Subcutaneous Melodrama: The Work of Eija-Liisa Ahtila
Author(s): Jane Philbrick
Source: PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, Vol. 25, No. 2 (May, 2003), pp. 32-47
Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of the Performing Arts Journal, Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3246399
Accessed: 19/02/2010 12:24
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mitpress.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
The MIT Press and Performing Arts Journal, Inc. are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and
extend access to PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art.
http://www.jstor.org
SUBCUTANEOUSMELODRAMA
The Work of Eija-LiisaAhtila
Jane Philbrick
_innish
^F
filmmakerand visual artist Eija-LiisaAhtila is one of the most
prominentpractitionersof the vibrantNordic art scene to emerge in the
1990s. Trainedin art and film in her nativeHelsinki,as well as in London
and LosAngeles,and currentlycompletingher doctoratein fine artsat the Academy
of Fine Arts in Helsinki,Ahtila makeswork that is smartin theory and practice.
Smart,emotionallyarresting,engaging,affective.A self-described"tellerof human
dramas,"she approachesnarrativeequippedwith a rigorousarsenalof postmodern
strategiesrangingin scope from critiquesof the global communicationsnetwork
and post-structuralistinvestigationsof volatile subjectivityto feminist and postfeministconcernswith subjectconstruction.One of hermost potenttools, however,
is a two-centuries-olddramaticgenre of proven emotional reach and punch,
melodrama.Historicallydisdainedas "low"art and more recently,and exhaustively,
interrogatedby film theoristsas a site and vehicle of feminineerasure,in termsof
both representationand spectatorship,melodramais a provocativeand savvy
narrativedevicefor a contemporary(female)artisttellingstoriesin the languageof
the cinema.
Evolvingas a byproductof the FrenchRevolution,melodramais a hybrid genre
combining speech with the traditionalmute boulevardentertainmentsof mime,
music, and spectacle.Bannedfrompopularstagesby a rulingaristocracydeservedly
wary of the insurgentpotential of an uncensoredpeople'stheatre,spoken texts
became the exclusiveprivilegeof officiallysanctioned, upper-classtheatres,and
conformedin styleto the neo-classicismfavoredby the well-educatedelite.With the
new democracy,common people found political voice, and reclaimedit for the
theatreas well. Melodrama'sfirst audiencesincluded active playersand firsthand
witnessesof the Revolution'sreallife-and-deathdramas,its bloodywarfareand grisly
highly refined,static,
public executions.They were unlikelyto find neo-classicism's
literaryartificesatisfying.A new dramaticformfor spokentheatrewas required,one
societyin dire
exhilaratingenoughto captivatea highlycharged,post-revolutionary
need of direction in its newly democratizedlife. Emotionally vivid, visually
stunning, easily accessible, morally mindful-these fundamental attributes of
melodrama,forgedin the revolutionmarkingthe adventof the modernage,prevail
32
*
PAJ 74 (2003), pp. 32-47.
?
2003 Performing Arts Journal, Inc.
audio-visualappetitesof contemporarynarratoday,whetting twenty-first-century
tive practitionersand their audiences.
On the websitefor her recentexhibition,"Fantasized
PersonsandTapedConversations,"at the TateModern,Ahtila accompaniesthe conventionalmenu of didactic
information-biography,generalintro, an overviewof works on view-with an
unexpectedlink to a section labeled"FinnishInfo."Here the curiouscan discover
such noveltiesof the Nordic hinterlandas statisticson Finnishsociety (one in five
familiesowns a dog), tantalizinglinguistictidbits (Finnishhas no futuretense), a
shortlist of homespunproverbs,and a schematictimelinespanningFinnishhistory
from twelfth-centurySwedishrule in the south and west to the 2000 election of
Finland'sfirstwoman president.In otherwords,Ahtila sets forth a museum-goer's
thumbnailBaedekerto one of the EC's most affluentnations. Castingher native
country,where she continues to live and work, as a land apart, far afield from
familiar trade routes of twentieth-centurytourism, is consistent with Ahtila's
working method of mixing fact with her own fiction. Associated in popular
perception(if at all) with melancholicovertonesof Strindbergianbleaknessand
claustral Munchian despair, and the sublime transcendenceof the landscape
tradition,contemporaryFinlandis a post-warsuccessstory,a seeminglycontent, if
somewhatbland,welfarestate,becalmedby government-issue
middle-classcomfort
and ethnichomogeneity.A closerlook revealsa darkerside, evincedby the country's
high suicideratesand prevalentalcoholism.Representingher nativeland, home to
internationalconglomeratessuch as communicationsgiantNokia, as a worldwithin
yet without mainstreamglobalism,is more than a glib, ironicgesture."Finnishness
is a type of narrative,"
Ahtilaexplains,a "framework"
throughwhich she stakesout
her own territorywithin the contradictoryimpulsesof Nordic traditionand the
homogenizinguniversalityof media-driven,popularculture.'
