VLVL2 (10) Overview, Ch10

[Paul Nightingale]

Prairie goes with DL and Takeshi to LA, where she visits Ditzah, erstwhile
member of 24fps. She watches more footage of Frenesi; and as is customary by
now her questioning presence frequently serves to bracket the narrative. In
this chapter Frenesi meets Brock Vond, more or less a chance encounter. The
description of sexual frisson, however, eludes the camera.

In flashback, the reader is introduced to the members of 24fps, "nobody's
anarchist fantasy" but an East Coast/West Coast multi-ethnic ensemble (or
family, perhaps) brought together by commitment. In addition to Frenesi and
DL, 24fps includes: the sisters Ditzah and Zipi Pisk ("genius film
editors"), Sledge Poteet (driver, DL's fellow asskicker), Howie (a surfing
accountant), Mirage ("the unit astrologer"), and Krishna (sound,
peacekeeper/counsellor).

The chapter sets out to tell the story of Prairie's visit to Ditzah and the
24fps archive; but this is also an account of how history is, or might be,
recorded, be the iconic image provided by reruns of TV sitcoms or 16mm film
shot, so to speak, on the hoof. The chapter ends with a reference to 24fps'
"exclusive coverage" of events at College of the Surf.

Therefore we might wish to consider the way the film group is represented,
both individually and collectively.

We might wish to compare the account of the 1960s with earlier accounts of
political conflict (in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s).

The chapter borrows cultural references, both explicit (TV) and implicit
(radical film-making). It also borrows from contemporary debates about the
way to be radical.