Friday 19 September 2014

When Technology is too Much... Or Missing


Mr. Too Much Technology Gadget Guy



Description
This video is structured around two main narrative voices and a character illustrating what the voice-over says while a singer often merely repeats or comments on what's just been said (as in a Greek chorus).
The setting is a Christian home and church, so this particular context is very meaningful.
We can notice on various occasions that the main character is addicted to high-technology products, mostly smartphones.
He is shown as a family man unable to communicate with his wife, except through texting.
He is also shown as a church-goer incapable of attending worship without all his phones vibrating all the time, making him look like he's full of the holy spirit.
Finally, he is depicted as a computer geek whose life has become extremely complicated instead of having been simplified.
In addition, we can say that this video is like a parody of a soof ad, and it can be seen as a caricature.

Interpretation
Basically, this video means that high technology has become a religion for many people, even Christians who are not supposed to be materialistic.
Then, in a Christian lifestyle, quite a few church-goers and believers tend to focus more on materialistic issues rather than spiritual ones.
We can add that technology reigns supreme for many people who revere it as a God enlightening his followers.
The question is, is this a real progress for humankind ?
 This is also is quite comic because the guy's life style is presented as the ideal way of living whereas it's the complete opposite.

Stuck On An Escalator


Description
Two people are stuck on an escalator in a place that seems literally empty/deserted. The man looks upset/annoyed. He might be an office worker walking to his job. The woman claims that she is already late, so for her, this is the last straw. At one point, she's about to cry and asks for a phone, then she screams for help. In short, they both look helpless, clueless, powerless and even hopeless. And also kind of pathetic due to the ironic situation they are in, unable to find a way out.


Interpretation
We can relate this situation to a fairly common one in real life : getting stuck in an elevator. The difference however, is  that in this situation, people have the right to panic/freak out/feel panicky whereas on an escalator, there is no reason whatsoever to be scared.
This video points out the increasing dependence of human beings on technology. If it goes missing, it is as if a crutch had been taken away from them, so these two people cannot even walk up the stairs, which would be the normal thing to do. We could think that technological progress makes humans lazy or at least less prone to take initiative and think by themselves, less inclined to make efforts. It's like the use of technology makes us acostumied to it and we could tend to forget even such an obvious things as to climb the strairs when an escalator stops. We could say that, this way we could end up thinking that just because it is supposed to bring us to the top of the escalator the fact that it stops makes it unable to do so, so logically we can't reach the top. And then, we are stuck, forgetting that we can climb the stairs. 

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