Classic melodramas,especiallythe Gothic subgenre,favor exotic landscapesof
barrenmoorsand lonely,desolatecastlesoffsetby distant,craggypeaks,or, in urban
settings,seamyunderworldsof dark,cramped,squalidghettos.Here, stock themes
of persecutedinnocenceand traducedpurityplayout in petri-dishfantasiesof highpitched emotion, exempt from, or more accurately,transgressingthe passiontampingnorms and humble compromisesof routine,workadaylives. Mid-century
Hollywoodmelodramasusedmise-en-sceneto constructheightenedatmospheresof
paranoiacdis-easethroughlighting, color, costume,and set design, subvertingthe
seamlessauthorityof phallocentricstorylines.Partof a generationof Nordic artists
Kim Levin identifiesas "aim[ing]for a visceraland sensory,ratherthan a cerebral
response. . . what Gilles Deleuze once called, 'the logic of sensation,"'Ahtila is
highly attunedto the "matterof genre,"with its rich affectiveappeal.2
Her storiesare typicallyset in small towns, Helsinki,for instance,by international
standards,with a populationof 560,000, scarcelya teeming metropolis.Here she
presentsfamilygroupings,ratherthan familiesper se, with an emphasisalwayson
the individual.Ahtila'sinvestigationsof identity grow out of her interestin the
fluidityof identity construction,"howthe subconsciousis inheritedin some way,"
PHILBRICK / SubcutaneousMelodrama
*
33
sheexplains,"[theway]in whichmymotheris physically
presentin myselfandI am
women, are typically
presentin her."3Her centralcharacters,
predominantly
perchedon the razor'sedgeof mentaland emotionalcollapse.She oftenfeatures
of selfhoodin flux,and
pregnantwomen,whoseverybodiessignifyboundaries
relationsandidentities.In Me/We,fromher 1993
familymilieusof interchanging
voicequestioning
thepurposeof hislifespeaks
trilogyMe/We,Okay,Grey,a father's
for all the membersof his family.Okaypresentsa solitarywomanpacingher
her abusivesexualrelationship.
She
apartmentlike a cagedanimal,cataloguing
butthistimein a perfectly
malevoice,formally
repeatsherselfverbatim,
lip-synched
Ahtila'soverallthemeof unfixed,transferable
reiterating
identity.
TheHouseis a multi-screen
DVD installation
recentlyexhibitedat DocumentaXI,
andone of fiveepisodesin the filmversion,LoveIs a Treasure
(2002),developed
fromanearlierwork,ThePresent
as
one-to-two
minute
presented
(2001),originally
exhibitionsand as thirty-second
segmentson monitorsfor gallery/museum
spots
screened
withmovietrailers
in cinemasandbroadcast
breakson
duringcommercial
Finnishtelevision.Here,the protagonist,
Elisa,is no longerable to distinguish
insidefromout. Interiornoises,the humof the fridge,andthewhirof hersewing
machineintermingle
withthedroneof ships'hornssoundingatseaandtherandom
of
her
car
in front of her house.A disorienting
revving
careeringdriver-free
soundscape
plays,withno reliablepointsof origin.As anxietymounts,a miniature
versionof the carappearsinsideandracestauntinglyacrosshersittingroomwalls.
Theseexternalized
incidentsof a disjointedworldprojectthe internalcollapse,or
"Imeetpeople,"Elisasays,as if to clarifyher
absence,of herpersonalsubjectivity.
membrane/volatile
statusaspermeable
identity,and"oneat a timetheystepinside
me andliveinsideme."4
in Ahtila's
Characters
worldsstruggleto remainintact.Throughout
her
fictionalized
work,she suggests,implicitlyand overtly,that theirbattleis a moralone, with
at large,verymuchin play.Eachof the
victory,andby extension,society's
personal
shortsequencesof ThePresentcloseswith a captionreading,"Giveyourselfa
present,forgiveyourself."For museumand galleryexhibitions,Ahtilaprovided
blanketsfor saleinscribedwith the sametext, proposing,perhaps,humilityas a
to the heavyburdenof being,offeredwiththewarmassociative
possibleapproach
of personalembraceandsecuritya blanketas metaphorimplies.
resonance
in the multiple
The moraluniverseAhtilapositsis perhapsmostovertlyaddressed
andperformance,
DVD installation
screen-and-monitor
Anne,AkiandGod(1998).
An interiorroomin the galleryis designated
by threepartitionwalls;at the closed
of fantasy,dream,and analysis.
end is a bed, redolentof narrative
implications
Mountedon top of the flankingwalls,parenthetically
containingthe bed,aresix
videomonitors;a screenhoversoverthe end wall.Beyondthe openspaceof the
in frontof anotherscreen.Playingon eachof
absentfourthwallsitsa liveperformer
the six interiormonitorsis the character
Aki, a recovering
schizophrenic
formerly
employedby Nokia,who tellsthe storyof his delusionalpursuitof an idealized
lover,Anne.Sixversionsof the identicaltextarepresentedby six differentactors,
34
*
PAJ 74
one per monitor, recordedduring the actors'auditionsfor the role of Aki. The
formal stabilityof the monologue, playing simultaneouslywith the distinct, and
contrapuntallydissonant, pacing and emphasis of each performerelectronically
preserved,fracturesinto polyphonicchorus.
Processing-in effect, sampling-the multiple versions of Aki's romantic quest,
viewerscompoundthe auditioningact of the actorsby auditioningfor themselves
the performancesof each individual actor'saudition, all relatingAki's tale of
a field of multipleAnnes in pursuitof his (delusionally)
searching("auditioning")
idealizedtrue love. Furtherperplexingthe boundariesof inside/outsidenarrative
the live performerseated outside the "viewer/Aki"
room is
diegesis/performance,
revealedto be one of the five actors playing-in yet another mirroringact,
auditioningfor-the roleof Anne projectedon the screenin frontof her.With love,
the essentialgrail of human life, astrayand speech, the metaphysicalmarkerof
presence,loosed fromsubjectself, even God, the thirdplayerin this refractingtriad
and presumedomniscient,can'tresistthe volatilerefiguringof Ahtila'scastingcall.
Projectedon the overheadscreen at the end wall over the bed, God appears
alternatelyand elusivelyas a man, a woman, and the PC world'sblankBlue Screen
of Death, the video void. A quasi-synthesisof contestingmultiple images,voices,
and presence(registeredby the illusionary/physical
and implied/actualdichotomies
of Anne and the viewer)is the only provisionalresolutionAhtila achieves.
