Inequality of interview
Mar. 21st, 2008 08:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomusYou find me in Vienna, where I've been interviewed for local magazine Falter about a performance I'll give in May at the Technical University.
I must say I love being interviewed, I love the way it makes you feel that people really care about what you think. Sitting in a Vienna bar last night, with a photographer shining bright lights and two reporters (one, Tex, a local TV star) alternating questions, I remembered what Morrissey had once said: being a celebrity is sometimes the only way to be treated at least half-decently as a human being. As all human beings should be treated.
But I also thought of the song at the end of The Threepenny Opera, the epilogue about "some in light, the others darkness". The photographer seemed to guess my thoughts. "You must have been photographed so many times!" he said. But there are lots of people who are never professionally photographed, never interviewed. My own brother, for instance. I don't think there's a single interview with him anywhere, despite the fact that he's the head of a university department. Perhaps he wouldn't enjoy the self-revelation as much as I do, but there's undoubtedly an inverse relationship between willingness to speak and the interestingness of the results.
We should turn the spotlight on the taciturn, interview the never-interviewed, turn and face the strange, squeeze blood from a stone. We should introduce genuinely new information into our media systems, and attempt to establish "equality of interview". We could start right here, right now, by interviewing the Anonymous Detractors and trolls who haunt these pages so enigmatically. Who are they, and what are their thoughts on the issues of the day?
I'll be on trains now until midnight, but I'd love to read some really telling interviews in the comments section when I get home. Today is the day to ask one another questions, and answer them in good faith.
I must say I love being interviewed, I love the way it makes you feel that people really care about what you think. Sitting in a Vienna bar last night, with a photographer shining bright lights and two reporters (one, Tex, a local TV star) alternating questions, I remembered what Morrissey had once said: being a celebrity is sometimes the only way to be treated at least half-decently as a human being. As all human beings should be treated.
But I also thought of the song at the end of The Threepenny Opera, the epilogue about "some in light, the others darkness". The photographer seemed to guess my thoughts. "You must have been photographed so many times!" he said. But there are lots of people who are never professionally photographed, never interviewed. My own brother, for instance. I don't think there's a single interview with him anywhere, despite the fact that he's the head of a university department. Perhaps he wouldn't enjoy the self-revelation as much as I do, but there's undoubtedly an inverse relationship between willingness to speak and the interestingness of the results.
We should turn the spotlight on the taciturn, interview the never-interviewed, turn and face the strange, squeeze blood from a stone. We should introduce genuinely new information into our media systems, and attempt to establish "equality of interview". We could start right here, right now, by interviewing the Anonymous Detractors and trolls who haunt these pages so enigmatically. Who are they, and what are their thoughts on the issues of the day?
I'll be on trains now until midnight, but I'd love to read some really telling interviews in the comments section when I get home. Today is the day to ask one another questions, and answer them in good faith.
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hi Quentin!
Date: 2008-03-21 05:11 pm (UTC)Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schultz
How was it?
Funny, sad, inspiring made me want to compose new stuff
Do you have any pets?
no, a mouse once lived with me but my landlord killed it
What's your favourite non-alcholic drink?
Trader Joe's Bedtime tea
What would be the preferred manner of your death?
in the backcountry while hiking, or with my head on my keyboard playing an endless distorted note
What is the oldest article of clothing that you still wear?
that's a long answer, i wear everything until it falls apart
What is your favourite kind of weather?
thick fog
What is the least touristy place you have ever been?
San Diego, CA
What place names make you laugh?
San Diego
Have you ever been personally involved with someone born on an island smaller than Taiwan?
No
Do you prefer to use chopsticks, knife and fork, or hands?
Chopsticks when possible
Have you ever walked out on a film in the cinema, and if so, what was it?
'I'm not There', The Heath Ledger parts were pissing me off
What's your least favourite cartoon and why?
He-Man, because i am a mis-anthropist
Who is the world's funniest comedian?
Franz Kafka
What do you want to do next week?
Yoga
Have you ever admired someone for political reasons?
yes, Momus
What is the most psychologically formative event of your life before the age of nine?
when I burned my dad's porn collection and started a field on fire and got in trouble with the fire department
Where did you last go for a daytrip and why?
I walked about 10 miles across the GG Bridge from my house in SF aand took the ferry back from Sausalito
Thanks for interview Quentin!
Re: hi Quentin!
Date: 2008-03-21 07:09 pm (UTC)I believe I know what you mean about Kafka. Franza Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life!, starring Richard E. Grant... interesting.