The idea of direct speech in television is an anachronism, perhaps even in the
theatre; but with "live to tape", the frequency of reruns, etc. what was direct
or the illusion of direct is now quotation and distanciation even when its not
intended in a Brechtian manner.  As Ben Alpers notes, even the most self-reflexi
   ve gestures on television become conventionalized ways of reassuring us of th
   e
truth of the foreground/frame as true against the background-as-illusion.  We
need to think then of the effects of truth and illusion.  Trinh Minh-Ha pace
Foucault makes this clear in cahpter 2 of her When the Mon Moon Waxes Red (1991)
   Rob Morgan.  [log in to unmask]