S.C.U.M. MANIFESTO [Les Insoumuses: Carole Roussopoulos, Ioana Wieder, and Delphine Seyrig]
aout 1976
Bande 1 pouce, Sonore [transcribe TV comments]
27'25
Titled S.C.U.M. Manifesto, in reference to Valerie Solanasâ eponymous book (1968), the video shows Carole Roussopoulos and Delphine Seyrig facing one another at a kitchen table. Seyrig reads out loud from Solanasâ book, while Roussopoulos records what she hears on a typewriter; between them, a television monitor broadcasts the French news.
Through a manual and spontaneous editing process, generated in real-time, extracts from Solanasâs book are intertwined with that dayâs news coverage of wars, nuclear threat, violent demonstrations, and terrorism. Listening to Solanasâs uncompromising critique of masculinity juxtaposed with television images showing male heads of state, and as soldiers in the wars of Korea and Lebanon, reinforces Solanasâ views on male hegemony and inclination to violence, as well as exposes the patriarchal tenor of French television.