Movie synopsis

Gary Hill: I believe it is an image-

Throughout this movie Gary Hill described some of his artwork and communicated his message to the audience. His first piece was called the Wall piece where he bounced words off the wall and as they bounced back his body lit up. He described a lot of projects that he would attach different things to his body such as the bow and arrow (cross bow) project where he attached cameras to his arms and head. He also described his project that showed his body parts in different sections of the screen. He used a lot of movement and motion of art in the film and mainly he used performance and video installation. He also stated that he used many of his pieces to investigate otherness and ambiguity, dislocation of the senses, boundaries and figurative interactivity. He said that most of his pieces focus on language. Examples of projects that stood out to me were the project where he showed the body in different frames. He shown the viewer how the body had to share time and that the body was ultimately trying to get up. The speed of the body changed from fast to slow. The girl reading out of the book was also another interesting piece described within this film.

Shirin Neshat: the women moves-

Throughout this film the artist used music heavily.  Shirin Neshat tells the story about a Muslim woman and her experience in two opposite worlds. It shows the psychological and emotion state of mind of someone who was simultaneously born in one space and then lives in another. She describes immigration as very difficult because you are ultimately removed from your place of center. The artist said that “You never feel grounded or at home again.” Some of her work described within this film includes:

Soliloquy-

This serious of work looked at the revolution and the religion of Islam. It was produced by the artist with a point of view of living on the outside and going back as a visitor. She talked about the boundaries within the Islamic walls and how that reflected men’s busy lives at which they were not really doing anything. Within her work she created a space that produced a feeling of obscurity; bunch of men standing around doing nothing, getting nothing done.  From here she showed the audience a scene where women are getting on boats in the ocean. She said this scene was intended to show a sense of freedom, she wanted to make this piece unclear but what was clear was the women’s bravery. The use of water was intended to symbolize women’s lives compared to men. Women are productive and always moving where as the men were portrayed to never get things done and were standing still. The women within the film were always changing. She described this piece as a connection of the strength of women who do more and bring more change, rebel, and stand up for themselves.  

Rapture-

The work called Rapture focused on issues of gender in relationship to music and how women were forbidden to perform. Men seemed to have all the support and didn’t have to break rules like women had to. During the woman’s performance the camera turned around her. It was meant to simulate her dancing and show the audience that she had gone mad. All traditional rules were broken by the woman performer. The woman performer always moved where as the man stayed in the same place. 

Fervor-

This piece focused on taboo’s, surrounding the idea of sexuality (mostly in Iran) in Islamic society and the internal and external pressures a man or a woman have when humanist nature is under society control.  In this film she wanted to show women and men on the same side unlike all the other works. She said that this work required lots of traveling and cast to complete.  

Tongues untied by Marlon Riggs-

The beginning of this movie had a very powerful opening. I liked how the movie talked about silence and how it’s the deadliest weapon. The actors within this movie discussed how people were labeled and cornered by identities that they never wanted to claim. It described how instead of claiming this unaccepted identities people would rather run and hide.

The overall plot of this movie showed how the new gay life for a black man was very hard. There were white gay men posted in magazines and in popular paintings but black gay men were invisible. The movie described it as being an alien. Throughout the movie stories were told of homophobia relating to racism. Each story showed the black persons struggle.

All the music throughout the movie was also very powerful, such as heart beats, silences, “anger unvented becomes pain unspoken becomes violent cha cha cha, techno music was also used, duets about coming out, and lots of repeating sayings.

Summary of my thoughts-

All three of these movies were very interesting. I really liked Shirin Neshat movie called The Women Moves. I felt that she did a great job going through her work and painting the viewer a picture of her thoughts. I believe that all her work can relate to everyone on some level. My favorite part during her film was when she described her piece where she created a space where men seemed to be busy when they actually were standing around. The scene where the women are pushing the boats into the water is very powerful; I liked how she described the water and how she made it symbolize the busy always changing lives of women.

 The movie called Tongues Untied used a lot of repetition. What stood out the most to me was the music within this film and how it really helped grab the viewer’s attention.  My favorite part of this film was when he was talking about how he felt cornered by different identities that he never wanted to claim. The words used really made me think about silence and how people run away because they would rather be silent than deal with the negative comments associated with unaccepted views.

The third movie called I Believe It Is an Image was another good movie. All the work shown throughout this film was very different from the first two artists. Gary Hill seemed to use more movement and technology to get his point a crossed.  Most of his work was a mystery to me and it didn’t make much sense like the other two. I couldn’t relate as much but I did like his project were he had the little girl read from the book and then he went through the book and changed the spelling of the words to how they sound.