The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

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Our piece was to explore the relationship between the Feeder/Gainer fetish within modern society and how people are influenced by food. Not only did we explore the relationship between Feeder and Gainer we explored much more than this when performing our piece to an audience.

From the start of this process we have had a very personal approach to this experimental performance, experiencing physical and mental elements through the use of food. Personally, I associate food as a social and enjoyable thing to do, ‘food and eating are central to our subjectivity.’ Lupton (1996 pg1) however pushing the boundaries within our piece it opens up a variety of different assumptions and opinions on our piece, making it controversial. This makes it an experience in which we are not comfortable in, pushing the limits of our bodies and emotional intelligence within this performative task.

Not only are we exploring the relationship between foods but we are doing something that isn’t necessary seemed conventional for us, this relates to proportion sizes and the mixing of food and the views on our westernised society. We see food as a luxury which is something very similar to the feeder fetish, however we control our quantities and what we seem as ‘normal’ to mix certain foods together, but because we are pushing the boundaries of high calorific foods we mixed certain foods such as curry and cream together, this was a recurring process throughout the performative task, including sweet and savoury snacks etc. Another angle of this performance you could this experiment from was from a feminist approach, due to us all being the same sex, it has certain elements of politics and how women should/could be perceived, which is something we could have potentially explored further.

The start of our experimental performance the table is neatly spread, with velvet table cloth, food spread evenly on the table, it was hot and the smells over powered the room, giving familiar scents for our audience to become indulged with pleasurable scents.

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(Layout of the Food. Taken by Jessica Jarvis: 11.12.13)

 

The structure of our set was for the audience to become aware of other audience members, for them to watch other people’s responses and watch the Feeders and Gainers, this is because watching someone else’s reaction can be just as interesting as to what is going on in front of them. Mary Douglas (anthropologist) states food ‘is a ritual activity’ Lupton (1996 pg9) which again highlights the structure of our set, which created a social atmosphere for people to analyse one another and our actions, from a young age we associate food being a social concept, from mother feeding her child, to childhood parties and onwards.

The control and power is in the behold of the Feeder, we got to choose what the Gainer would eat, personally I did feel pressure to pick hot food firsts this was due to the smells, I then thought about the mixing of cream with this particular dish. Then I thought I would mix it up a little bit and go for the sweet dishes, I thought I was actually being nice, seeing my Gainer enjoying the food made me feel relaxed and at ease. Later on in the experiment, I heard wrenching and my control started to go a little, I wanted to see who it was behind me, knowing that one Gainer was being sick was testing my emotional intelligence completely, I could feel my control slipping. The smell over powered the room and I was nearly sick myself, I just wanted to say something, to see if everything was ok. Then I finally got some control back and I was mentally encouraging my Gainer, making sure that she wasn’t going to be sick, this proven to be difficult, as before you knew it I was walking to fetch a sick bag, pushing my Gainer this far, I could only think of one thing to resolve this… water! Water was going to help my Gainer. But because I already created a emotional attachment to the curry I went back to that particular dish. When I knew my Gainer was feeling sick from this, I went back for more. The words in my head screamed, why? I knew at this point my Gainer is going to be sick, having forced my Gainer to eat this, I kept getting other pieces on my folk and hovering it front of her mouth. Control is something I do not like, this role tests your emotional intelligence completely, and the task was to keep going until the 2 hours is up. I had to complete it. Once we were stopped for ethical reasons by our lecturer, 1 hour and 40 minutes, a huge sigh and relief came from my body and I couldn’t control my emotions and I just cried to my Gainer. It was a horrible experience to witness and be involved in and it tested my control, patience and emotional abilities and without a doubt the most challenging performance/task I have been involved in. Although we did not explore the relationship between Feeder and Gainer sexually, we experimented with the control of food and the relationships we get from food.

The image below is a picture of me (Feeder) and Kirsty Jakins (Gainer) before the performative experiment. The use of having the hand on the shoulder suggest power and control.

 

(Feeder and Gainer Partner One. Taken by Kirsty Taylor : 11.12.13)

This experiment has helped me understand the levels of performance within the body and mind, our experimental has allowed me to think beyond the Feeder/Gainer frame and understand that a performance can be pushed beyond the traditional elements of theatre, for it to become  ‘ a distinct place in contemporary arts practice and has a history of exceeding traditional theatrical boundaries.’. (Govan, Nicolson and Normington, 2007, pg3)

When we first developed this idea of Feeder/Gainer, I questioned whether it was a
performance, who is the performer? Can food be seen as a performance? However I found this quote which underlines and gives an overall statement, that our experiment was indeed a performance.

‘Performing is an interaction between mind and body, and between the private mind (individual) and the public mind at large (arena). As a psychological process, it makes bridges between one kind of thought and another (in the case music, through sound) and between different people’s ideas and experiences. As in all human relationships, a number of emotions come into play (e.g. like, dislike, love, hate, respect, depend, dominate, sympathize, etc.). Its aim is not necessary to express unconscious thoughts (though they may well play a part ) but certainly to connect different levels of mind.’   Gibson (2001, pg 14)

Works cited

Lupton. D. (1996) Food, the Body and the self . London, SAGE publications ltd.

