Scene 3: Modern Influences
AK-47 vs. M16
2015-16
The Propellor Group
1. Fragments of AK-47 and M16 bullets, balistic gel and metal vitrine and single-channel video
Singapore Art Museum collection
2. Single-channel video with sound
Today, movies are part of our main entertainment source. Film is being spread as popular culture, and one of its biggest driving force is Hollywood[10]. With its massive influence[11], Hollywood has made great impact in how we view film today—as recreation, as a form of art, as education. However, are the themes that are popular in Hollywood genuinely something that we should take interest in? Or have we been blinded what this popular culture deems as important, and overlooked the issues we should be looking at?
This section particular explores the notion of consumer culture in film consumption[12]. In this section, I will be exploring The Propellor Group’s work, AK-47 vs. M16.
AK-47 vs. M16 is a film that symbolises the two big powers of the world: Russia vs. the USA. Being guns that are preferred by each power respectively[13], the battle between the two guns serve to mimic the struggle between the two countries, and show its impact on everyone else—when the bullets formed its path of destruction in the ballistic gel of the exhibit. Through the video displays, I felt like I was watching what only existed in history textbooks—the Soviet-US conflict[14]—though the physical installation of the ballistic gel presents how real this conflict is, and how it still exists.
In the second part of their exhibition, AK-47 vs. M16, The Film, The Propeller Group puts the two guns as the protagonists of their video. Instead of the guns being used as tools during warfare, they become the main leads, while humans are pushed back to become of props.
Film
Society
Warfare; a common theme in movies. A struggle led by Man, to fight for Man, against Man. However, what happens when weaponry instead of humans become the focus of war?
This role reversal of the weapon and Man connotes how humans are the ones being manipulated—in this case, by film. Consumer culture has led us to watching mass produced movies with similar themes[15], instead of something more unique—something most throw into the classification of ‘indie films’[16].
This exhibit also reflects a more sinister message: violence caught in time.
As videography become more advanced and accessible[17], violence across the world is being increasingly recorded. Film is no longer just art, but also documentation[18]. Furthermore, we see how the collided bullets—a product of the past—is being carried to the present: a mirror of modern warfare, where the conflicts of the past are affecting the children of the future.
War is nothing foreign to humanity. However, when it is used as a medium for entertainment, I can’t help but question, should anyone be profiting from this violence, even though it is very real and threatening?
