http://susanmarco.wordpress.com/
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Please visit my Word Press Blog: http://susanmarco.wordpress.com/
My Compass Warrior Blogger seems like the forgotten child as of late. Please take a look at my Word Press account; my updated Blogs are on there.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
O Me! O Life! Dear Apple Company!
I am not one to be easily won over by the commercialized advertisements of our society but recently, one caught my eye---should I say, my poetic vision. Any English major or teacher of English is aware of Walt Whitman and his contribution of verse to our nation’s literacy but the Apple Company decided to bring Whitman to the for-front of their new advertising.
O Me! O Life! Dear Apple Company!
Whitman’s 1892 Leaves of Grass contains this often quoted philosophical poem when humans and artists find themselves wallowing in the why of life or the purpose of it. But, when the masses see it visually displayed in front of them on television, laptop, Ipad, phone, I wonder the depth of which it resonates. I am not a literary snob and I rather like the commercial and its enticing message: athletically fit people accomplish extraordinary feats and the child that is forgotten in some small place finds voice to individuality.
I want the masses to know that Whitman accomplished something few in our society today or even in his own time, are ever able to achieve: an answer.
He not only gave thought to the purpose of purpose but he actually gave a response: The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here—that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
I am certain that the Apple ad will eventually play itself an unwinding ode to the past but what might happen, as this powerful play goes on, more and more expressions of verse be created???!!!
We don’t build products anymore; we re-purpose and re-imagine its possibilities. We market ourselves as the product in an online, intravenously addicting need for people to know us, see us; explain our thoughts, our locations, our anger, our joy; present pictures that make us popular, pretty, and a representation of what we WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW. We can edit the truth of our appearance, control our likes and dislikes with a click, snap our every mood, capture others mistakes, and contain our attention for a vine of a moment.
Is this our verse? We exist. We are the only ones with this identity. My verse is not sure it wants to come out and see its shadow; it wants more of winter’s silhouette to collect itself. Would Whitman’s vision ever include a mountain biking, action-filled visual display of his verse? A few seconds long? Enough to capture our instant gratification-filled-momentary-philosophies with a click of like or dislike and then discarded among the vast world of delete?
My verse does praise Apple for the fact that they hired someone with knowledge of Whitman and perhaps, a poet’s soul. My hope-filled admiration implores that this was not a fluke of an idea and that this advertisement’s verse wasn't Googled by marketing intern.
O Me! O Life! Dear Apple Company!
Whitman’s 1892 Leaves of Grass contains this often quoted philosophical poem when humans and artists find themselves wallowing in the why of life or the purpose of it. But, when the masses see it visually displayed in front of them on television, laptop, Ipad, phone, I wonder the depth of which it resonates. I am not a literary snob and I rather like the commercial and its enticing message: athletically fit people accomplish extraordinary feats and the child that is forgotten in some small place finds voice to individuality.
I want the masses to know that Whitman accomplished something few in our society today or even in his own time, are ever able to achieve: an answer.
He not only gave thought to the purpose of purpose but he actually gave a response: The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here—that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
I am certain that the Apple ad will eventually play itself an unwinding ode to the past but what might happen, as this powerful play goes on, more and more expressions of verse be created???!!!
We don’t build products anymore; we re-purpose and re-imagine its possibilities. We market ourselves as the product in an online, intravenously addicting need for people to know us, see us; explain our thoughts, our locations, our anger, our joy; present pictures that make us popular, pretty, and a representation of what we WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW. We can edit the truth of our appearance, control our likes and dislikes with a click, snap our every mood, capture others mistakes, and contain our attention for a vine of a moment.
Is this our verse? We exist. We are the only ones with this identity. My verse is not sure it wants to come out and see its shadow; it wants more of winter’s silhouette to collect itself. Would Whitman’s vision ever include a mountain biking, action-filled visual display of his verse? A few seconds long? Enough to capture our instant gratification-filled-momentary-philosophies with a click of like or dislike and then discarded among the vast world of delete?
My verse does praise Apple for the fact that they hired someone with knowledge of Whitman and perhaps, a poet’s soul. My hope-filled admiration implores that this was not a fluke of an idea and that this advertisement’s verse wasn't Googled by marketing intern.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)