Govan. E, Nicolson. H, Normington.K (2007) Making a performance devising histories and contemporary practices.

Gibson. B (2001) Performing matters. Heinemann: Oxford

Examining Our Performance.

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The process of creating this performance has lead me down many research avenues, some that I was familiar with and some that I have never experienced before. While our performance was intended to explore the relationship between the feeder/gainer fetishes, I found that it actually examined a lot more than that.

It examined food and social convention, as well as food and each individuals relationship with it. It looked at the female body and perceptions of the female form within our westernised society. It explored greed and over indulgence at the risk of physical and mental health. However for me our perception of and indeed naivety about personal levels of control, and our accidental but overt feminist stance on the subject of food as a whole were the topics that stood out the most.

As an all female group who fit the same demographic, our performance explored our topic from a very niche view point. We therefore presented the piece from a very narrow perspective that complimented our thoughts and ideas. We explored our opinions of food as the primary opinion of food and the feeder/gainer phenomenon. This could be seen in the way the gainers dressed to represent the various ways in which we related ourselves to food and social perception. On top of this, in buying, preparing and presenting the food the  feeders cohered to the social stereotype of women who are “still wedded to the notion that “good” women are defined by a clean house and abundant home-cooked meals” (Avakian and Haber, 2006, p. 9).

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Photo by Lizzy Hayes and Lauren Watson, 2013

Avakian and Haber also state that in making the food women enjoy the “love, favors, good behavior and the power that comes from being needed” (Avakian and Haber, 2006, p. 8). While in many feeder gainer relationships it is the man who takes on the role  of feeder for the woman, this statement can be assimilated to both genders. Which brings me to my next and final point.
How much would have changed had even one performer had been male? The answer is simple. Everything.

Works Cited

Allen, P., Sachs, C (2007) “Women and food chains: The gendered politics of food.” International Journal of Sociology of Food and Agriculture 15.1.

Haber, B., Avakian, A V (2006) “Feminist Food Studies: A Brief History.” In From Betty Crocker to Feminist Food Studies: Critical Perspectives on Women and Food, Arlene Avakian and Barbera Haber (eds.) Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press.

 

 

Sick to the Stomach.

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The Performance

Having thought about it for weeks, and being nervous about it for days, I was surprised at how calm I felt just before the performance. I even found a small part of myself wishing that I could eat some of the food that I had so lovingly made for my gainer as I was setting it out on the table. I can safely say that my feelings toward the food were very much changed two hours later as it sat, mixed up, cold and congealed on the now less than attractively adorned table.

The performance started at 7 30pm on Wednesday the 11th of December, with the three gainers bound to their chairs with materials that related to their outfit. My feeder, Lauren, was tied by napkins. My self and the other two feeders stood beside our feeder, straight faced, plate in hand.

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Photo by Darren Page, 2013

What was going on in my head was a far less calm image. What would I feed her first? Should it be sweet or savoury? Dry or sloppy? Should I use a spoon, a fork or my hands? Decision time! I chose curry, which was of course savoury and sloppy and I fed it to her with a fork. I imediatley felt very uncomfortable about the whole situation. Within seconds I had spilt curry down her dress and I wanted to clean it up. The fork hit her teeth and I wanted to apologise. I finished feeding her the plate of food and I felt compelled to ask her if she would like any more, or wanted anything else. I went to the food table and I put chocolate in a bowl and I fed it to her with my hands. I went back to the food table and I picked up pizza and crisps. Back and forth picking up different foods, savoury and sweet, what ever took my fancy. But I wanted so badly to adhere to the social conventions that I have been brought up to respect and conform to. I found myself agreeing with Mary Douglas when she states that “the consumption of food is a ritual activity” (Lupton, 1996, p.9), and I was altering that ritual. The simple act of mixing savoury and sweet foods instead of having them separate, in set portions of a planned meal seemed almost anarchic. I was neglecting the social structure that is in place to “create[s] order out of potential disorder” (Lupton, 1996, p. 9).

The Performance

Photo by Lizzy Hayes, 2013

The extent of the disorder stopped being an internal thought, and became the focus of our piece after one hour, when Abbi, one of the gainers was sick.  Fighting to keep my face expressionless as had previously been planned I found that the situation, (which we had considered as a possibility, not a likelyhood) was dealt with quickly and effectively, but it was still a situation out of my hands. It was then I realized that I had far less control than I thought I did. I had control over what I was wearing and what my gainer was eating. That was it. I did not have control over how she felt. I did not have control over how I felt. I did not have control over the audience and their reactions. Considering that I had been worried about exploiting my control, I felt naïve to have thought that I would have any more control than any one else in the room. Because even though the gainers were tied to a chair and being force fed food, it was not up to us, or them whether the food stayed down or not, because as Scheer suggests, “The body’s capacities to endure certain forms of experience are not incidental…but are curatorially and compositionally problematic…” (Scheer, 2012, p. 2). Abbi’s body had passed it’s capacity and rejected the food.
But as the saying goes, the show must go on! Well in fact, it didn’t have to go on at all. Abbi could have stopped eating. But even though she chose to keep eating, soon after, the performance was stopped earlier than scheduled due to ethical reasons.

