Fire! Hendrix
This page avoids major plot turns, twists, and ending details. It’s designed to help first-time viewers decide if this movie is right for them.What counts as a spoiler can vary by viewer.
Commissioned by VideoGram International, Ltd., for a videodisc of music by Jimi Hendrix, Fire! uses the stylized visuals and pacing of a music video to critique the representational economies of sexuality and consumerism. Translating the psychedelic fervor of the Hendrix song into a contemporary visual vernacular, Birnbaum similarly recasts the lyrics' meaning. A young woman is the "protagonist" of a fragmented narrative in which Birnbaum re-frames images of American consumerism and commodities — fast food, cars, the exchange of money. Birnbaum calls attention to the woman's relation to the advertising image: she is consumed as she is consuming.