Bits and Pieces (Or, “What you see is what you get.”) 

Robert Lewis Stevenson once said that poetry is like painting with words. 

Each issue, we Janitors On Duty are intent to choose art that will enhance, embody and/or contrast interestingly (sorry, couldn’t think of another good E word) with the poetry and fiction pieces we publish. 

As an editor, I find it fascinating to observe the way submissions may shape an issue.  Though we’ve thrown you a theme, we are always surprised and delighted by the few pieces which offer a truly unexpected twist.  This quarter, our theme of “Naughty Bits” caused a discussion about the possibility of using ‘bits’ of nudity (a collar bone, the curve of a breast…without showing too much), to match the ‘bits’ writing we’d solicited. Something like this classic fan dance, performed by Sally Rand at the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair.

As you can see (and as usually happens), our initial concept evolved as the pieces came in.  (Good thing we’re flexible!)  Anyway, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the way people see other people, and that we always seem to be classifying those we encounter as either ‘like us’ or ‘different than us’.  If “they” are different then us, it’s easier to objectify, dehumanize or marginalize them.  Sorry, “them”.

The advertising and entertainment industries often use intentionally cropped images of women, showing only parts or glimpses of the body.  The effect is that we lose sight of this pair of breasts, or those long legs in short shorts as a fully human being. 

I saw an interesting documentary a few years ago, by Sut Jhally.  “Dreamworlds II: Desire, Sex and Power in Music Video” (1995) is a disturbing and challenging commentary about the sexualization and objectification of women in music videos. The documentary’s introduction, narrated by the filmmaker, can be seen here.

An updated version of the filmmaker’s original work “Dreamworlds: Desire, Sex and Power in Music Video” (1991), the series has since been updated a third time in 1997.  Check with your local public or university library, or Women’s Studies center to borrow or rent a copy.  These videos may also be purchased at the Media Education Foundation .

In 1970, artist Yoko Ono produced a nineteen minute film titled “Fly” in which a single fly traveled along the nude body of a woman.  According to the article "Flysight" by Steven Connor, “The film is a kind of blinding, which invites us gradually to assemble the slivers of perception we are allowed into a whole body.”

Indeed.