Wylie Sypheridentifiedmelodramaas "the modalityof the nineteenthcentury,"
which he characterized
as the "dialecticof two absoluteforcesin conflicttowardsa
resolution-the good heroineagainstthe badvillain."5Throughoutits long history,
the genre offered many variations,but this basic formula of virtue rewarded
establishedmelodrama'smoral framework.Its repertoireof stock characterswas
essentially types, what Robert Heilman called "monopathic,"lacking internal
motivation.6Chaste heroines tended to be passive, prey to unspeakableacts of
heinous skullduggeryperpetratedthrough the wile and nefariouswill of active
villains.The genre'sstunningvisualeffectshavetheirrootsin the spectacletraditions
of the populartheatrefrom which it emerged.Stagepyrotechnicsrecreatedbefore
viewer'seyes, full-scale,train wrecks,shipwrecks,infernos,and a host of natural
disastersthat availed melodrama'sheroes and heroines the hair-breadthescapes
assuringvirtue'slast-ditchtriumph over evil. With the advent of naturalismand
realism,characters'field of action grewnarrower.The tendencytowardinternalization did not, however,producea reciprocaltaming of the spectacularhigh jinx of
melodrama'srequisite"sensationscenes,"which grew increasinglymore ambitious
trying to satisfythe easilydulled appetitesof audienceshungryfor one new thrill
after another.Although "arousingsensationsof awe and wonder,"melodramatic
sentiment failed to engender,as in tragedy,profoundspeculationon the human
condition.The affectiverealmof melodramais the individual.
Actorsenjoyedan intimaterapportwith the audience.Melodramatists'
penchantfor
incorporatingmaterialfrom real life invigoratedfamiliarstory formulas,keeping
them currentand personal.Characters'asides,allowingactorsto conveytheirinner
PHILBRICK / SubcutaneousMelodrama
*
35
Installation of
The Wind. Photo:
Courtesy Kunsthalle
Zurich.
The Bridge. Photo: Courtesy Kunsthalle Zurich.
Consolation
Service.Photo: CourtesyKunsthalleZurich.
36
*
PAJ 74
thoughts or observationsdirectly to the audience, dimensionalizedthe smooth
interiority of stage dialogue, multiplying paths of audience address.Villains,
especially,provokedemotional responses,sufferinginvectivesand hisses from the
audience. Eclipsing the stage's ability to tell stories through image, cinema's
sensationscenes thrilledviewerswith vistas of exotic landscapesand, conversely,
with recognitionof their own cityscapesflickeringbeforethem. Noting film'sdebt
to stage practice,SergeiEisensteinattributedcinema'smontage techniqueto the
structuralbreaks of quick scene changes and split-stage action that enabled
melodramato cover narrativeground quickly,setting up the plot reversalsand
coincidencesthat reunited despairingparentswith lost children, forlorn lovers
cruelly divided, and vindicated, once and for all, the sterling honor of falsely
impugnedinnocence.7
The enunciativefield of melodramawas dispersedfrom the start,partof the legacy
of proscribedspeech that encouragedclever insertions of dramatic exposition
circumventingofficial censorshipvia song lyrics, letters read aloud, unfurling
bannersand placardsbearingtext. Dialogue framesof silent movies revivedpreRevolutionarytheatre'sseparationof speech from action. Sustaining narrative
developmentbetweentext captions,actorsreliedon the expressiveconventionsof
stageacting,which to contemporaryeyes especiallyappearexcessiveand histrionic.
MichaelBooth, however,drewa connectionbetweenthe grammarof melodramatic
actingand then-currentscientificstudy correlatingexpressionand gesturewith felt
emotion. Rather than hollow stage theatrics played at whim, the exaggerated
movementsof melodramaticacting arepart of the genre'senunciativecode.8
Scoredto the emotionalpitch of dramaticaction, music (the "melo"of the original
French "melodrame")gave stage scenarioswhat Peter Brooks called "additional
legibility."9On- and offstagesounds, such as tolling bells, cries,footsteps,tell-tale
knocking, furtheranimatedstage situation and plot. Soundscapesalso servedas
sonic markerscueing actors'movements,entrances,and exits. Its communicative
role is manifestin silent film, whereit comprisedthe entiresonic field.The camera
"eye"laser-focusedthe genre'senunciativescope. In turn,with the emergenceof the
Hollywood melodramasof the 1940s and 50s, film itself became a lens through
which the critical community investigatedculture at large, examiningissues of
gender,representation,and voice. Fundamentallythesestudiesrevealedthe difficulties of constructingfemininity,and by extension,anyrepresentation
of the Other,in
a white, patriarchalsociety,for which cinemastood in microcosm.
Adopting the stage model of the heroine as passivevictim of a villain'snefarious
vitality, Hollywood melodramaspresentedthe female protagonistas essentially
blank,"whatcounts is what the heroineprovokes,or ratherwhat she represents. . .
