Cinema: Violence


'Kathy Rae Huffman Kathy Rae Huffman

Video, with it's likeness to television, often presents violence as a real event. The camera becomes a witness, willing or unwilling, to acts which are otherwise known only to the victim. Narrative and experimental structures are often integrated into documentary work to enhance the immediacy of the event, and the result is an appearance of heightened reality. No subject of violence has escaped the camera, which is often trying to capture, or come to terms with, man's overwhelming loss of control in the world today.

Television reaches the masses, worldwide, but with a view that has been filtered through layers of agendas, routing agencies, and advertising priorities. Video, which is revealed in a less public arena, has enabled an alternative public to learn about political unrest in distant lands where official news reporting is sloppy, censored, and/or controlled. Video is a link with underground activists fighting for unpopular or politically questionable (by mainstream standards) causes. The medium empowers the disenfranchised. As a tool the video camera and recorder are easy to operate, inexpensive and small. These attributes also enable it to remain unobtrusive in politically sensitive places which might otherwise be dangerous or impossible to record.

As a witness, video has captured scenes of chilling cruelty (rarely imagined except, again, by victims of similar treatment). For example, the brutal beating of Rodney King, by the Los Angeles Police Department, was recorded by an amateur videographer, shooting from his front porch. The footage was broadcast throughout the world (and has reportedly been sold to a rap group for an MTV piece). This irrefutable evidence, however, is a document of extreme power, and it led the Mayor of Los Angeles to call for the resignation of the Chief of Police.

The works in "Video: Violence" all recognize the presence of the camera and its direct effect on the viewer. TV images from the 60's (actually shot on film) used the medium to examine emotional response and strong political consciousness. Footage from early television also shows the power of black and white imagery demonstrating how, at that time, TV was a "removed" element of news. The Vietnam War is another example of how the mythology of war with honor was undermined by television, altering attitudes from one generation to another. The capacity of the hidden camera to capture the cacophony and reveal the energy of the moment is another important element of video's utility.

The medium has played an essential role in spreading information in ongoing international crisis, in places that have deeply troubled histories, and as a result little hope for recovery in the near future. The stories of the tragedy of the disappeared in Latin America, for example, are testaments to loyalty and love. The women are tireless crusaders for the freedom of expression in hostile military controlled regimes. Fear of revenge for revealing information seldom inhibits the witnesses or the survivors. The issue of women, and the political and personal violence they experience, is the subject of some of the most moving and intimate video works. Abuse is largely unreported, especially in third world countries, even so, record breaking numbers of women need hope to escape the tyranny of domestic brutality.

Video work made during recent political unrest in Asia spread information to the world, from where it was previously suppressed. In Eastern Europe, video brought the news and declarations of democracy to the people, providing an impetus for nationwide revolt against repressive regimes in power. The War in the Gulf, however, was a paradox if regarded within the framework of the recent history of military conflict and environmental disasters portrayed on TV. This war was sanitized. It is perhaps an example of what the 90's holds in store for TVs couch potatoes – all's well that ends well. In this case it was a short-lived soap opera.

Political violence is the public evidence of a dysfunctional world, the beginnings of which are found in the family and home. Private violence is widespread and seemingly endless, depending on how one defines the perimeters of the subject. Violent images, violent situations, actions by the public against a few or also by a few against the public, and violence by legal means. Violence is also an assault on a person by another: sexual violence, child abuse, and violence against helpless laboratory animals.

Video has played an important role in the education against individual personal violence. It was documented the struggle for human rights, for women's control of their bodies, for sexual freedom and it has also revealed alternatives to the 'model' TV family – a highly unattainable goal (for which failure to achieve has resulted in a chorus of personal mistreatments). Video became an important element of the feminist movement in the middle 70's. Its supporters learned to utilize the technology early, and have developed a strong narrative, documentary and experimental body of works. Crossover artists, such as performers, writers and poets, dancers and musicians, have joined film and video makers in efforts to point out the many injustices to humanity – and to life itself.

An array of socially conscious work, each of which reveals a part off the ongoing history of the human struggle with violence, creates this intense program of work. What's the point of looking at all of this violence? It's often disgusting and hard to imagine the inhumanity and pain. Today, more than ever, evidence of violence is apparent in all societies – it's all around us everywhere we go. Is it a reaction to the world we live in? Is it a reflection of societal anger resulting from defect and loss of control over one's destiny? What we do know is that violence is increasing, and is currently the largest killer of black youth in the United States. Is it evil, fantasy, or a choice of the sensitivity of the imagination?

Boston, Massachusetts May 1991

VIDEO PROGRAM

• 1. Until Daybreak: Korea my Hye Jung Park (60 min) features South Korean's decade-long street insurrections from the point of view of the people.


• A Legacy of Violence: The Phillipines by Nick Deocampo (60 min) depicts the rejuvenated atmosphere through home-grown war movies.


• The Generation After Martial Law: Taiwan by Ching Jan Lee (60 min) shows the video movement's successful use of home cassette distribution that document the struggles of people against the repressive state system.

PERSONAL VIOLENCE:

VIDEO AGAINST AIDS:

Program One (114 minutes)

Program Two (119 minutes):

Program Three (115 minutes):

JOHN DUNCAN VIDEO RETROSPECTIVE