Required Blog Post #1
While watching the video, at first I was a little confused because the voice that was coming from my computer obviously didn’t match what I expected would be the voice of the guy in the video. But then I realized that this was the whole point, that maybe the video is trying to show that the hamburger, or fast food in general, is just “autotuned” and not genuinely good food, but just brushed up and redone to suit the expectation of the buyer rather than please the maker with hard, well-done work. The fact that an African-American is used as the subject matter here is crucial, as I think the video is stereotyping Americans in general, and more specifically African-Americans. The whole idea of using fast food seems to represent a cheap American lifestyle, that perhaps living in a fast-paced society causes people to succumb to instant gratification and we would rather pay a small amount of money for something “auto-tuned” rather than investing money into something of actual value. The second video just seemed to make a parody of the first one, as if attesting to the irony the first video establishes. From what I gathered, both videos laugh at the whole fast-food, fast-paced culture, and show us that we don’t really invest as much time into things as we should. The second video closes with a bunch of boys sitting around and eating fast food, a classic scene that many Americans see all too often, all the time. The videos clearly show a point that we are all very used to.
2 responses so far
I think it goes beyond merely fast food. When you said “a fast-paced society causes people to succumb to instant gratification,” it got me thinking that isn’t that really what the Internet serves to do on a whole? Want a funny video? YouTube. Want to order food quickly? Seamless. Want to get the latest news stories? CNN, MSNBC, etc. Everything is so accessible in this day and age. People with acces to the Internet do not need to work as much to get things that they want as people who do not have access.
I never thought of this, “But then I realized that this was the whole point, that maybe the video is trying to show that the hamburger, or fast food in general, is just “autotuned” and not genuinely good food, but just brushed up and redone to suit the expectation of the buyer rather than please the maker with hard, well-done work.” I disagree, however, that this was the intention of the producer. I have a hard time, personally, viewing internet viral videos as anything but entertainment. In addition, their role in entertainment, while expansive, is not truly contributory to us today. I think, myself included, that our generation has too much entertainment and we spend most of our time viewing things of little importance. I believe there is a saying that we use only 10% of our brains. It seems that every year we use less and less. It seems that while society in general is progressing, its individuals are regressing. It is only a matter of time before society follows the path of its individuals.