In herself,the woman has not the slightestimportance."10
This erasureof women's
subjectivitywas furthercomplicatedby the statusof woman-as-imageendemic to
the visual pleasure melodrama offered and the dispersed enunciative field it
constructedfrom the earlystagedays. In Todd Haynes'scurrentremake,FarFrom
Heaven,of the originalDouglasSirk 1956 melodrama,All ThatHeavenAllows,the
PHILBRICK/ Subcutaneous
Melodrama *
37
outsidethehomeof
dresseswornbythecircleof Hartford
societymatronsgathered
in
are
Whitaker
color-coded
the
visuallystunningpaletteof
Margaret
protagonist
them.Thewomenreadasdecorative
theNewEnglandautumnfoliagesurrounding
elementsof, ratherthanactiveplayersin, the storytheyinhabit.
discontinuities
of stagemelodrama
thatresolved
Theformal"ruptures"
thenarrative
in Hollywoodmelotheatricswereinternalized
of strainingplotsandsensational
on
inside.""1
the
drama,whereDouglasSirknoted,"everything
Multiple
happens
camerashots presentingmultiplepoints of view
locationsand depth-shifting
seamlessflow,heighteningthe
time and spacein an uninterrupted,
restructured
smooth
of
characteristic
melodrama.
theotherwise
Examining
atmosphere
paranoiac
forfaultlinesof Barthesian
maleviewership
narration
of auteurcinemaprivileging
body"as evidenceof
filmtheoristsidentifiedthe tropeof the "hysterical
"excess,"
In thesefilms,thephysicaland/or
maleauthority.
to overbearing
women'sresistance
of
heroineconfoundsthe (presumed)
mentalmaladyof a suffering
greaterexpertise
medic.The protagonist's
a (male)ministering
body"defiesdefinitionby
"hysterical
the man,becominginstead"anunreadable
text,"evento thewomanherself.12
the storiesof
Mixingfictionandreality,a formulafamiliarfromearlymelodrama,
arebasedon the artist'sresearch
in Ahtila's
the protagonists
film,Loveis a Treasure,
of womenwho haveexperienced
into the real-lifeexperiences
psychoticdisorders.
TheWind,Lovesfourthepisode,opensonto a windowwith billowingcurtains,a
callsforthedoorto
cluttered
table,anelectricfan.Thevoiceof a woman,Susanna,
Thebreezepicksup,papersstartflyingoff the
be shut."Itis,"a malevoicecorrects.
Asthewindintensifies,
thedraftcomingfromthen?,"shedemands.
table."Where's
he says,eclipsingher
booksfall."Yourimagination,"
a vaseof flowersoverturns,
his
realitywith authority.
blondhair
Susannais a thick-setwomanin hertwentieswithlank,shoulder-length
her
a
trace
of
shows
her
face.
Her
off
defiance,
impassive
expression
pushedroughly
tube
spaghetti-strap top
eyesregardthe camerawarily.Shewearsa body-hugging
andshortplaidskirtthatbarelycontaintheamplecontoursof herbreasts,
hips,and
of her
the
The
cool,
atmosphere
indigopalettecomplements cerulean-seeped
belly.
in
laces.
When
white
sneakers
with
Shewearstie-up
blue-walled
thick,
apartment.
has
narration
a rage,Susannachewsherhandsto thebone.Herdocumentary-style
shortis illogical,conflating
butitssubstance
thetoneof clinicalrecitation,
personal
andpsychoticperception
hand("Iwasobviouslya childthatdevelopsquiteslowly")
column...
("Ihadsortof a feelingthatpeopleI knowwerewritingto the'Personal'
interiorwind
andthe stufftheywroteaboutme got me mad.").As the unnatural,
shelves,their
gains force, Susanna,with brute might, topplesfloor-to-ceiling
abundant
junk-shopstoreshurtlingto herfeet."Idon'tfeelangerandmelancholy,"
shesays,"Iam angerandmelancholy."
herfurysimmersunderroutinedomesticity,
Betweenviolenteruptions,
makingtea
actsof resistance
andis divertedby fist-clenching
in hersmallbed-sitapartment,
thatforcebothhandsgreedilyintohermouth."IhavethisthingthatI can'tshout,"
38
*
PAJ 74
she interjectsnumbly,"sinceit's sort of in the family,relativeswho get mad easily
and shout so that I can'tstand it." Instead,stoppingherselflike a bottle, fighting
literallytooth and nail for release,she gnawsher handsto "whenyou get your teeth
into a bone in your finger."Yet within her destructiveswathe, Susannamakes a
certainmethodicalorder.She buildsa bed with lipstickfootingsand defendsherself
against perceivedtaunts from a phantom group of "popular,"clever girls who
inexplicablyarrivein her apartment,"whenit was still a bit untidy . .. they forced
their way in here." Susanna'ssufferingshave roots in her personal history of
underachievement
at school, poor body image,an overbearingfamily,but she veers
off the map implicatingproblemsof pollution, society'smaterialisticvalues, and
Third World poverty.At the height of her rampage,a young man unexpectedly
arrivesat the door,"Iwantto test the ice,"he tellsher,with amusingironycuedonly
to the viewer.In returnfor a reprievefrom "beingconstantlyon show"and for
agreeingto discusswith him "issuesof globalization,"he irons the newspapersshe
hoards in her apartment.This incongruousact, she explainswith matter-of-fact
illogic,keepsthe printfromsoilingherhandsso she can still put them in hermouth.
Seatedside by side on her makeshiftbed, surroundedby the ruinedlandscapeof her
ravagedapartment,he counselsher to seektreatment."You'llneed to get into a safe
place,"he tells her. Susannareachesout to embracehim, a gestureof simultaneous
comfort and desire,but he spurnsher. After her repeatedadvances,he leaves. "I
mean,who reallyarethe guilty ones here?"she asks,only to submergethis essential
moral dilemma, like her rage itself, in a delusional indictment of trash and
pollution.
