritual and social consequences of this phenomenon are subject to debate. Evidence hopes to enliven the discussion on the hazards of the medium itself.
[...]
Television the programming is one thing: television the medium is something else. It is the medium that Evidence is about. From the point of view of the medium, Evidence is an autopsy, an opportunity in a few minutes to feel and to see, to witness the effects of a technology that has gained acceptance the world-over without question.
Qatsi Evidence Credits (2005)
Man ska väl helt enkelt tolka det som bevis för varför televisionen som fenomen ska kritiseras.