Video is arguably the medium for the ultimate voyeuristic experience. It doesn't matter if it's G-rated Disneyesque fluff, or the trash that is readily available in the seedy part of town or in the smallest corner of certain video stores. By watching video of all kinds, whether on tv, in cinemas, on DVD, VHS, or on the computer, we, with our imaginations, are quite capable of living vicariously through the actions of any or all of our favorite actors, actors or commentators who we happen to be viewing on the screen. In a sense, we are spying or eavesdropping on these characters, and it sometimes seems almost as if we are part of them, or they are part of us. (to be cont'd)
[The original version of this essay first appeared in Eastern Connecticut State University's Campus Lantern student newspaper in the early '90s and as part of my unpublished manuscript "In Mediocrity We Trust... In Debt We Die" And Other Essays.]
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