In Boomerang Serra, along with Nancy Holt, explores the effects of separating (in a way) the voice from the body. Holt meditates on the effect and describes the words as coming back on top of her. I found this video very interesting in the way it approaches something which is so familiar to us, our voice and words, and estranges them from us. Holt’s response to the echo effect is interesting as well; she says that she talks just because of the effect, which reminds me of the children and the “dig it” man in the Paul Ryan movie. Boomerang seemed to be an exploration of the ways in which we respond and react to media, especially when we are what is on the screen.
Television Delivers People turned what is normally believed about television on its head. Normally, we think we are the consumers and the corporations are catering to our desires, but as Serra states, “You are delivered to the advertiser who is the consumer…He consumes you.” In this Serra turns the T.V. hostile; it no longer seems the mundane piece of furniture in the living room, but rather an aggressive presence which snuck in under our radar. The music which plays sets off the darker content throwing the message into further relief. One can picture the opening credits of Leave it to Beaver or some other iconic piece of American media, and thus Serra undermines what is considered by society as one of its cultural foundations. With television enshrined as the primary source of information and entertainment we willing place ourselves before it as offerings at the altar to television’s corporate controllers. Serra also confronts the television as the enforcer of the status quo, which, by its position in mass media culture, it is perfectly capable of performing by, as Serra states, propounding corporate propaganda.
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