TV, Time, and the Films of Andy Warhol

Abstract

This essay assesses the influence of television on the filmmaking of Andy Warhol, especially in the early period of black-and-white silents. It argues that Warhol's films incorporate a televisual temporality, defined by extended duration, "liveness," and the use of "dead time." It analyzes at length Soap Opera (1964), which represents a mimetic appropriation of television, and Outer and Inner Space (1965), which entails a modernist reworking of the medium.