Response #1

When the first video by Terry Fox (The Children's Tapes) began, I thought wow, great, I have to go through 35 minutes of some guy playing with spoons, forks and water. However, as the piece went on, I was quite amused by some of the experiments. They all seemed to be quite 'cartoony' in their mischief and immaturity. Before I could figure out what Fox was on about, I just thought that these videos came about by someone who was on some kind of drug (or drugs) and had a lot of time on their hands. After watching the first few clips, I began understanding that Fox was trying to explain and demonstrate the elaborate detail that went into that split second of entertainment. It takes a lot of time, patience and skill for a moment of amusement. My impatience had then turned to appreciation and I began watching the clips with a different perspective carefully taking it all in. I even took down mental notes of the instructions on how to do them, in hopes of trying them out one day.
Chris Burden's video was very different from the first. Despite the fact that they are both walking us through the steps and then achieving the goal or whatever you want to call that moment, I feel that in Burden's the suspense and mystery of each 'trick' is defied by the use of his voice, talking and explaining what he was trying to do. However, that's not to say that it was somewhat comforting to hear his voice knowing he made it through it all. But that only made his survival through getting shot and burnt and crawling over glass the dominant feature or goal as opposed to the actual 'trick'. Other than that, I had to just say I was absolutely disgusted by Burden's videos. More than anything, I was disgusted with myself. Why was it okay and unaffecting to watch him crawl over the glass, with his arms tied behind his back, allowing millions of small pieces cut through his body. But when I watched the dog try to get the biscuit of the glass, I was horrified and nervous that this poor dog could get cut. I think that says a lot about humans. or maybe just me. In addition, that last piece where he was trying to breathe water was "gut-wrenching". Whenever I heard movie critics describe a movie as that, I never quite understood it, until that last clip. I was disgusted and shocked and at some point just wanted him to either stop or choke to death so I didn't have to watch anymore.