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Worse
1994, 5 minutes, SD video

synopsis:
An interview with a pro-lifer who has been picketing an abortion clinic for 6 years, 6 days a week, 6 hours a day.
In every city one can find examples of a zealot taking a stand, wielding a sign, registering outrage to the traffic lights and passersby. Why does a man stage a 6-hour, 6+year daily protest at an abortion clinic? Who are the targets of his moral disruptions? What is wrong with people? This video is a result of a spontaneous desire to ask these question with a camera, where culture creator meets culture judge on his home turf, a strip of sidewalk on a street named after one of the city’s founders. The Ladies Accordion Gospel Team provide a spirited and spiteful respite with a performance of The March of the Pro-lifer. When the end result is rage, fear and scorn, it’s hard to know who the good guys are. Where do you stand?

credits:
cinematography: Rankin Renwick
edit: Rankin Renwick
The Ladies Accordion Gospel Team: Laurel Welch & Marne Lucas

reviews:
“A Brechtian masterpiece.” –Gerald Burns

“a rougher piece called “Worse had footage of our heroines The Ladies Accordion Gospel Choir [sic] performing their song about the Lovejoy Surgicenter and the ‘stupid Christian motherfuckers’ that hang around there impeding the personal freedom of women. This is right smack dab in the middle of video of an elderly right-to-life gentleman lamenting about doctors having the power to take life away and who really should get to decide, only God should decide, babies, are dying, etc, etc. I know who I side with, I know what I feel about the issue. I felt condescending towards this poor old fuck and chuckled conspiratorially during the musical segment. The more I thought about it I developed this creepy feeling that everyone had gotten it wrong. These women were being really flip about this man’s deeply held convictions. He was a much more sympathetic character and the women (my peers!), merely shallow. The piece very simply demonstrates how easy it is for the media to dictate the difference between a hero and a fanatic, besides put some human faces on this big giant issue.”
Kathy Molloy, Snipehunt, Winter ’94.