Auslander Reading

Philip Auslander has many great points about how live performance will change in the future. When he spoke about The Doors doing a live performance and wanting a television on stage on with a live feed, this started a huge movement. I think that they had something going when they thought about this. He also talks about how television has a certain drama involved in it that in which is close to theater. Television is known to me more than theater is, but I do have to respect that there would not be television without theater. I think that the idea that The Doors had added to the drama of a concert made it an even better experience than what it would have been without it. I think that it took creative people, such as The Doors to think outside the box, and think about what else the television could be used for, and how people could interact and enjoy themselves more.
Phelan says, “Performance’s independence from mass reproduction, technologically, economically, and linguistically, is its greatest strength.” I think that she makes a great point, but for example, if there is live feed or a performance it is not being reproduced. It is being reproduced only if it is filmed and distributed, then it is being reproduced. She thinks that performance is independent and the liveness of it is what makes it so special, but I think that in our day in age and with our technology that anything that is live should be greatly appreciated. I think that a concert or spoken word is just as special as a performance. I do not think that if someone is having their clothes ripped off in a public setting, etc should be set aside from other things that are performances as well, such as a rock show, theater or even someone just reading a poem. In my eyes they are all one in the same.
Phelan also says that, “Performance cannot be saved, recorded, documented, or otherwise participate in the circulation of representations of representations, once it does, so it becomes something other than a performance.” I do not agree with this. There is something that is powerful and intimate about a one-time performance because it is never the same twice. I do think that things now are a lot different and the recording of a performance is there to only benefit the performance. A line in the reading that says, “Despite the recognition by critics such as Pavis of what he calls the inevitable “technological and aesthetic contamination” of live performance in the economy of repetition, there remains a strong tendency in performance theory to place live performance and mediatized or technological forms in direct opposition to one another.” I believe that he and Phelan have a similar feeling on what a performance is and what should not be involved, that being a recording or live feed. I am very confused as to why Phelan or Pavis would not like the fact that we have so many wonderful technological advancements, and why they wouldn’t want to use them to their benefit or even still consider them part of someone’s performance. I think that the world has changed so much that everyone should take advantage of our booming technology. I do agree that in our time that it be fine if a performance is reproduced because some people may not be able to see a one time performance and it is good to have especially with a class like this so we can see it and study it.
We are no longer in such a traditional world and there is so much around us that changes and we need to change with it. I think that in the end of the reading when Auslander is speaking about chatterbots as being live performers he is right, it is still something that is set up and performed live. Again, times change and we need to change with them, that also being out thought process along with technology.