Second Skin and Culture Jam

In Culture Jam (pg 43), Lasn describes a young man: "If it's not going well, his first instinct is to surf away." Last semester, my boyfriend was that young man. He was having some issues with school work, and instead of confronting those problems, he immersed himself in his computer games. Instead of spending time with me, he played his games because "it was the only place he could forget about real life" (yes, he really did tell me that!). The people in the Second Skin documentary also admitted that they would turn to their games when they didn't want to deal with real life. I think it's sad that people can be so addicted to video games that they forget the line between the real world and the virtual world, and hover in "the gap" that Lasn describes. But it's great that people are now realizing that this addiction to video games is real, and there was actually a detox center created in Amsterdam to help people with their gaming addiction.


On pp. 45, Lasn states that MMORPG users "often use it to beef up parts of their lives that are failing in the real, concrete world." Why would someone do this? I think it's because that if they can make it sound like everything is OK, maybe the problem will fix itself. And if that problem doesn't get fixed, oh well, right? They'll still have their game and their friends online. As far as online friends and relationships go, I think that they can be real, but not always. People do beef up their lives online and act (sometimes) entirely different, so you may think you know someone, but when it comes down to actually meeting them, you're disappointed because they aren't who you thought they were. That was true of a few of the relationships that the one guy had (I missed his name) where a few of his online girlfriends turned out to be pretty crazy when he finally met them in real life. But online relationships can work, as was shown by the numerous couples and the friendships can bring people together who would have otherwise never met. Or maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic that wishes everyone can be happy and be loved, no matter what the circumstances are. (:

Lasn mentions product placement in movies, stating that "...because they're everywhere, they're nowhere. You don't really notice them." I find this pretty true. This past weekend while watching a few movies, I tried to key in on any product placements. I found there to be a lot, even in movies that I've seen numerous times and never noticed the product placements. It made me wonder, have these product placements been subliminally persuading me to make choices about the things I buy? Kind of scary when I think about it...And when driving down the road, a song comes through my speakers--"Dreamgirl" by The Lonely Island. The first line of the song is "The following song is brought to you by Chex Mix." and about 2:30 into the song, they have a small portion singing about Chex Mix. To be honest, I went out and bought Chex Mix the next day.

 

After that, I realized that, yes, product placements probably have been making a huge impact on the things I buy. I shrug my shoulders at this--if I didn't actually like Chex Mix, I wouldn't have bought it...right? I don't like Coke, and no matter how often I see it in films or on TV, I'm still not going to buy it. But if I've never tried something, am I more inclined to try it if I see it on a movie or TV show? To be honest, I probably would be more willing to try it. I think that by watching someone else enjoy a product makes me want that same satisfaction.

Lasn talks about how "there's a lack of media space in which to challenge consumptive, commercial and corporate agendas" on pages 30-33. He found that, although he was willing to pay for a time slot, campaign commercials made to challenge other commercials (such as the logging industry's "Forests Forever" campaign) and ideas (such as the fashion industry) were repeatedly rejected for airtime. There seems to be no real reasoning behind the rejections aside from advertising something that opposes business ties. This reminds me of the numerous billboards along the PA Turnpike by the coal company, promoting coal for electricity. 

No, Pennsylvania, coal is NOT clean and green! It's so angering that the coal industry is telling people how great coal is, when in reality, it is terrible to the health of not only the environment, but also to ourselves. If you're interested, Wikipedia has a pretty good article summarizing these negative effects. Why do they want us to think that coal mining is great for us? Probably because it supplies half of our electricity, employs a good bit of people, and it would cost more to invest in safer, cleaner forms of energy. It all comes down to money, just as Lasn found when trying to backhand the logging industry.