Althoughinternallyat warwith herself,a painfully"divided"character,a prerequisite, accordingto Heilman, of tragedy,Susanna'sfield of affect is individual,the
realmof the melodramatic.ClassicHollywood melodramasexchangedthe expansiveactionfor the small-scalegaffe,codingmise-en-sceneand costumeto equatethe
tidy with the good, the untidyand excessivewith the bad.In Anne,Aki and God,Aki
explainsthat he cleanedup his apartmentonly afterbeing chastenedby God, "But
takea look aroundyou. Can you invite that girl to come to a dump like this?"In a
landscapecued to emotion, as in tragedy,with a privatesentiment,anger,giventhe
epic statureof a hurricane,Susanna'spotency is undercutby its modest scope-a
lonely life in a small,clutteredapartmentlaid to wasteby the ravagingwind of her
own imagination.
The protagonistof TheBridge,the third sequencein Love,is a slim, middle-aged
woman, lines, with a pale, still face framedby wavy,brownhair,parteddown the
center. She wears a red turtleneckpulloverand crisplypleated tan trousersand
carriesa red purse. lines is the picture of a conventional,middle-class,married
woman, a modus operandishe confirmsciting her two children,two parents,and
"goodbackground."Outdoors,in town, presumablyrunningerrands,she is waylaid
on a busybridge,unableto cross.Crouchingdown on handsand knees,lines peers
blanklyahead.The verticalbar backdropof the balustradesilhouettingher profile
reiteratesgraphicallyherpsychicentrapment.Down on all fours,crawlingacrossthe
bridge,lines'spostureof ultimatepathosis not without menace.She identifiesevil
PHILBRICK / SubcutaneousMelodrama
*
39
"landingin the treeand aroundthe treeis walkinga tiger,on the prowlfor its
young."Herredbagdragsatherwrist,a flagof distress,a markerof blood."Igrow
"andgo andsweepthe
longthicknails,"sherecitesin a monotoneslinkingforward,
for
the
I
door
wait
arse
and
to
with
of
our
openandeveryonewho
my
steps
edges
she-catin restlessmaternalalertor
has lovedme can go."Is she the proverbial
evilherself?Shedoesn'tknow,"I can'tlook in the mirror,becausewho
predatory
wouldI see?"
In a laterscene,linesstandsin frontof the HesperiaHospital,herupraisedarms
"Isuddenlyfelta powerful
theecclesiastical
gestureof God'sforgiveness.
intimating
she
I
a
new
lovefor everyoneas though was
Jesus," explains,conceding,however,
in suchfalseabsolution
thatshe "neverevenbelongedto the church."Recognizing
thatshe is "notsafe"in herself,andfearingfor herchildren,lines decidesto seek
fromsicknessto healthcollapsesas the
trajectory
help.The presumed
professional
the settingto be merelya model,withthe realhospital
camerapullsbackrevealing
The narrative
in
the
cyclesbackto lines crawling
background.
buildinglooming
thatthesightof a
acrossthebridge.Trafficflowsdisinterestedly
pasther,suggesting
"Irealized
womanon handsandkneesis commonplace.
well-dressed
conventionally
"Thatthat'swherethe madnessis. Or is it
thatI lookedmad,"she acknowledges,
"I don't
a demeaningaccommodation.
perpetuates
just me?"lines'sambivalence
know,"shesays,headup,mincingalongon allfours,"Still,theylet me do whatI'm
supposedto."
and invisibility
Love'sremainingtwo sequencesdevelopthemesof permeability
in the earlier
Curtains
(Swaying
prominentsinceAhtila'searliestwork.Underworld
in
a
a
woman
The
hospital.She
version, Present)
patient psychiatric
depicts young
to the imminentthreatof killer-invaders,
hidesherselfunderherbed,battle-ready
whosearrival,she delusionally
details,is signaledby the swayingof curtains.The
hospitalstaffis unableto urgeherout. Theytry liftingthe bed, but to no avail,
thanksto handlesfittedto the underside,the patientconfides,whichshe grips,
in the
delivered
recitation,
paranoid
bracingherselfto theframe.In hermethodical,
the patientconflateshermedicalteam
mock411-styleof a combatcommunique,
under
herwhereabouts
A 3-D contourrendering
withthekiller-invaders.
disclosing
meetsSuperman's
the bed (thinkSchwarzenneger/Bond
x-rayvision)is a briefbut
womenin film.Whenthe
troubledhistoryrepresenting
potentallusionto cinema's
scaleandmarchesin
toy-soldier
(female)doctorarrives,shemorphsto Lilliputian,
drilltowardthepatient,whoknockshercoldwitha single
no-nonsense
a steadfast,
fist.
cut fromherGulliver-size
a blond,
featuresthe youngestprotagonist,
The secondepisode,GroundControl,
teenagegirlin a blueT-shirtandjeans,reluctantto returnhome.Shecrossesthe
herhouse,evidentlypartof a developgroundsthatsurround
rough,gravel-strewn
construction.
still
under
ment
Lookingup, the girl can see her motherin the
windowcleaninghouse.Insteadof goingin, thegirlcirclesbackto a muddypuddle
at theknees,sheletsherlongblond
andliesdown.Withherlegsbentsuggestively
hair languidlyswirlin the murkywater,her empty expressionregisteringno
40
*
PAJ 74
responseto the water'scool, slipperytouch or acridsmell.She standsup, stainedand
dripping,and entersthe house, as if without incident.
