Nam June Paik

Like Georges Melies, Nam June Paik was an innovator in film. His work in Global Groove was a merging of different cultures and an exploration of the latest technology of his time. Dance as a social interaction and as a method of self expression are both seen in this film. Live dancers in the studio with footage cut in between creates a strong message of unity cross cultures. The dancers simplistic arm motions and foot taps are created more dramatic with a visual lag, chromakey effects, psychedelic colors, and overlapped images. The use of camera zoom is also very effective and innovative in Paik's production. The form of the bodies at one point transform into organic matter pulsating as glowing edges on the screen, reducing dance to its most basic form of movement. The audio is sometimes dramatic, sometimes playful just as the video is. This video art truly pushed the boundaries of what video art was supposed to contain, like telling a linear narrative. Instead the purposeful choices of intercut clips create an overall message. Nam June Paik mixed pop American culture with and American corporation's invasion into Korea, with a Korean Pepsi commercial. There are political messages, postmodern musicians, and Korean dancers. They all seem to come together to form an autobiagraphical story of Paik's interests, merging his traditional Korean background with his contemporary modern American culture. From my perspective of seeing this with my own cultural background, and 37 years after it was made, I see it more as a typical 70s hippie acid trip with wild colors, a lack of straight-lined coherence, and old-school fashion, like the male dancers wardrobe and the female dancers leotard, as well as an ever present interest in politics, seen with Nixon's clip. Anything from the 70s always seems to have political activism and a "new" liberal line of thinking. I also often felt while watching this that I was falling prey to hypnotism. In 1973, the same year as this film was produced, Wilson Bryan Key released his book Subliminal Seduction, claiming that advertisers were using subliminal messages to control the public's opinion on a brand. He was correct, since in that same year it was also reported that the commercials for the game Husker Du incorporated the simple message -Get It- hoping that viewers would then purchase it. This film from my point of view was a brain overload for one sitting.