response 3: Richard Serra

The first Richard Serra video I watched was "Television Delivers People." At first I thought the video was going to become more than just words scrolling up the screen so I did not really pay attention to what the screen said. Then I found out that the whole video was just that. So I had to watch it again and found out it was more than just a storyline to an upcoming video. Richard Serra was informing the audience what television's role is in American society. We, the audience, are the product of television. He made that clear after having read it several times and in several ways. Also, the title states that as well. The audience is the end-product of television. It is almost subliminal in the way he presents this message but it isn't really because it is a direct statement. It is in the way he uses the music, which sounds like a type of catchy, commercial jingle or elevator music, in the background that makes the video more interesting and captivating so that the video seems like it is sending subliminal messages. Even though, visually, the video has little impact because it just shows words scrolling up the screen on a solid blue background. Without the music the video just be more boring than it was when I first watched it. Politically Serra was trying to come across to America what the media tries to do to the audience, which is controlling them through "soft propaganda" and "materialistic propaganda." So that in the end, the "consumer is consumed." The video abruptly ends with a fact about news, which makes the audience want to think more about the video and even want more information from this video and possibly from other sources.

Richard Serra's other video "Boomerang" in contrast is focused on one woman the entire time. I felt as if I was getting a litle sick from hearing all those echoes. It felt like it was very repetitive even though she said different things. My mind was like a tape that kept getting rewound and fast-forwarded continuously. I had to catch up with what she was saying the whole time even though I heard what she said twice. I could not not listen to the echo. It was a pretty weird concept for the whole video. But I did enjoy it, especially when she would respond to herself as if she was talking to another person. When she said that she felt as if she was being slowed down, that her thought processes were slowing down, I definitely agreed with that statement. And then I started to think of speeches made by presidents and others in big stadiums that were a reminder of the video. When the different sounds, other than her echoes came in, I just was more confused and my mind felt slower than before. I thought that I would hear the echo but it wasn't the echo. So I had to rethink about that second after every word or every sentence and put in the different sound. It was really interesting how you realize that about your mind and echoes after watching the video.