Jennifer Montgomery : Questioning Human Nature

After having Jennifer Montgomery visit UW Milwaukee to attend a showing of a few of her experimental films, much of our class found themselves bewildered by what they were shown.

Jennifer Montgomery is an artist that likes to use collaging techniques to create and edit experimental films. One of her films, "Age 12: Love with a Little L," caught the attention of most of the audience and became the epicenter of our discussions about her work. In this film, we see many different pieces of her life put together in such an order that helps describe and define her sexuality. Some of the scenes in this film, the students found a little disturbing, but strangely at the same time found them liberating. These scenes included shots of Jennifer's relationship with her girlfriend imitating the animal-like nature of humans to claim territory or preserve domination over one another. In these scenes, we witness acts like Jennifer urinating on her girlfriend (marking territory), pretending to train her girlfriend as if she were a dog, telling her to sit, speak, and wag her tail (domination). While this seems lewd at first, I was surprised to see that other's saw the deeper meanings behind it just as I had. Although it seems somewhat disturbing, the meanings about domination and territorial pissing definitely shined through. It leaves the viewer questioning, "Why did Jennifer find it necessary to include scenes like this? What point is she trying to make? Was it to defend her own guilty pleasures? And would this film be perceived differently if it were created by a man?"

One of the most intriguing scenes was when film strips of a woman painting with her own menstrual blood was spliced with film shots of a group of girls eating pomegranate. The reason that this scene was so interesting was because of the similarities between the two subjects. When the woman was painting with her own blood, it seems uncomfortable yet liberating at the same time. Then we are shown scenes of girls eating pomegranate, with the juices dripping down their chins and hands, it becomes strangely erotic. Obviously, the visual similarities of the juice versus the blood becomes apparent, and the audience begins to make connections between these two entirely different subjects. This helps the viewer to understand that this film is not just about having sexually explicit scenes, but more trying to connect a woman's sexuality to something that has a deeper meaning. As some believe that pomegranate is the fruit that Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, the pomegranate becomes an icon for what Jennifer Montgomery is trying to express.

What can be learned from this?

In our discussions after viewing this film, we all questioned whether or not we consider this film of a pornographic nature or whether it is simply artistic. Many aspects of the film lead us to believe that it is more of an artistic endeavor that seeks to exploit human traits that appear to be of an animal nature.

This American Life : Explored

I took a little time this evening to check out some episodes listed on This American Life's website (www.thislife.org), I was pleasantly surprised. At first when I browsed through the different episodes, I thought that the topics and ideas seemed a little odd and not so interesting, but my thinking changed after actually taking the time to listen to a few pieces. One of the clips I listened too was about people spending 24 hours inside of a diner called The Golden Apple in Chicago. It was extremely interesting the stories they gathered, each sound clip being taken from separate interviews. Some people had very serious stories to tell about their lives and why they have decided to visit the diner, other people seem drunk and find themselves in the middle of a small argument. Throughout the show multiple chance encounters with strangers turn up some humorous and emotional events, who knew that they would be that productive? Another episode that I checked out, was an inside look at stubbornness and the effects that it has. Whether it be beneficial or not. Interviews are performed with people of all ages, and ranging from lover's spats to the antics of a 7th grader talking about discovery of social status.

After listening to these stories, I have found that the stories have a common theme among them as trying to explore the social lives of Americans through an interviewer's point of view. It seems like the writer's of these shows are trying to show a deeper meaning or existence to the lives of the people that talk to. This is definitely something worthwhile to check out, it has good material and good points to make about every day life.

Comfortably in the Uncomfortable

Many artists strive to push the boundaries with each art piece that they produce. This story is no different with Scott Stark's, "More than Meets the Eye: Remaking Jane Fonda," in which an attempt is made to make the audience feel awkward, perhaps to open up their minds to what he is trying to say. In this video, we follow around Scott Stark as he recreates an old Jane Fonda workout video. He does this in various settings, some public and some private. He is wearing a ridiculous outfit that is far outdated in terms of today's standards. This causes the audience to watch his video with a speculative state of mind, leaving them wondering why he created this video the way that he did.

