Associations  
00:07:00 1975

Images from magazines and color supplements accompany a spoken text taken from Herbert H. Clark's "Word Associations and Linguistic Theory" (in New Horizons in Linguistics, ed. John Lyons,1970). By using the ambiguities inherent in the English language, Associations sets language against itself. Image and word work together and against each other to destroy and create meaning.

"Associations is a straightforward rebus—a game in which words are replaced by pictures. But the text is so dense with contemporary linguistic theory, and the combination of visual puns so extensive, that a simple, unique reading of the film is impossible."
—A.L. Rees, Unpacking 7 Films (1980)

Also available on:
Compilation: John Smith: Program 1

 

Biography of John Smith

Titles by John Smith:

Associations

B & B

The Black Tower

Blight

Dirty Pictures

Frozen War

Gargantuan

The Girl Chewing Gum

The Kiss

Lost Sound

Museum Piece

Om

Pyramids/Skunk

Regression

Six Years Later

Slow Glass

Throwing Stones

The Waste Land

Worst Case Scenario


Work by John Smith also appears on:

Compilation: Hotel Diaries: John Smith

Compilation: John Smith: Program 1

Compilation: John Smith: Program 2