Richard Serra’s Television Delivers People (1973) states that I am “the product of TV.” The happy and joyful music accompanied the alarming messages delivered by the video is all kind of creepy. Of course I know I’m paying to be sold some products I will not think of buying in a million years if it weren’t for TV, of course I know that corporations control the networks and control what kind of information I receive. But I think I’d rather just not think about it. I’d rather just not think about what this says about me as an intelligent, informed consumer: because I am completely and utterly addicted to television. I watch the primetime drama, the news, the reality shows, and the talk shows. I have no other source of information. When was the last time I read the newspaper? I don’t remember. The sometimes repetitive and capitalized messages such as “you are the product” started echoing in my head as I finished watching the video. Damn it. Now I am actually making the decision to be fed the information.
In Serra’s other video, Boomerang, a lady who was listening to her own echo through headphones was filmed. She seemed really confused in the beginning by her own voice echoing back at her, but as time went on, she began enjoying hearing herself. She would even experiment by repeating some words or saying them differently to observe how it sounds. I have recently experienced this kind of feedback through the internet (webcam). It obstructed my ability to form a complete sentence since I was always waiting to hear my previous words, in that process, I would lose my train of thought. After a while, it drove me insane and I refused to talk through it anymore. Hearing my own voice made me more self-conscious about my voice, how I sound, what I was saying. I realized that I can’t deliver my thought as well as I thought I could.
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