The benefits of social media, which are largely overwhelmed by the popular negatives (addiction, dependency, etc), largely center on the absolute exposure to voluminous content: so much more than you would ever be without the access provided by the interwebs. At this point in the evolution of the internet, we are still lucky to be within one degree of freedom from life-changing concepts, cultures, people, and creativity.
An hour ago, I stumbled onto a retweet, of a tweet, of an edit, of an animated short film created by artist Steve Cutts. Wonderful! Here is a link to the original animated short:
Here is my preferred edit:
Regardless, both version of Steve Cutt’s work are masterful and poignant. I was immediately riveted by the mood of the edited version’s music. The experience is much different from the Moby music. At least it seems that way to me.
Much like his other iconic works, including this with more than 60 million views at the time of this article, he is masterful at storytelling and pace and irony:
I’ll need to spend more time with more of his work (previous to today I admit to only having watched MAN years earlier), but his perspective seems incredibly genuine albeit cynical. The requirement of a great artist is to find a true perspective and trust what they see. Or at least that’s what I think I heard one time, long ago in the past. I am not an artist, but Steve Cutts is.
“Paint what you like and die happy” - Henry Miller
What is real to you might not be real to the zombie masses
But back to the tweet, edited version. I was floored. Why hadn’t I seen this earlier?, Have other people seen this?, Is there anyone alive in our social media age who doesn’t agree with the message in this animated short??!! How would disagreement even be possible?
Disclaimer: This horse has been beaten to death, but let me take a quick swing at it.
I can only imagine that what keeps most people from looking up and disconnecting for a moment - for getting his message, as it were - is ignorance. Maybe I grossly underestimate the population of people who are glued to the world behind their screen. I don’t mean people who are on their phones for hours a day. I am one of those. You probably are too. Go and check your screen on time since you took it off the charger this morning. The “actual” reality of life in many parts of the world is that technology is essential and largely irreplaceable. But just as many of us, you and I, are ignorant of our own usage, there are at least just as many of them, who are ignorant of their own ignorance surrounding the use of their phones, social media, and technology at large.
The world behind the screen and what it offers and represents is the difference. Some people are engrossed in their phone for indeterminate amounts of time and cannot help themselves to be satisfied with their daily happenings. The only way they add any color to their lives is via avatars and anonymity online. They eat, sleep, and breathe in black and white. The hypersaturated, hyperinjected, and hyperaddictive world on the other side of the screen can feel more real than anything that happens in flesh and blood. There everyone and everything is brighter, bolder, and never boring. It is entirely plausible, that these individuals have an expanded version of what you or I might consider to be real life. Whereas I would say things that occur on someone’s instagram feed do not constitute a part of my real life anymore than what happens to Lucy and Ethel on an episode of I Love Lucy.
In opposition, it seems plausible to think that those people in the video that we are discussing here would disagree: that the latest post or tweet from the celebrity they follow and its contents are actually included in the set of things that include their real life. Because of the addictive nature and obsessive repetition of such media, they somehow feel connected to the events that occur on the other side of the black mirror. This connection - whether neurochemically, habitually, or otherwise - is the bridge from the world we live and breathe in to the entertainment world on the other side.
For a lighter read, written in a different voice try my previous post about the origin of this blog: