Bad News (2013)
Using headlines from U.S. newspapers of the 1920s and 1930s, Bad News explores the role of excitement, boredom, and amnesia in our reception of the news. Whether it's a murder in one's hometown or a typhoon in a faraway country, we are exhilarated by bad news. Yet, once the calamity recedes in time, we move on and forget. What residue, if any, is left from our "digestion" and "processing" of disasters?
Bad News' protracted unfolding contrasts with the instantaneity of our current mediascape and frantic consumption of tragedy. The old saying that "nothing is old as yesterday's news" is rendered quaint in the landscape of Twitter and 24/7 broadcasting. With the multiplication of channels through which we can now receive bad news, the need to forget grows. We need to make room for the next influx of catastrophes. "More news on Fukushima? Wasn't the tsunami in 2011?!"
10 min. 56 sec. excerpt of 120 minute work
Music: Angelo Badalamenti "Mysteries of Love" (instrumental version)
Using headlines from U.S. newspapers of the 1920s and 1930s, Bad News explores the role of excitement, boredom, and amnesia in our reception of the news. Whether it's a murder in one's hometown or a typhoon in a faraway country, we are exhilarated by bad news. Yet, once the calamity recedes in time, we move on and forget. What residue, if any, is left from our "digestion" and "processing" of disasters?
Bad News' protracted unfolding contrasts with the instantaneity of our current mediascape and frantic consumption of tragedy. The old saying that "nothing is old as yesterday's news" is rendered quaint in the landscape of Twitter and 24/7 broadcasting. With the multiplication of channels through which we can now receive bad news, the need to forget grows. We need to make room for the next influx of catastrophes. "More news on Fukushima? Wasn't the tsunami in 2011?!"
10 min. 56 sec. excerpt of 120 minute work
Music: Angelo Badalamenti "Mysteries of Love" (instrumental version)
