Response 6

Robert Whitman, Prune Flat

1. How does this work relate to our discussion of intermedia and expanded cinema in the 1960s?

Prune Flat is a great example of intermedia and expanded cinema because of the high focus of filmmaking as an installation and performance. The show moves from purely filmic to purely theatrical; With the use of actors who come on stage and meld with the projection and become distinctly separated from it at the end.

2. Describe a passage from Prune Flat in very concrete terms, and explain how film and performance are combined to create different images and/or illusions.

J. Hoberman, Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Underground

3. How does Edie Sedgewick end up "stealing" the scene in Vinyl?

She wasn't intended to be in the film but Warhol threw her in at the last minute to balance out the composition. Apparently she had a very dynamic, spaced-out presence and the camera really picked up on her eyes. The film became a star vehicle for her even though she never really had a part and was thrown into the picture during the filming.

4. In what ways did the underground film begin to "crossover" into the mainstream in 1965-1966?

My Hustler became Andy Warhol's first popular as opposed to critical success. Lots of people new to the underground came to see My Hustler. The Theater of the ridiculous opened up with a group organized by Tavel and directed by John Vaccaro to extended the concepts of underground film into the realm of theatrical performance. Expanded cinema and multi-media shows became important vehicle for the underground. They were quite aggressive in their sensory bombardment which made them perfect for the indulgence of psychedelic drugs acid, LSD, mushrooms, all very popular at the time. Warhol did the E.P.I with the Velvet Underground probably the hardest assault on the senses there had been in the form. Next was Chelsea Girls which was likely propelled by the drug culture that had recently become more and more followers of the underground scene.

5. How was John Getz an important figure in the crossover of the underground?

Mike Getz was the first distributor to actually circuit underground films in packages for weekend midnight showings. He is most responsible for introducing underground movies to the American heartland. At Getz' cinema 12 in its height of 1969 films were being distributed to 22 different cities. Getz provided a framework for the midnight movie explosion of the 70's.