Martin Blažíček
Live cinema since 1997

D’epog: A dog, a model, a master

2020, 20 min.
On-line performance in collaboration with D’epog.

Live video Martin Blažíček
Sound design Matúš Kobolka
Concept D’epog
Commissioned by PAF festival 2020
Co-produced by Terén Brno.
Supported by FAMU Center of audiovisual studies.

One day, about a year ago, my dog came home from work earlier than usual. I could tell right away that something was up. With a tragic look on his face he told me things were looking bleak for him. He’s old and out of fashion. I had no idea what he meant. How old? He said that young predators had started to spread out at his workplace — they don’t know much, but they’re bursting with confidence and positive thinking. Naturally, my dog is an expert; nobody would dare fire him, he knows that. But he could be stuck in the same position forever and the chance of promotion would be gone — who knows what things would be like in a few years.

When I told him to try looking around for other companies — that they’d snap him up — he said he wasn’t going to run away from a fight. He decided he’d show the youngsters up on their own turf (those were his exact words). The dog began to change. He changed his wardrobe, set up a Facebook profile, started going to the gym, got a new haircut, and most of all he threw himself into course after course. He’s already done a positive-thinking course (twice, even), self-coaching, and the latest thing he completed was an assertiveness training course. He’s a completely different dog.

He doesn’t realize that his relentlessly positive attitude really gets on people’s nerves. I’m a positive person too — normally — but he takes it too far. Recently, for example, he told our neighbor, whose husband had died, that she was finally free and that she should look at her husband’s death from the bright side. She hasn’t spoken to us since. Unfortunately we’re losing acquaintances as well; some friends now refuse to visit. The dog decided he wouldn’t “coddle” anyone or flatter them — he’d tell people everything assertively. But that backfired in several cases and he ended up hurting people. He told a friend in front of his wife that he wouldn’t cover for him during his affairs anymore. He told another friend to stop dressing like a slut because she was making a laughingstock of herself. I’m desperate. While he’s happy, I’m sinking into despair. I’m getting angrier and angrier with him. Sometimes I downright hate him. When I look at his constantly smiling, self-satisfied face I feel like punching him.