Today(1996-97), a video installationand short film, tells the story,from the point
of view of a young girl, of the death of an old man, her grandfather,recentlykilled
in a road accident.The other charactersinclude the girl's father and an older
woman, Vera,whose relationshipto the othersis not clear.The girl playscatch by
herselfin a clutteredoutdoorcourtyard.The rhythmicbouncingof her ball beatsa
disorientingtattoo againstthe invisiblewall of the camera.She catchesit, returned
as if by sole forceof her will. The girl'spervasivepresenceoutsidethe frameof her
own narrativeis perceptuallyregisteredby the sound of the ball bouncing
independentof her action. Indoors,the girl'sfathergrievesthe suddendeathof his
father.He weeps hysterically.She watcheshim, unmoved,likeninghim to a "fire
engine spouting water.""His voice rises to an ear-splittingscream,"she observes
with distaste,"andagainlowersto a smotheringwhine."On screen,he lies on his
bed in a fetal position, his shirt soaked through with tears, mouth and nose
streaming."Andour house will soon be filled with water"is her cool, apocalyptic
prediction.
The father'sexcessiveemotionalismseems out of step with a family,by his own
description,of grudgingintimacy,his pain rooted in the ache for an affectionhe
neverfelt, and the recognitionthat now he neverwill, ratherthan an agonyof love's
suddenloss. He describeshis fatheras a manwho "carefully
let it be understoodthat
he didn'twant to be touched,"keepinghis hands busy "sohe didn'thave to shake
hands."Stinting affection is a family trait. He sees in his daughter'sthrows "the
angerI had swallowed,"confessingthat "Idon'tknowwhetherto run towardsher or
away."She tells him he looks "likea dad,"a neutralstatementof fact on the one
hand, a possible term of endearment on the other, but here bristling with
recrimination.The third characteris an older woman, Vera. She presentsdour
ruminationson a life of stuntedpossibility,"Inthis city adultshave become failed
teenagers,mourning their own maturity."Her meanderingobservationsconnect
dark,personalrevelation,"I slept in a narrowbed without a pillow ... I preserved
the fear inside my body and made myself from it," with the futility of society at
large-"The streetsare swarmingwith people who look alike-and boast about
havingdone exactlywhat is undone."
The stories,narratedin formallydistinctpoints of view, thematicallyelide.The girl
questionsat one point whose dad it is that'scrying.While possiblyacknowledging
the universalityof a son'sgrieffor a deceasedfather,the detachmentof herdislocated
queryunderminesthe authenticityof his extremedespair.Eyeinghim, wrackedwith
sobs, the girl determineswith clinicalprecisionthe exactvertebraeof his hunched
braceshad crossedhis back.In the end, she disavows
spine wherethe grandfather's
her own identity,"I am 66 yearsold"-possibly a youngVera?Dad'saccountof his
father'sdeath implies that perhapshis car ran the old man over.Ahtila replaysthe
accidentin the haunted refrainsof dreamand memory.A desolateroad, hatched
cross-wiseby shadowscast by tall treesin the moonlight.The grandfather,alone,
PHILBRICK / SubcutaneousMelodrama
*
41
walksdown the center.He stopsat one of the darkstripesand sits down, foldinghis
armsto his chest in a gestureof eternalrest.He lies back,invisiblein the darkness.
Two headlightsapproachfromthe distance.The fathersits bolt upright,his startled
expressioncaught in the headlightsmoments before death. "I felt in my back a
feeling,"saysthe dad, "asif my braceshad snapped-and my pantsdroppedto my
ankles."
ConsolationService,DVD installationand short film, is the only work Ahtila
presentsin a conventionalscreeningformatof a set beginning,with the audience
admittedon the half hour.The film was preparedfor the 1999 Venice Biennale's
theme of endings,markingthe close of the millennium;in it Ahtila examinesthe
break-upof a young couple'smarriagefrom the point of view of the wife and
mother,Anni, in a three-wayrefracted,feminine,narrativeframe.The storybegins
with an outdoorshot panninga snowylandscapeof earlyspring.A man is walking
a dog. A woman'svoice-overintroducesthe storyshe is writingabouther neighbors
in 10c, the young couple with the babywho have decidedto split up. In the next
scene, a (female) therapistcounsels the couple. Anni feels abandoned by her
husbandand overwhelmedin her new maternalrole, "I feel like some enormous
breast who has to take care of everything."The man, JP, for his part, feels
A phantom
unappreciated,"Whyshould I come home if it makesno difference?"
groupof peersobservesfrom the cornerof the office,heighteningthe alreadytense
atmosphereof personalviolationthe couple exude. In an attemptto redirecttheir
well-wornbickering,"I see you both know how to argue,"she creditsthem dryly,
the therapistproposesan exercisein which the two can vent their pain without
furtherdamageof angryrecriminations."Standup,"she instructsthem, "Faceeach
other ... Expressyour feelingstowardseach other.You can use your voice but no
words.And you cannottouch."The couple,tentativelyat first,then vigorously,bark
at each other,yielding to raw,ineffableemotion. An earlieryearningfor reprieve
from stultifyinghuman rationalitywas expressedby the pacing woman of Okay,
wishing,"ifI could only . . . transformmyselfinto a dog and I would barkand bite
everythingthat moves... WOOF WOOF WOOF."Followinga birthdaypartyfor
JP,the coupleand theirfriendstakea walkacrossthe frozenlake,well awarethat its
icy surface,weakenedby warm winter temperatures,may not hold. Fulfillingthe
Gothicportentsof the moonlitsetting,horroris met:the ice givesway and the party
is drownedin the lake'sfrigidwaters.
Not really.For Ahtila, whether they truly drownedor not is not at issue, what
mattersis that the scene convey the emotionalsense of loss and "spiritualdeath"
experiencedin divorce.She usesspecialeffects-the contourmodel of the patientin
Serviceand
Underworld-andscenesof the uncanny the drowningin Consolation
Elisaflying throughthe woods in TheHouse-mixing fantasyand realityto access
the emotionaland psychologicalvanishingpoint of the unconsciousmind. Visually
compelling,immediatelyaccessible,these are high-tech "sensationscenes"of oldschool melodrama.But here, ratherthan spectacularexternalcalamity-a shipwreck,a city fire-or the highly chargedbreachof decorumexposingfault lines of
42
*
PAJ 74
The House. Photo:
Courtesy Kiemens
Gasser & Tanja
Grunert, Inc.
