NOTICE: I highly recommend that you view Irrational Exuberance before reading my commentary on it. “Everybody say YATTA!”
http://www.verylowsodium.com/fanimutation/exuberance.php
Irrational Exuberance, the flash movie by Greg Falcon, if you watch it closely, contains a whole lot more than funny
wackiness. (Yes. It is wacky. It is funny. I laughed my ass off. I
cried.) It also contains some
serious commentary about
consumer culture, presented in a
humorous way, of course.
The majority of the
work (it
is a work. The guy spent 30 hours on it, for cryin’ out loud.) is bordered by a parody of the
The Price is Right screen border, those
twinkling,
dazzling lights.
The Price is Right is, at the same time, a
game show and a really long
commercial for
myriad products. A
perfect frame for a wild, sarcastic
criticism of everything a
sane person should be outraged about in a sea of ever-growing,
corporation-driven
nonsense.
The
video opens with a direct parody of
The Price is Right mimicking the way the camera pans around the
audience at the beginning of the show, except nearly all the chairs are as
empty as the head of your average, brainless consumer. Flashing words, “SPEND, BUY, PURCHASE, COLLECT, CONSUME” fly out at the
viewer. The words, “PRIZES BRING TRUE HAPPINESS” fill the
screen. This is what
marketers want you to
believe and do, although they never say it so
directly since a
concept tends to stick more if it’s stealthily
introduced. This is what Falcon is pointing out, as he makes fun of the
silly Japanese music. Then we see “SPEND! SPEND! SPEND!”
The video then digs right in, starting with
Apple Computer and a low, but oh so true blow at
Mac junkies. When we get to the parody clothing companies, “Banana Joe” and “Banana Public Inc.” The movie starts to
throw out some high-impact
sarcasm.
Tastefully designed clothes for the discriminating asshole.
FUN FACT: The clothes you wear determine your value as a human being.
The
fact that these words are written next to a singing
banana, with
nutty Japanese
pop music in the background
enhances the
power behind those words. With a
smile the movie sends out a
sweet fuck you to the
pervasive,
consumer culture conformity that’s stifling anyone with at least half the brain that it takes to notice what’s going on around us. It’s not true that your clothes determine your worth as a human being… or is it? If it’s true in the
mind of the
majority of others you
encounter, that makes it at least a sad
half-truth. It’s sometimes hard to keep the skewed
perception of others from screwing up your own
self-image.
Irrational Exuberance shows a number of products attacking the screen as they
sometimes do in
commercials, surrounded by the flashing
border. The emphasis on the products, with “Yatta”, replacing the original names, simultaneously comments on the
importance of products in
consumer culture and destroys those
preconceptions at the same time by presenting well-known brand names in a different context, depriving them of the
power and
integrity their
proponents have
instilled in our minds.
The two Dave Thomases have a verbal duel as their jobs are compared at the bottom. At the bottom of the screen we see, “Remember Worthington’s Law: More
money =
Better than”. The picture of the richer
Dave Thomas eliminates the other one, and the words, “
WINNER!” flash on the screen below him, an angry cry at the unfairness of a
culture that allows the wealthy
minority to step all over the
little people, and get away with it 95% of the time.
When the words, “I’ve got a psycho bear!” fill the screen (because that’s what it sounds like the singer is saying) the movie turns into a mock
advertisement, offering to sell you the “plush and ready” (ready? A reference to
plushophilia?) bear for 19.95, plus
shipping and handling, of course.
A picture of Dr. Ruth pops unto the screen with the text, “Embarassingly small? Your self-confidence will improve if you buy an oversized motor vehicle to make up for your undersized penis.” With “
brought to you by the Yatta Motor Company" in very small letters on the bottom right
corner. The next
YATTA logo to attack the screen looks like the
Ford one.
The
emaciated Ally McBeal shows up. “You look up to eating one
calorie? 73 pounds of
comedy tonight on
FOX.”
The name Irrational Exuberance fits this movie well. Although, he makes direct references to Alan Greenspan in the movie, I believe Falcon is putting the
phrase to a new use a very
apt one. The phrase can easily be applied to the overzealous, charged way in which advertisers and corporations try to foist their products onto
consumers, without a care for how they may damage the
collective mind of our
culture, such as
intentionally destroying
individual self-esteem in the
interest of selling a
product. Although the humor of this
piece alone gives it
priceless merit, the scathing sarcasm, and the
blatant disregard for
consumer culture icons makes it an
effective,
intelligent, and
powerful commentary on
serious contemporary issues.
My thanks to Greg Falcon for the creation of this excellent flash movie, and all the enjoyment it afforded me.