The Drama of the Gifted Child
1992, 5:30
with Heather Marie Vernon and Leslie Singer
music by BTW with Dwight Frizzell
The Drama of the Gifted Child was inspired by psychologist Alice Miller's book The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self. Miller's book is an analysis of the harmful effects of parental expectations for achievement upon their children. While not an adaptation of the book, this piece borrows from her logic. It is an essay or a series of impressions about transference phenomenon, narcissism and the desire for a sense of self-worth based on the needs of peers and the standards of others: academia, the art world, family, friends and lovers.The themes of sexual love, uncertainty, pedagogy, self-help, power within personal relationships, separation, and reunion all seek resolution.
The editing is more fluid and the logic more intuitive than in my earlier work, and the camera, music and special effects are relaxed and exploratory. The freed image, the relaxed approach and the intuitive logic of The Drama of the Gifted Child inform the content. as a new emphasis on the power and logic of beauty enters my work.