/Week 5-
This week, we began thinking about what made a worthwhile performance. We watched videos last week by Guillermo Gomez, and a you type video entitled The punishment, these were deemed as performance but where they worthwhile?? The punishment was particularly disturbing as it showed a group of young children being asked what they thought of President Bush, the end result saw these children punishing Bush by sticking pins in him. It was ironic as they didn’t know what they were doing. The children spoke in a foreign language which made it even more disturbing as we could only see their actions, despite the subtitles!!

We were introduced to a series of links. all displaying types of performances, again this was traumatic. Thousands of people upload video footage onto the web which the deem as a performance. Such things as violence. Cruelty, sex and more. At first seeing this video was worrying however, when I began to think about it, we pay to go and see theatre of cruelty and violent films. These people are just doing the same but in reality. I think it is more disturbing to us as it is reality; I began to question where is the line drawn before virtuality and reality.

Yes, it is true that no one wants to see a Cat being killed, or bullies in a playground, but Blockbuster movies are made such as Die Hard, where nothing happens but violence! Theatre of cruelty was and still is popular, they are acting, but still we flock to see it performed. It is true that we watch violence to understand violence. It is hard to determine, where reality ends and virtuality begins.

I then began thinking, with my group what we deemed as a worthwhile performance, we came up with the following five. :

1. A drama which I can relate to, and has an impact on me, an example of this is ‘Close every door.’ It is a drama based on a women suffering with Neurofibromatosis, the condition I suffer from, it was worthwhile to me because it made an impact on me.

2. Footage of people completing marathons, I think this shows exceptional talent and people should be praised for it.

3. Award winning films, for example. ‘Last kind of Scotland’ this shows excellence in acting especially when portraying important events this film is directed by Kevin McDonald and is Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s.

4. a piece of theatre which not only shows excellent performances but everything from lighting sound and set is outstanding.

5. A sports team who constantly show excellent ability to achieve their goals, e.g. - Wales winning the grand slam in 2005, after winning every single match.

I wrote a response to what is a worthwhile performance: The term performance is described as ‘a musical, dramatic, or other entertainment presented before an audience’ It is something which an audience will chose to see, weather the enjoy it or not.

In today’s society, performance takes place every day, not only in the theatre or TV and radio. But also constantly on the internet, thru the media such as ‘YOUTUBE’, and other sharing programmers. It is hard to determine what constitutes a worthwhile performance, as the material is so vast. It comes down to a personal opinion. For example: During Week 5 seminar, we explored a web page with the thread entitled ‘Top Ten Shock Blogs’. This consisted of 10 You Tube videos, which were extremely shocking; the themes included the broadcasting of bullying, animal cruelty, war, misogyny and work place satire. Some of the class were mortified by the content where as other argued that if the performer had a reason for the performance can be accepted. On a personal note, I can see no reasoning for filming the broadcasting a violent attack! But others may argue it is to raise awareness for the fact it does happen in every day life, therefore by making the public aware and act upon what we have seen the performance becomes worthwhile as it as made a positive impact.

Performances are meant to be shared; there would be little point in a performance if it was to be kept private. But with such powerful tools now such as the internet performance can often been pointless. We also discussed the massive phoneme of Face book, in class, and agreed that it is a personal performance for others. You chose how you are depicted by other, by what you say about yourself, what pictures you put up and weather you tag yourselves in photos or not. To be on Facebook, no longer means to keep in touch with lost friend, but to broadcast and make a performance of yourself, unless you’re honest and show the real you, what your portraying is a lie, and is worthless as it means nothing!


We also looked at a page entitled ‘Weird and Wonderful Blogs’. A page with links to videos which others had taken, including drawings on ideas of what the world will be like in year to come, Hens being filmed 24 hours, and a man in search for a wife. Although at first glance these can be viewed as pointless, it is interesting to note that they all have hidden meanings. For example, the filming of the hens to me commented on how, like hens we to are constantly monitored, making me think about our privacy and raising awareness, therefore like the bullying video the performance becomes worthwhile. On the other hand, it could be just the filming of a flock of hens, and so has no point and is worthless.

Blogging heads was and interesting link we looked at, as it showed to people having a real conversation about current affairs (In this case 9/11). It became a performance once it was broadcasted, and allowed the public to see to different views on such an important affair.

To finish, I would like to comment on the link regarding the High court and You Tube. In very recent news, a member of the public was sentenced, as they recorded a court case on their mobile phone and broadcasted it on You Tube, this is an illegal act. But it raises the question of, why did they feel the need to broadcast such an event? It must have been, to them something they wanted to share, bringing me to the point, that a worthwhile performance is indeed something which has to be decided on personally.



To finalize on what I have discussed, and drawing information from various sources, I think I am just in saying a worthwhile performance, no long means a play, a musical or a Film. With the internet now, anything is possible, and as long as the performer has a worthy reason, or meaning behind their act, it can be see as worthwhile. Even if is to cheer someone up by appearing a fool on you tube! Writing a poem and creating a blog about it. The answer to the above question can not be clear cut; it can not even be answered in full! A worthwhile performance is something personal and something which will constantly change!
The group’s responses can be found at:
http://virtualityandperformancegroup.blogspot.com