Creepy, creepy Direct TV ad...
One of the most soul-stilling ads I have seen in a long time is a relatively new "Direct TV" ad (it's entitled, "Life Changes," and apparently first made its debut during the superbowl). It begins showing a child (a boy) watching a TV, and follows him through his entire life, as he ages, finally ending with him as an old man, walking from each stage of his life, as if from one room to another, each time leaving everyone in that stage of his life (each room) behind, the only thing following him being a television set, while the voiceover talks about how, in our devotion to television, we are "loyal to the end."
It is very, very creepy. And, what is more, beyond the fact that it reduces this guy's life to television watching, or turning the omnipresent TV into some sort of all-knowing protector (oppressor?) God, is that the ad ultimately becomes a condemnation of the viewer — because you (or I), the viewer, experience the utter emptiness of watching this person rushing toward their own death, and all they do, the only marker in their life, is their watching of television, and then you (I) realize, "Oh ... my ... God — that's me, now, wasting my entire life watching television..." Very depressing, very hope-crushing, very soul-draining.
Searching on the web, I found these like-minded remarks (in response to very enthusiastic comments about the ad from someone looking for a link so they could 'enjoy' it again) from "nonplussed":
"[T]his thing made me sick to my stomach. It's telling you that your whole life is inextricably fused with the world of TV. That you are born into a room with a television, and that watching commercial media tripe is also among your final acts before exiting this world. It even claims, explicitly, that our nation has been "transfixed" by TV. You know what transfixed means? There is no positive connotation associated with the word. Quite literally, it means speared, impaled, skewered, etc. Right through the brain, in this case.
I am utterly horrified by this ad, first, because it's accurate and true in boasting our total intellectual subjugation, but even more so because so many of us are not only willing to watch it without any sense of irony, but even gleefully accept the unending rape and pillage of our very minds and then go looking for the mp3 to pipe into our ears as we go about our decrepit day."
It is very, very creepy. And, what is more, beyond the fact that it reduces this guy's life to television watching, or turning the omnipresent TV into some sort of all-knowing protector (oppressor?) God, is that the ad ultimately becomes a condemnation of the viewer — because you (or I), the viewer, experience the utter emptiness of watching this person rushing toward their own death, and all they do, the only marker in their life, is their watching of television, and then you (I) realize, "Oh ... my ... God — that's me, now, wasting my entire life watching television..." Very depressing, very hope-crushing, very soul-draining.
Searching on the web, I found these like-minded remarks (in response to very enthusiastic comments about the ad from someone looking for a link so they could 'enjoy' it again) from "nonplussed":
"[T]his thing made me sick to my stomach. It's telling you that your whole life is inextricably fused with the world of TV. That you are born into a room with a television, and that watching commercial media tripe is also among your final acts before exiting this world. It even claims, explicitly, that our nation has been "transfixed" by TV. You know what transfixed means? There is no positive connotation associated with the word. Quite literally, it means speared, impaled, skewered, etc. Right through the brain, in this case.
I am utterly horrified by this ad, first, because it's accurate and true in boasting our total intellectual subjugation, but even more so because so many of us are not only willing to watch it without any sense of irony, but even gleefully accept the unending rape and pillage of our very minds and then go looking for the mp3 to pipe into our ears as we go about our decrepit day."
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