[The 90’s raw : Grant Kester, Cars]

Raw footage for the award-winning series The 90's. Architecture critic Grant Kester shows Becker around Georgetown Park shopping mall and Washington Harbor in Washington, D.C. The second hour of tape is of a car show in Washington.

00:00Copy video clip URL Shots of the interior escalators of the Georgetown Park shopping mall.

02:46Copy video clip URL Grant Kester describes urban architecture as acting in a symbolic way, which is especially the case in the Washington D.C.: “The buildings in the city represent certain historical values.” He says the architecture has changed to evoke Victorian styles in Washington, owing to a new life in their economy. He does a second take.

09:47Copy video clip URL Kester and videomaker Eddie Becker go down an escalator, and Kester talks about Victoria’s Secret as exemplative of the Victorian ideology reemerging in our culture.

12:10Copy video clip URL Becker tapes a Christmas act, where people are dressed up and sing and play tambourine in front of a Christmas tree. While they perform in the background, Kester talks about thinking of the shopping mall as a theme park.

15:22Copy video clip URL The tape cuts, and Kester continues to discuss Victorian values in our culture, and how Victorianism is represented in architecture. He says this is reflective of the speculation and fragility of the economy. They look at Crabtree & Evelyn, which Kester says evokes a “false history,” since it is less than a decade old. “Why is the Victorian era in particular so attractive?” Kester answers his own question by talking about the industrial middle class.

23:14Copy video clip URL Becker asks passersby about Crabtree & Evelyn, and the man says that he sees it being targeted for women, and the woman agrees and calls it decadent. She is attracted by the smell, and finds it primarily a sensory experience. They say that they would guess the store is more than 10 years old.

27:28Copy video clip URL Outside Washington Harbor, Kester talks about the new structure there. “A space like Washington Harbor represents another kind of pastiche,” he says, comparing the structure to Las Vegas. He draws attention to a bronzed statue of a man, by Seward Johnson, next to him, and discusses the changing role of public art. He says the entire structure is a collage, and there is no cultural basis for the structure. Becker shoots footage of a fountain that is somewhat frozen. Kester talks about other Seward Johnson pieces as well.

37:32Copy video clip URL Inside the shopping area of Washington Harbor, which is almost empty compared to Georgetown Park.

39:29Copy video clip URL The tape cuts to a car show. A car spins on a platform, and Becker gets a woman to do her speech on the car for the camera. She advertises the vehicle to the crowd. Becker asks a passerby about his opinions on cars, particularly his bad experience with BMW.

52:16Copy video clip URL Cuts to footage of a man demonstrating some sort of polish that protects the car’s finish from acid.

57:05Copy video clip URL Becker talks to a woman advertising Sterling cars. Becker asks her about the type of consumers, but she says nothing definite. Cuts to a car which has a camera in the back of the car (near the license plate) to help with parking and driving. It also has heat and massage in the seats. Cuts to tape of a car spinning, as Becker talks to someone about computers in the background, and then the tape cuts to a woman describing the technical specifics of the car. A man advertises another car, and Becker asks him why he is one of the only men advertising cars. The man says more and more men are getting into the business. Becker talks to a man who is somehow involved in the business, who says that the women who advertise are sexual objects. He also makes predictions for the ’90s, talking about boom and bust cycles.

01:14:13Copy video clip URL More general shots of the cars on display, and particularly of the women who display the cars. Becker briefly talks to several people.

01:24:45Copy video clip URL Cuts to a woman demonstrating the Moisture Magnet, but the woman gets upset that Becker is taping. Becker gets in a mild argument with the management. Becker then continues to wander around the car show, and talks to a man working on cars. A man does magic tricks that somehow relate to the truck he is selling.

01:41:06Copy video clip URL Becker wanders around looking at other cars and their prices. Somebody else films Becker as he does an intro for the ’90s. He interviews a young man about his t-shirt and watch. Then more cars are advertised, and the tape shows Becker pretending to drive one of the cars.

01:58:00Copy video clip URL The tape cuts and the Batmobile is on display, surrounded by a large crowd.

02:00:18Copy video clip URL End of tape.

 

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