Vide,,o still from Today.Photo:
Couirtesy Kunsthalle Zuirich.
Me/We, Okay, Grey.Photo: Courtesy
Kunsthalle Zuirich
Ground Control.
Photo: Courtesy
Kiemens Gasser &
Tanja Grunert, Inc.
Melodrama U
PHILBRICK/ Subcutaneous
43
are the protagoniststhemmade-in-Hollywoodsociety,Ahtila'ssites of "sensation"
selves.
Throughouther cinema stories,Ahtila reiteratesthe centralityof "touch"to the
human experience.In Anne,Aki and God,Anne appearsat Aki'sdoor, "Stopright
now, thankyou very much,"she says,"I need someonewith a human touch."The
young man in TheWindrefusesSusanna'sattemptsto embracehim, warningher,
won'tevenshakehandsand
"Keepyourhandsto yourself."The grandfatherin Today
the ball the girl throwsat the viewerreturnsto her without touch. At the end of
ConsolationService,Anni reachesher hand out to JP in three replaysof the same
scene. Twice, JP dematerializesin a digitized, particlebreak-up.With the third
return,playedlike a musicalrepeat,Anni refrainsfrom reachingfor him, instead
mirroringhis stylized, formal bow, signaling goodbye. The coda achieved,JP
vanishesin a blink. Like the others,Anni is alone in the world.Ahtila investigates
isolation'santithesis,permeability,as well. In If 6 Was9 (1995-96) teenagegirls
discussingsex speakof their amazementthat men lack a third "hole."One of the
woman,ableto reassimilateto
grouprevealsthat she is in facta thirty-eight-year-old
a girl'sworld becauseof her small size. The ambivalenceof the teenage girl in
GroundControlbegs the question,is she actuallyone with the puddle-and that's
And what
why she registersno responsein the water-or does she not have"touch"?
is touch but a markerof physicalpresence?
A disconnectednessfrom physicalexperienceis destabilizing,Ahtilasuggests,at the
least.In TheHouse,the outcomeis potentiallymuch bleaker.Elisa,the protagonist,
can no longerrelyon her perceptionsto accuratelyinterpretexperience.Only when
she shutsher eyes,in the mannerof consciousness-eclipsing
dream-state,and can be
her
between
conflict
does
noises
"wherethe
are,"
actuality and fantasy find
temporaryresolution.She eventuallytacksblackcurtainsoverherwindowsto block
out dissociatedreality24/7. On her back on the couch, still, silent, alone, Elisa
recallsthe grandfatherin Today,lying in the road,anticipatingdeath.
Ahtilaedits her piecesfor viewingin two separatevenues:film festivalsor museum
and galleryinstallations.The two offerdifferentspectatorpositions.Duringa recent
question-and-answersession following the screening of her work at MoMA's
GramercyTheatrein New York,Ahtila describedher narrativepracticeas "telling
storiesin space,"belyinga biasfor the installationformat,by farher moresuccessful
workingmode. Respondingto the difficultyof subjectconstructionfor women in
phallocentricculture,givenlanguage'sacquisitionat the mirrorstageof psychological development,with its attendantimplication/threatof lack/castration,feminist
film theoristsidentifiedthe necessityfor makingnew relationsto the body.Ahtila
makesher casefor the body diegeticallyin her filmsand videos,and interactivelyin
how they arepresented,likeningthe darkenedgalleryspaceto an audio-visualbody
and designatingthe blank fourth wall of her three-wallprojectionsthe "viewer's
space."The installationsoften include chairsor benchesto accommodate/choreographthe viewer,as in Anne,Aki and God,wherethe bed is a sharedsite, impliedfor
Aki, actualfor the viewer.
44
*
PAJ 74
The charactersaddressviewersdirectly,as if in conversationwith them, so that the
stories"takeplace throughthem,"Ahtila explains.The multiplescreenformatnot
only breaksup the visual picture plane, seamlesslyconstructedin conventional,
monocularfilm, but foregroundsas well the disjunctionimplicit to the narrative
process,exposingnarrationto be as recursiveas consciousnessitself.Ahtilacreatesan
activeviewer,recovering,on the one hand, the communalinteractivityof the stage
melodramaexperience.On the other,incorporatingcurrentstrategiesof situatedness
and the user emergingfrom MTV-stylepop culture, Net-based communication
systems, such as instant messaging,and developing digital technologies,Ahtila
opensup new possibilitiesfor gender-bendingsubjectconstructionby refiguringthe
viewer as body. Working on multiple screens refractingsimultaneous,differing
points of view that convergeand contrast,encouragesmultiplenarrativeinterpretations, formally realizingAhtila'sthematic investigationof volatile identity. Her
finely-tunedsoundscapes,manipulatingnaturalsounds and pop music intervals,
perceptuallydisavow a fixed narrativereality,the keystone to subject stability.
Subjectconstruction,so urgentlycalledfor by film theorists,becomesyet another
flickeringillusion of the Hollywood dream machine. Identity, representedand
experienced,is volatile,and only everprovisionallyachieved.
