Analysis of "Checking Out (Mask Avenger)"
The scene "Checking Out (Mask Avenger)" features the employee of a grocery store during the pandemic who has been declared an "essential worker." In what can be described as a durational performance, a performance that uses its length in order to make a point, and capitalizes on the monotony and fatigue associated with being an "essential worker." Likewise, each of the customers can be seen checking out items like “Perception of Time...Existential Dread...Will to Get Dressed…A Reason to Get Out of Bed…Meaning of Life…Sense of Purpose." The names of these products reflect the existential nature of the fatigue many experienced during the pandemic.
Perhaps the most relevant part of the scene comes near the scene's end, where the essential worker is suddenly dressed as a superhero as a voice-over begins to read a long spiel about how vitally important essential workers are. At the end of this monologue, the voice-over says “Without job security, sick pay, or guaranteed health insurance / You still stand by to meet our every demand…/ We couldn’t live without you, / But we won’t pay to keep you, / Yet you carry on!” This emphasizes both the pressure placed on essential workers, but also reveals the lack of proper compensation that essential workers were provided with. At the height of the pandemic, the people that the U.S. was relying on to continue to keep the economy running, were being paid minimum wage and receiving minimal resources with which to protect themselves from the virus. In an article published in The Atlantic, Jacob S. Hacker discusses the immense risks essential workers face on the job, and how the government isn’t providing support for these workers, but instead pressuring them back into work. During the pandemic, "...employers [sought] to extract more from employees while providing less: less pay, less safety, less security, and, yes, less freedom." In other words, essential workers were expected to risk their lives for minimum wage and no benefits.
Originally, the scene was meant to involve a character named "Karin-zelle" who was supposed to wear a long wig in order to represent the closing of hair salons during the pandemic. A mannequin wearing her wig can be seen propped up in the band area.