Wikipedia describes Shut Up, Little Man as:
"A number of audio recordings of two argumentative and violent alcoholics, Peter J. Haskett and Raymond Huffman. San Francisco's Bananafish magazine arranged for a commercial release of the tapes in 1992.
The recordings were made by “Eddie Lee Sausage” and “Mitchell D.”, who lived in a bright pink apartment building — dubbed the “Pepto Bismol Palace” — in San Francisco’s Lower Haight district. Eddie Lee and Mitchell moved into the apartment in 1987, and discovered that their neighbors, Haskett and Huffman, argued nearly constantly, with Peter often shouting “shut up, little man!” at Ray. Eddie and Mitchell began tape recording the arguments, and distributing copies among their friends"
However, it is so much more than that! In a day and age when the media, art, and pop culture are saturated with a false “reality,” Peter and Ray’s recorded arguments, however absurd, provide a glimpse at something truly authentic and real. The portrayal of the relationship between those two men who lived together and shouted at one another put on display a set of emotions that is rarely seen or heard. It sounds crazy, but listening to them verbally abuse each other allows one to consider our own relationships consist of - Are they as real? Are we being honest with others? How are we communicating? Are we actually living our lives or just acting, pretending to do so? These are all questions that were running through my mind as I watched their relationship unfold on screen. This documentary brought up a lot of other good questions as well, about voyeurism, copyright, viral art, and privacy.
Wikipedia describes Shut Up, Little Man as:
"A number of audio recordings of two argumentative and violent alcoholics, Peter J. Haskett and Raymond Huffman. San Francisco's Bananafish magazine arranged for a commercial release of the tapes in 1992.
The recordings were made by “Eddie Lee Sausage” and “Mitchell D.”, who lived in a bright pink apartment building — dubbed the “Pepto Bismol Palace” — in San Francisco’s Lower Haight district. Eddie Lee and Mitchell moved into the apartment in 1987, and discovered that their neighbors, Haskett and Huffman, argued nearly constantly, with Peter often shouting “shut up, little man!” at Ray. Eddie and Mitchell began tape recording the arguments, and distributing copies among their friends"
However, it is so much more than that! In a day and age when the media, art, and pop culture are saturated with a false “reality,” Peter and Ray’s recorded arguments, however absurd, provide a glimpse at something truly authentic and real. The portrayal of the relationship between those two men who lived together and shouted at one another put on display a set of emotions that is rarely seen or heard. It sounds crazy, but listening to them verbally abuse each other allows one to consider our own relationships consist of - Are they as real? Are we being honest with others? How are we communicating? Are we actually living our lives or just acting, pretending to do so? These are all questions that were running through my mind as I watched their relationship unfold on screen. This documentary brought up a lot of other good questions as well, about voyeurism, copyright, viral art, and privacy.