The possible reason for his wanting to create a sense of awkwardness and make the audience feel uncomfortable, is that of opening up a vulnerability with him and the audience. A lot of people in the present times are unsure of politics, and therefore unwilling to talk about them. Scott Stark tries to break down this wall by showing the audience that he is willing to put himself in a position of ridicule, where he could be laughed and looked down upon. This uneasiness is experienced not only by himself then, but by the audience as well - a bond and relationship has been created between the viewer and the creator. His hope is to then allow the audience to more openly accept his statements that scroll across the screen during the video, or maybe not to accept them, but to at least ponder them.

Creating an awkwardness in a film is one way of opening up a pseudo-dialogue between the artist and the audience (yet another way of breaking a boundary). Although, it is possible for the reasoning behind his awkwardly appearance to be of the essence of pure entertainment, I do feel that there has to be a deeper meaning behind it.

Vladmaster-y : Seeing Like A Kid Again

Aha.... a ViewMaster, who knew that they could be used so creatively? Vladimir really showed us all something new like we have never seen before. This show is incredibly interesting at some points, and also very perplexing at others. A couple of her stories were a little bit much abstract, especially the one titled, "Fear & Trembling," which discarded the use of a narrative. However, in the other stories such as, "Lucifugia Thigmotaxis," and "The Public Life of Jeremiah Barnes," she uses the narration as one of the stronger tools of telling the story. In, "Lucifugia Thigmotaxis," we explore the world through the view of a cock roach that gets into some trouble we encounters a human in the world that exists beyond the back of the refrigerator. As weird as it sounds to tell a story from that perspective, it actually was very interesting and humorous in an odd way. I personally felt an attachment to this little cockroach by the end of this triumphant story.

I feel the greatest use of the ViewMaster was explored in the story, "Actaeon at Home." In this story, we examine the life of a man who is in the midst of writing a letter to his brother. Actaeon tells his brother a story about a nightmare that he has about a train that is coming at him in his dream, and he is stuck on the tracks. Vladimir utilizes the photos found on one disc several times, repeating the series of pictures in a rhythm that exposes the ever-threatening train. Faster and faster, the train seems to be coming at you as you quickly click through the series of pictures.

Throughout the program, the ViewMaster became a stunning example of a tool utilized to tell a story. Due to the nature of the device, the people looking through them seem to get a more personalized experience. When peering through the lenses, you see large black walls that surround a very vivid and bright photograph, causing the reality of the world around to shrink, soon you become the actual character of the story, seeing through their eyes and living the story as they would. Watching the shutter go up and down reminded me of what I feel like when I am extremely tired and still trying to watch TV: staring at an image on the screen, then my eyelids getting so heavy that they close momentarily and reopen to reveal a completely new aspect and image of the story that was being told. It was incredible how the ViewMaster was able to take the audience and put them inside the head of the main character of the story. Much applause to Vladimir, as the intense hours of work it took to create this program were well worth it, providing the world an entirely new way to experience a story.

Camera Obscura : Seeing the world in a whole new light.

Isn't it strange how a new view of the world can be created just by flipping it upside down? Many famous painters and other types of artists have spoken about how to see things differently, to search for a deeper meaning. When I used to go to school in UW-Whitewater for graphic design, one of my favorite techniques for drawing was to take an image of something and flip it upside down and try to draw it from that orientation. It allows the mind to break free of its "wanting" to see life in a type of perfection; it creates a whole new perfection. I was happy to see that someone took advantage of this, and in such a manor as Ethan Jackson did.

The lively colors and shapes that appeared on that wall seemed to create a whole new sense of curiosity and adventure to life for myself, and as I like to believe, many others. Entering into a dark room and seeing this image projected on to a wall, urged my mind to become engulfed in the sense of beauty that is the world that surrounds us. All I could think during my entire visit is how I must again, learn to pause, really pause... and take in the beauty of the world and the things that we see everyday. Our senses, must become dulled by the barrage of images we see constantly through TV, billboards, movies, and art alike. It seemed to me that Ethan Jackson was trying to make a point...

Pause - really pause... Look at something... Take it in... Enjoy it... Sense it... and Realize.... you are living in it.

So again, I must encourage others... even those who are not really into art. That sometimes, you just need to really "look" at something... Stare at it, for as long as it takes, 5 minutes, 15 minutes... however long - Just enjoy the beauty of the world around us... it is in everything.