[Frameworks] Noteworthy Publications This Year?

Sat Jan 2 23:40:14 UTC 2016

I stand corrected on the matter of only one person refusing to be interviewed; I had not completed the book when I wrote.

I think Scott is the best historian and critic of the North American avant garde cinema, and his study of institutions in a series of essential books is groundbreaking for giving us all a richer understanding of history and aesthetics woven together.  But, you gotta admit that calling the book “Binghamton Babylon” does invite a certain kind of reading.

One question I have is how do we understand the interpersonal relations within of the organizations we have?  Especially given that there is a level of insider knowledge that spans from gossip to legend?  You can say that’s private, or personal, or not anyone else’s business, but we also know institutional histories and individual artist careers often change due to who is/was sleeping with who.

The other question I have is while we might hope "that the men and women in the Cinema Department were adults, equal to their teachers as human beings,” in point of fact the faculty had a lot more power: giving grades, privileges, scholarships and other financial aid, recommendation letters, etc.  That power differential is exactly what is at stake in the current flurry of activity in the US around issues of sexual relations, sexual assault, discimination, and so forth in higher education referencing Title iX in particular.  Certainly since the early 1960s, women artists have had quite a lot to say about "the expectation that they were equals sexually as well as politically.”  And most of it doesn’t flatter men with power.

(People outside the US who aren’t familiar with the complications of Title IX and want to know more could start with two essays by Laura Kipnis : "Sexual Paranoia Strikes Academe," and “My Title IX Inquisition.”  (@laurakipnis.com<http://laurakipnis.com>)

Chuck

On Jan 2, 2016, at 5:19 AM, scott at financialcleansing.com<mailto:scott at financialcleansing.com> wrote:

Dear Chuck et al,

The late-Sixties-early-Seventies were (of course) an unusual and complex moment. From our perspective now, some of what went on back then (at Binghamton and in other places--think of the legendary nude faculty-student get-together at the San Francisco Art Institute!) can seem outrageous--and perhaps to some extent was outrageous, as certain "Voices" in the "Weave" of Binghamton Babylon make evident.

But it is also true that that generation of students certainly saw themselves as adults and expected to be taken seriously as adults. As various other "Voices" make clear, this included the expectation that they were equals sexually as well as politically. Even Nixon understood that if 18-and 19-year old young men were expected to put their lives in jeopardy in Vietnam--or put their freedom in jeopardy by refusing to serve in the military--then, 18-19-20-year olds should be able to drink a beer, and by extension function as full and equal adults in other ways as well.

The assumption that the men and women in the Cinema Department were adults, equal to their teachers as human beings (if not yet as accomplished intellectuals or artists), seems fully a part of the energy of that department at that moment and part of what allowed the Cinema Department to have powerful long-range effects.

Only one person refused to be interviewed for Binghamton Babylon. I was unable to track down a number of other folks whose input I had hoped for.

Scott

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Noteworthy Publications This Year?
From: Chuck Kleinhans <chuckkle at northwestern.edu<mailto:chuckkle at northwestern.edu>>
Date: Wed, December 30, 2015 12:41 pm
To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com<mailto:frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>>

On Dec 29, 2015, at 6:15 PM, David Baker <dbaker1 at hvc.rr.com<mailto:dbaker1 at hvc.rr.com>> wrote:

Scott MacDonald's revelatory,
BINGHAMTON BABYLON: VOICES FROM THE CINEMA DEPARTMENT 1967-1977

Among the “revelations” are many references to (male) faculty having sexual encounters with (usually female) students, and other hanky-panky, in addition to drug and alcohol use/abuse.  It seems to me this is the first real discussion of these sorts of events in the experimental film world. (well, historians have sometimes touched on this for the distant past, but most of the people here are still around).

I wonder how both people of that generation and the Millennial generation take these details.  A hidden history? More of the same-old, same-old?  Really dangerous under Title IX today (US law giving women equal access to education)?

MacDonald mentions that a fair number of people did not want to be interviewed, and there are very few women who are quoted.  Reluctant to drag up old baggage?

It’s interesting that for all the “taboo breaking” poses of the avant garde, sexual politics of personal relations  within the community are seldom discussed (with an exception for some gay filmmakers).

Chuck Kleinhans

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Chuck Kleinhans
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