In my video, I tried to convey some of the ideas of the famous transcendentalists. I wanted to capture the dangers of industrialism as well as emphasize the importance of spending some time outside of the unrelenting pace of the stream of modern life. Slowing down and living in the moment allows one to notice all the beautiful things hidden in plain sight.
-Light bulb exploding:
I thought this would be a dramatic way of transitioning to the MOPAC time lapse. Lightbulbs were a significant milestone in the journey towards industrialization. Seeing one explode captures not only the physical dangers and unpredictability of modern technology, like Thoreau’s powder mill, but also the danger of becoming overly dependent on it. Civilization will often crumble away as soon as the lights go out. For example, the New York black out a few years ago gave rise to widespread rioting and looting.
-Slow motion lighter and time-lapsed cigarette:
The flame represents modern man’s addiction to consumption and the cigarette represents the consequences of it. The lighter is one of millions of other Bic lighters that look exactly alike, and that’s what most people see. When one slows down the action, however, a small firework show is revealed. The problem is that most people live too fast to see the beauty in the small things. For the most part, nobody buys a lighter to appreciate the beauty of the flame; they buy them to light cigarettes. Cigarettes slowly and steadily kill those who smoke them. They epitomize the dangers of an unregulated capitalism. They are consumer goods that exemplify the way “we have become the tools of our tools”; they enslave all who buy them.
-Blood in the water
The blood in the water represents the price of industrialization. As our society becomes increasingly advanced, we slowly lose touch with Emerson’s Aborigine warrior. Each new technology and convenience discovered is another drop of blood falling off the bridge and swirling away back to nature.
No comments:
Post a Comment