Acconci and Dillon

The performance by Acconci and Dillon in Pryings was both very intriguing and frustrating to watch. During this performance Acconci is "prying" open the eyes of Dillon who is trying very hard to resist while keeping a relatively calm face. Dillon did not give off the impression that she was in any pain from the aggressive hands of Acconci which ultimately resulted in a different emotion from the viewer. The viewer at first is put into a very uncomfortable situation of feeling helpless as if one were to watch a situation of some sort of sexual abuse, but Dillon's face did not reveal any emotion whatsoever. Her lack of emotion takes the viewer back, putting the viewer in a position as if it is okay for this to be happening, as if it was meant to happen...which did make the video more bearable to watch. What made it hard for me to watch was that Acconci was pulling Dillon's skin and although the actual prying of the eyes isn't as painful as it may seem, watching it was very frustrating. When her hair covered her face and he had to literally pin her down so that she wouldn't move, it made me want to help...it reenacts the whole idea of a damsel in distress.
In the summary below the video, it stated that the video was symbolic of actually "opening a persons eyes" to the importance of television as a new medium. What we see on television...is it real and if it is how are we to react to the situation. Every little detail from the music to a persons emotion can trigger how we as viewers react. We knew that the situation wasn't real...it was a performance but the viewer still conveyed certain emotions toward the piece. If the situation were to happen in a movie, would it still have the same effect? I feel that if it were in a video I wouldn't feel as willing to help because I know that someone else in the movie will do it...but in this situation Acconci deliberately makes the viewer the other person thus making it very hard to decide what to do.