la réponse à la lecture: Week 5ive

According to Brandon Joseph, what effects did the Exploding Plastic Inevitable have on spectators? How is this similar or different from the films (such as Vinyl and Mario Banana) projected individually, as we have seen them in class?

The effects of EPI on those in attendance were “disruptive” and “layered”, as described by Joseph, and its not really hard to see why. As we’ve seen in class, Warhol’s films alone are hard to grasp, shocking, and/or just out there. Now, take these and project them all on several different walls with records and live bands playing along with light shows. Chaos. He mentions a reviewer, Michaela Williams, describing the experience as something that doesn’t leave the brain right when it ends and plants “flowers of evil.” I think maybe she just couldn’t handle the complete sensory overload and had to label it as a work of evil. Other spectators had called it frustrating and confusing and I can definitely see where they are coming from. Just in Warhol’s work that we’ve seen, it’s easy to get frustrated and confused with trying to find a point/meaning. I definitely had this experience with both Vinyl and Mario Banana. I could only imagine trying to digest all the films from all walls of the room with the Velvet Underground blaring in my ears. It almost makes Vinyl and the Mario Banana films seem a tamer and easier to take now thinking about how easy the class had it as spectators. A reviewer, Larry McCombs noted that at times the images, lights, and music synched up and it seemed perfect for a moment, but that moment doesn’t last long and confusion kicks in again. I have seen moments already like this in class, most recently with Christmas on Earth, where the random radio tunes and projected images synched up a little too well.