pryings

Pryings seems to get more in more violent as the video goes on. Acconci doesn’t out right throw punches at her, but he does throw her head around a lot and his hands are constantly on her face and head and wrapped around her neck so that she can’t really get away. After watching some of the other Acconci pieces I have wondered so…. What’s this piece all about? But, then I read the descriptions, sit back for a moment and hypothesize about a few meanings of the piece. For my past responses I have been able to come up with something intriguing, intriguing to me at least and that has satisfied me to the point where I have been able to write a response that I’m content with. I feel I’m having a difficult time writing about this piece because it is in fact scripted like a movie. The woman in the piece is part of the act and is not being held against her will, but only appears to be held against her will. If she really thought that enough was enough she would probably drop him with a knee to his groin and that would be that. It kind of makes me wonder why we just don’t watch 21 of the most gruesome minutes of Clockwork Orange, which was not shot on super 8, had much more graphic violence scenes with beatings and rape, but I feel that more people would find this Vito Acconci piece more graphic or at least have a greater emotional response to it than to Clockwork Orange. I feel this way because of the simplicity of the Acconci piece. The video looks old and it is all improvisation, though scripted improvisation. I think it is simply the way that this video is presented that makes me respond with more emotion than other similar acts that are scripted.