In a class some 15+ years ago at Dhahran Academy, my classmates and I sat huddled in a semicircle watching as the P.E. teacher knelt on the floor to show us a magic trick of sorts. He began waving his hands about briefly, in a seemingly random fashion, after which he stopped and placing one hand on the arm that was supporting his weight while he intently gazing at the patch of floor above which he had drawn an imaginary number, asked the class to guess what number it was.
After a couple of rounds, I remember the teacher explicitly instructing those students who had figured it out, and guessed the number correctly, NOT to give away their secret. I also remember, quite vividly in fact, being the first student NOT to follow his instructions*, awkwardly ending the game and spoiling the discovery process for my fellow classmates. NOT one of my proudest moments.
Fast forward to about two weeks ago when I was confronted by a similar feeling, which I now believe provoked my disobedience* all those years ago, after having watched a video on youtube entitled, coincidentally some might say, “Real Beauty Sketches” by branD.
If you haven't seen or heard about it yet, and even though I don't recommend you watch it, be aware that what follows will probably spoil the experience for you. Actually, I'm hoping it foils the intended experience for you or at least forces/invites you, if you've already seen it, to think about it differently.
This video showcases, in my opinion at least, some of the most sophisticated marketing campaign production techniques in the business, and to be clear, that is NOT a compliment. From the various comments I've read, this video seems to be weaving its magic with frightening efficiency, something that ordinarily wouldn't have bothered me so except for the fact that one of my dearest friends on facebook posted it to her timeline. Her comment read something like “I know this has to do with a brand, but its totally real. We're more beautiful than we think we are, or worse yet, to what they've led us to believe” a sentiment far too similar to my own and other people´s first reactions that I couldn't continue to ignore it.
Actually, having rationally, although briefly, studied the video, I might have gone on ignoring the message, confident in the knowledge that I had outwitted the creation team´s efforts and more or less easily avoided any lasting impact my initial viewing might have had on me in the future, maybe. I could list, point by point some of the observations I've made relating to what the video doesn't show that might help you in decoding and decoupling the emergent brand/emotion connection formed or forming in your mental circuitry while watching the video, but that would cause me to re-live feelings I personally don't want to dredge up.*
Instead, I'll ask you to think about branD´s commercial in the context of a movie, Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy and Ken Watanabe If you haven't seen it, here´s another spoiler alert, but for those who have, as you'll recall, the team lead by DiCaprio is hired to plant the seed of an idea into the businessman´s head (played by Watanabe), so that when it came time for him to make a crucial decision, to sell his company, DiCaprio´s employer could be assured a predictable outcome.
In conclusion:
I hope that thinking about the commercial in the context of the movie was a helpful enough hint to grasp the insidious nature of these kinds of uber sophisticated marketing schemes. If not, I'll leave you with a couple of questions to consider, dear reader, in the hope that they help shed more light on the gravity of these psy-op tactics.
¿how does it make you feel NOW knowing that the same emotions you experienced while/after watching the commercial could potentially be linked to every future instance of that same feeling for the rest of your life?
¿what impact might a seemingly tiny memory/experience have on your own self image now and how could that influence your behavior both in the present and 15 years from now?
While trying to write and think about how to frame a proposal I've come up with relating to value added tax on books (19% here in Chile), I've come face to face with one of my greatest fears... something, that although not precisely disturbing and in spite of my ability to recognize it, I'm still not quite skilled enough at managing... I´d perhaps describe it as the tension that I perceive when planning for and coming up with alternatives to get from where I am, at this moment in time, or more precisely, where I just previously left off, to where I imagine i'd like to be or where I feel I need to be a few years into the future. [now that i'm looking over my initial handwritten draft, the confusion seems more comprehensible, but i'll continue]
I imagine that the relative ease with which i'm currently able to recognize this emotional conflict/opportunity probably has to do with the fact that recently I've been spending the larger portion of my time engaging in activities which I enjoy and simultaneously believe to be both necessary for my professional development and personal growth. [a light pat on the back and a brief search and description of the cause of those emergent thoughts/emotions]
Somehow being engaged in those activities has enabled me to reaffirm/confirm/modify my personal views about my place on this planet, the relationships I currently have with the few people I interact with and by extension it seems, about how I ought to behave in order that my brief presence here have the least possible negative impact on all the living organisms and life sustaining systems i either come into contact with directly or whom/which i, through the decisions i make consciously or otherwise, indirectly affect in ways i can/can´t imagine/possibly imagine respectively and respectfully. [remembering that i´m not alone, that i am in fact part of something far bigger than myself]
When faced with such a seemingly simple task [writing about a topic i know relatively little about so far, a task which I myself put forth, it seems odd, given that I believe myself to be, in general, someone capable of making unique observations and divining insights which at their best happily surprise others, that it would be/is so difficult to concentrate/focus on the present in order that i might bring to bear the talents i've nurtured and skills i've practiced during the last decade, if not more, of my life in a single session of creative expression. [some more confusion with some self doubt thrown in for good measure and ending with a brief evaluation of my self worth]
The only conclusion, if you'd call it that, is that I still have a lot of work to do on this self assigned project and work to do in cultivating a sense of patience and clarity of thought/action before i'll feel more comfortable about handling the uncertainty that seems to naturally accompany any creative endeavor, including this pilgrimage called being human.[at this point i was coming to the end of the page and since i like to keep one idea on one page i had to wrap it up quick. i remind myself to be more patient, give myself more time and that i needed to get back to work/living]
In conclusion:
I was a little hesitant at first about publishing this post, being that it doesn't really make much sense. Clearly I did decide to make it public, partly because there are a lot of times when getting the job done involves recognizing/managing/overcoming a lot of these seemingly trivial internal dramas and partly because it seems we generally don't consider these kinds of exercises as part of our work processes and as a result make little or no room for them even though we all know they occur quite frequently.
¿What strategies or coping mechanisms do you, dear reader, employ/deploy when managing a relationship with time?
x
