Four More Years

After watching videos from artists like Nam June Paik and Dara Burnbaum, this video approaches video art from a significantly different viewpoint. Instead of performance acts and manipulation of images, "Four More Years" shows the initial experimentation with video by independent groups, going as far as literally interviewing the competition (news broadcasters from networks like ABC and CBS). The most obviously artistic aspect of this video is the insertion of campaign buttons as transitions, sometimes used to poke fun at a person or situation and always shown in stark contrast to a completely black screen.
Because of the timing of this video, it has a much different affect on me than it would have had when it originally aired. Knowing about Watergate, knowing the fact that his rather unethical decisions started as early as 1969, while also knowing the incredible duration and history of the Vietnam war brings an air of sad irony while also some sort of sadistic humor, I guess, to all of the young kids waving their hands in the air and screaming their voices hoarse in support of his re-election.
This whole guerrilla television idea sounds much more choppy and instinctive than it came off. I was expecting it to be gritty and unorganized but the video was well edited, getting a strong point across with poignant interview questions and enough humor and hypocrisy to keep younger people, who could easy grow apathetic and immune to all of the political messages, entertained. Using buttons seems to play up the commercialism and game-like quality that I don't think many would be surprised to find in politics, but to juxtapose things that look like toys with men accusing others of posing as Vietnam War veterans evokes an emotional response that people would be hard-pressed to find on television today. Using Nixon's headshots as transitions keeps the viewers reminded of his Hollywood status, if the interviews and shots of his beautiful daughters don't cement that for them enough.