Lisa Nakamura is basically stating in her "Where do you want to go today" that the internet will break down the wall between racial and ethnic backgrounds. Cybertechnology will allow people to just be themselves (our minds) rather than having race, gender, age, etc, play a part in it all. She supports this claim by using her example from the MCI commercial "Anthem". This is what Nakamura considers a utopian society without having "the rest of it" (racial differences) influence our interaction as humans. But is it really possible to have a utopian world through the use of commercials and advertisements?
The commercials that Nakamura describes are trying to sell us the idea that we can achieve a utopian society by showing us these other worlds that seem exotic and untoucable. They are linking their ads with travel and tourism and reinforce this idea visually by showing us sights, in the ads, that are associated with tourism. But in these other worlds in order to communicate to the viewers that we are indeed all the same they are forced to use people of physical differences in order to get there point across. So doesn't this seem like a double standard? And what are the commercials really trying to do? This "other world" that is continually displayed in these ads is not real. The visuals are idyllic and depict the perfect setting but where is the line drawn from something that is virtual to something that is reality? Are these pictures really reality?
When I viewed some of the commericals from this year's Olympics there was only one that I thought supported this claim that your background does not matter, we are all the same. In fact that was the title of the commercial AT&T "We". The commerial showed continuous clips of groups of people made up of different ages, race, and gender and the dialogue with it said that we will shatter records, pull off miracles, and make history. So the bottom line is that "we" as a team, despite who you are or what you look like, will come together to achieve these things. I personally think that it was a very powerful commercial. But to tie this all togehter is is real or just a visual concept that a company came up with for the sole purpose of advertising their product. Is it really possible to achieve a utopian society through the use of the advertisements and technology?
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4 comments:
Tanya,
I think you nailed it. I agree with your summation of Nakamura's article. The other world is exactly that - "another world" that is not real. Like 99% of advertising, the vendor needs to capture your interest and lure its viewers to read the advertisement. T.V. commercials have to hit or miss their audiences in a minute and the viewer has little time to reflect; whereas on the Internet the viewer can sit and stare for some time and make assumptions about what they are looking at.
The Internet ads therefore must be alluring and somewhat convincing. How ironic though, since the images Nakamura points out are really not convincing since the images just don't exist except in a virtual reality.
Your post was very well written and I enjoyed reading it!
Jennifer Wheeler
I really liked your ideas about the double standards that come with these advertisements. Asking the question-where is the line drawn from reality? and are these images really what we are seeing? were very good points and i even made a similar argument in my blog about things being photoshopped in order for them to portray a certain image.
You got me thinking about what people expect to find when it comes to the real world when they are perhaps sitting in their living room browsing the internet...I don't think a picture or a screen that shows the African Sahara, no matter how it is edited, is as real as the real thing. It's never going to be the real thing unless you get to be there and feel it and i think you did a good job of touching on that.
I also observed some of the commercials from the Olympics and felt the same way. It made me feel good believing that in a world where so many times thing feel like we are separate from each other that at a place like the Olympics so many people from around the world can come together to make a perfect moments. The wonders of advertisement.
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