Works Cited

Lupton, M (1996) Food, the Body and the Self. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Scheer, E (2012) Introduction. The end of spatiality or the meaning of duration. Performance Research 17.5.

The Performance Ends Now.

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1 hour and 40 minutes.

From chicken tikka curry and rice, to pouring cream, chocolate, buns and lasagne, our performance was stopped after 1 hour and 40 minutes.

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(Photo credit: Darren Page, 11.12.13)

 When the performance was stopped, it came both as a shock and a relief. Although the two hours we aimed for were not fulfilled, I feel as though our performative task had been completed.

I should clarify that we did not stop our performance, but our lecturer did. And for this I am grateful. When “both the performer and the audience are vulnerable” (LaFrance 2013, p. 507), there is a duty of care for both parties, and I will openly admit that as Gainers we were very vulnerable, and not in a good place. Physically or mentally.

“Negligence involves conduct that falls below the standard of care that would be observed by a reasonable person and which subjects another to an unreasonable risk of harm. An act may be negligent if the actor should realize that it involves an unreasonable risk of subjecting another party to harm or emotional distress that is likely to cause illness or bodily harm” (LaFrance 2013, p. 539).

We pushed our bodies as far as we could without causing harm, and as far as our lecturers deemed ethical. The experimental task element behind our performance was completed, and although stopped, I believe it was successful; all six of us pushed our limits, while addressing our frame of Feederism.

Though commenting on Feederism, through the performance I realise that our piece addressed much more than the ‘feeder’ fetish. As six women, our piece contained sexual and social politics focussing on the female form and its relation to food within society. Perhaps it was naive of us to overtly focus on the fetish, as we are complete outsiders looking in on such a secretive and taboo sexual desire. However, the frame it provided us with (a one-on-one relationship of control), created a larger and further encompassing performance, leaving the audience with their own questions, conscience and ideas towards food, women and the two combined. We used our own bodies and limits for performance, however “when a body is prepared for the theatre, this is a specific instance, and operates within the context of the general process whereby a culture produces the body” (Sheperd 2006, p. 6), and because our bodies are not those of Gainers or Feeders, we are exploring our own bodies within the given frame, so therefore in our own culture.

Works cited
LaFrance, Mary (2013) ‘The Disappearing Fourth Wall: Law, Ethics, and Experimental Theatre’. Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law, XV (3) Spring, pp. 507-582.
Sherperd, Simon (2006) Theatre, Body and Pleasure, New York: Routledge.

What have we gained through ‘Feeder’?

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Food will always be an obsession in human life so there is no reason why it shouldn’t be a part of performance and theatre too. As Di Benedetto states, “food as a component in theatrical entertainments has a long history…in an attempt to unpack the aesthetic uses of food by the futurists and the surrealists in the creation of meaning” (2010, p116). In the Middle Ages, food and entertainment went hand in hand, “food was a performance…Feasting and festivity were inextricably fused in medieval hospitality; the one did not exist without the other” (Cole in Di Benedetto, 2010, p116). This link between performance and food is clear even without noticing it. When entertaining guests, food is expected as an accompaniment, people go and enjoy food as a social occasion with loved ones. Our performance therefore becomes quite a contrast to many people’s perception of food, it exposes the greed, waste and overall negativity that food can also be associated with.

Our piece has become more thought provoking that what we initially anticipated. Our initial stimulus was the feeder fetish but the way in which we presented our piece resulted in a much more varied interpretation. It was a personal experience for each of us. As young female adults in a modern 21st century country, we all feel the need to look after our body and therefore our view on the over consumption of food is rather negative. As Seid suggests, “Everything, for women, boils down to body size” (1994, p7). However, we challenged our own thoughts and took part in a task which contradicts everything we believe is right regarding food and the body. As Coultate and Davies state, “Quite rightly, almost everyone has on opinion on the food they eat, or don’t eat. We have fads and fancies, compounded with views on what is ‘good for you'” (1994, p1). Interestingly of course, the feeder/gainer fetish is a way of life for some individuals who gain pleasure from the over consumption of fatty foods. This is something that we cannot begin to understand or relate to and certainly isn’t something I admire, particularly when it will have such a negative impact on their health. It seems that for many people, from those who are clinically obese to those suffering from disorders such as anorexia, food is allowed to consume their lives in such a way in which they no longer have control. After all, “food is essential to our survival, social ritual revolving around food are central parts of every culture on earth” (Di Benedetto, 2010, p114). The idea of control was exercised throughout our performance from the buying of the food, to the preparation and finally the feeding. In ‘Feeder’ we explored both personal and social reactions and feelings towards food, the female form in relation to food and in particular the gluttony and greed of many people in 1st world countries.

Works Cited

Coultate, Tom and Davies, Jill (1994) Food: The definitive guide Cambridge: The Royal Society of Chemistry

Di Benedetto, Stephen (2010) The Provocation of the Senses in Contemporary Theatre UK:Routledge

Fallon, P., Katzman, M., and Wooley, S. (eds.) (1994) Feminist Perspectives on eating disorders. USA: The Guilford Press