Midnight I
The video above was made in the summer of 2005. It has become a substratum for our upcoming show.
In the video Dawn is working on the car at midnight in a parking lot. She has pulled out the left driveaxel shaft and is replacing it’s CV boots. At a pivotal moment in the film the metal fastener band snaps back and cuts her thumb, filling her glove’s thumb with blood.
Several things are happening here that are of interest to me. One, the video uses the traditional male gaze of painting. Two, I have given up the masculine privilege of auto work. Three, the climax is a bloody violence, which in the final tally is nothing more than a jump in the heart, a small bandaid, and Dawn finishing the job at hand.
Tags: art, critical, critique, film, openings, production, video
December 31st, 2006 at 12:04 am
“masculine privilege” should be understood in the context of “standard roles”, like the “feminine privilege” of controlling the housework. While it is certainly debatable whether or not these roles function at all any more, they still have at least cinematic/literary/historical effect. Even if only as the foil, the thing we fight against.