In his 1972 essay, "Talesof Sound and Fury,"Thomas Elsaesserobservedthe
connection between melodramaand periods of social upheaval.13Russian playwright, scholar,and film theoristAdrian Piotrovskyexpresseda similarview in
1924, callingmelodrama"thechild of transitionalepochs."'4The massivetelecommunicationsrevolutionof the second half of the twentieth century transformed
traditionalspatio-temporalcoordinatesgoverningsubjectivity.Daniel Birnbaum
cites Paul Virilio'scritical speculationon the anxietiesarisingfrom open-ended,
wired life: in a 24/7, boundary-freeworld, "living-present,here and there at the
same time, wheream I if I am everywhere?""5
Twentieth-centurycommunications
technology connected people to people acrosspreviouslyimpossibleexpansesof
time and space.The new frontierof the twenty-firstcenturyis much closerto home,
whatever that is now. The focus of current computer technology is "humancomputerinteraction"(HCI), and the next territoryto be digitallystaked is the
intimate realm of ourselves."Affectivity"
researchexploreshow we interactwith
computers,not just a "cognitiveusers,"but as emotional,corporealsubjectsin hopes
of developinga more responsive,"respectful"
The threatto
computerexperience.16
is
without
in
measure
a
world
where
personalsanctity
digital
privateemotionscan
be "scanned"and processedin the globalinformationnetworkwithout permission
and perhaps even our awareness.We risk becoming, like stock melodramatic
heroines, passive victims of active, invasive computer technologies, "hysterical"
bodies evadingexternallyprocessed,binarydefinition.
Ahtila'svideo installationsand, less effectively,her split-imagefilms requireactive
viewer participationto synthesize the simultaneousmultiplicity of images and
sound. Blurringboundariesof narrationand spectatorship,Ahtilaforcesthe viewer
to makechoices.To makea choiceis an act of will, a moralact.A workof artis itself
a moralact, not becauseit "moralises"
or is "moralistic,"
David Elliottsuggests,but
PHILBRICK / SubcutaneousMelodrama
*
45
because art lays bare the act of will that is being itself.17The stakes of Ahtila's
"human dramas"aredoubled. Adapting as her structuring principle the classic shot/
reverseshot technique of film melodrama, so effective in constructing the "eye"that
denied female viewer subjectivity, Ahtila instead activates it. With the "shot" she
establishes the volatile, emotional dramas of the points of view projected in space; in
the "reverseshot," Ahtila turns the narrative back on the viewer to choose. In the
claustral confines of the darkened exhibition space, Ahtila recasts the viewer as
protagonist in the newly personal, moral, AI universe. As a genre, melodrama has
been criticized as an ineffective tool for enacting social change because of its focus on
the affective over the profound, the individual over the collective. In a simulated
world of digital responses, the "personaltouch" of Ahtila's "human dramas"suggests
melodrama has new reach.
NOTES
1. MaarettaJaukkuri,"Storiesin Space"in ThisSide of the Ocean,exhibitioncatalogue,
Kiasma:KiasmaMuseumfor ContemporaryArt, 1998, p. 146.
Nordic
Freedom:
2. Kim Levin,"NothingLeft to Lose,"in David Elliott, ed., Organising
Art of the 90s, exhibitioncatalogue,Stockholm:ModernaMuseet,2000, p. 22.
3. Jaukkuri,p. 146.
4. All dialogueexcerptsare from FantasizedPersonsand TapedConversations:
Eija-Liisa
Ahtila, exhibition catalogue,KiasmaMuseum of ContemporaryArt and London: Tate
Modern,2002.
5. WylieSypher,"Aestheticof Revolution:The MarxistMelodrama,"reprintedin Robert
Visionand Form,New York:Harper& Row, 1981, p. 218.
Corrigan,ed., Tragedy:
6. Robert Heilman, Tragedyand Melodrama,Seattle:Universityof WashingtonPress,
1968, p. 85.
7. SergeiEisenstein,"Dickens,Griffith,and the FilmToday,"reprintedin G. Mast and
M. Cohen, Film Theoryand Criticism,New York:1974, pp. 302-307.
8. Michael R. Booth, VictorianSpectacularTheatre,Boston: Routledge& KeganPaul,
1981, p. 8.
9. PeterBrooks, TheMelodramatic
Imagination:Balzac,HenryJames,Melodramaand the
Yale
Modeof Excess,New Haven:
UniversityPress,1976.
10. LauraMulvey,VisualPleasureand NarrativeCinema,Bloomingtonand Indianapolis:
IndianaUniversityPress,1989, p. 19.
and the Womens
11. ChristineGledhill,HomeIs WheretheHeartIs:Studiesin Melodrama
Film,London:BritishFilm Institute,1987, p. 52.
12. Pam Cook, "Melodramaand the Women'sPicture,"in MarciaLandy,Imitationsof
Melodrama,Detroit:WayneState University,1991, p.
Life:A Readeron Film & Television
260.
46
*
PAJ 74
13. Thomas Elsaesser,"Talesof Sound and Fury:Observationson the FamilyMelodrama,"in Gledhill,p. 48.
14. Daniel C. Gerould, AmericanMelodrama,New York: PerformingArts Journal
Publications,1983, p. 9.
15. PaulVirilio, PolarInertia,trans.PatrickCamiller,London:SagePublications,2000,
83.
p.
16. This connectionbetweenaffectivityresearchand interactivedesigndrawsfromWeb
writingsof media artistHeidi Tikka.
17. David Elliott, "Freedom:Three Songs, One Verse,"in OrganisingFreedom,p. 16.
JANE PHILBRICK is a digital artist working with language. Her current
works in progress include a voice synthesis project for the Portland Institute
of Contemporary Art in conjunction with the Center for Spoken Language
Understanding, Oregon Graduate Institute, and a collaboration with
architect Victoria Meyers for Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens.
PHILBRICK / SubcutaneousMelodrama
*
47