Citizen
Citizen is a fictional documentary filmed in color at various locations throughout San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area. As such, it is an allegorical and eccentric odyssey through the mental terrain of contemporary American society. The film charts the apparently random journey--at once improvisational and lyrical--of a group of fairly typical American adolescents across a landscape strewn with the manufactured images of the mass media. A rich and varied soundtrack heightens the strong visual impact of the work. The young people--moving by car, public transportation systems, and at times on foot--encounter an unusual array of odd characters (portrayed by well-known local performers and raconteurs) in absurd situations and contexts diametrically opposed to the norms of mass-audience film. Inspired by William Burroughs' poem “Bugger the Queen,” which juxtaposes thematic anarchy with the notion of coming to terms with authority, Citizen satirizes fear about marginality to make a fresh case for individual and social survival.