Couple in the Cage

I didn’t really enjoy watching “Couple in the Cage” with Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez-Peña who were posing as undiscovered “Amerindians” - even though they did have a purpose in mind before doing what they did. I think that putting themselves in a cage and playing with orientalism and all the prejudices and stereotypes, and notions that go with it, and exposing people is quite brilliant, but doesn’t necessarily make it a good read or something fun to watch.

The portion in the article that Fusco wrote on “Intercultural Performance” is something that I really found disturbing:

“Those people from other parts of the world were forced first to take the place that Europeans had already created for the savages of their own Medieval mythology; later with the mergence of scientific rationalism, the ‘aborigines’ on display served as proof of the natural superiority of European civilization, of its ability to exert control and extract knowledge from the ‘primitive’ world, and ultimately of the genetic inferiority of non-European races” (146).

I liked how their performance forced people to come into contact with the unexpected, and in Fusco’s words “people’s defense mechanisms are less likely to operate with their normal efficiency, caught off guard, their beliefs are more likely to rise to the surface” (148). This whole idea of catching someone off guard, in order to bring out their inner prejudices and fears, especially when they encounter something unfamiliar, an exotic “other” - is really interesting BUT it’s also a bit unfair isn’t it? Everyone has their own prejudices and being tricked into exposing them in a very public manner, is questionable at the very least.

Regardless, I think some of the aspects of Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez-Peña’s performance were hilarious like them lifting weights, watching television, Fusco’s wild unabashed dancing. These activities seemed so far from what the stereotypical “native” activities, I loved how the audience was just taken aback by watching them engage in “normal” Western culture.

Another good point that Fusco makes is about the feeling of objectification from being in the cage and being watched by strangers. She said that in Spain many men made highly charged sexual comments about her body, and some even went as far as “coaxing others to add more money to the donation box to se my breasts move as I danced” (162). Furthermore, I didn’t find it too surprising when she said that Guillermo Gomez-Peña “found the experience of being objectified continuously more difficult to tolerate” (162) I guess because he was now the subject of that voyeuristic “gaze.”

Overall though, I think that this film could have been a lot shorter, it felt a bit like it dragged on. I feel like it could be condensed into much shorter footage.