Homework 6

Part One:

Christian Marclay, "The Clock"

In Marclay's work, he does a really amazing job of appropriating movie clips that all have a shot of a clock at 12:05. Honestly, I had never noticed that quite a few movies have a shot of a clock at 12:05, so Marclay's piece was really eye opening and made me wonder how many other movies had the same shot and why. What also intrigued me were the sound bits that he consciously decided to keep. There seemed to be a relationship between sound bits and video clips. For example, there was a sound and video clip that were originally together, but as the actor turned his head to look at the clock, the video clip changed to a woman looking at a clock in the same orientation while the sound bit resonated with the original scene. I found that to be a really effective and well done transition. I would say what drew me to discuss this piece is it left me with questions- something to think about. And that's why I find it successful.

Sondra Perry, "Young Women Sitting and Standing and Talking and Stuff (No, No, No)"

This is a very powerful piece that holds a significant amount of social weight. Here we are looking at three well educated young African American women having intellectual conversations, but they have video screens on their faces that replace their actual eyes with "rolled" eyes. I saw this as a stab at how society wrongly perceives African American women as "angry" or having an "attitude" and often dismisses their opinions on important social topics. Diving a little deeper, the participants' age also plays into the social misconception that this generation's youth "doesn't care" about current events and topics, such as the marriage equality movement mentioned in the women's conversation. And let's acknowlegde the fact that they are women. It is well known that women, and their opinions (for the most part), are still viewed secondary to men's. Sondra Perry did an outstanding job of representing many groups in her work, making it relatable to a wide range of individuals. The more I watch her piece, the more messages I get from it, which is why I find it successful. I hope the same messages I found in her work will reach others. Awareness is the first step towards making a change.


Part Two:

I commented on Hoon and Nadeen's second projects. :)