Brad Paisley's music video is a great representation of our modern online society. The main character played by Jason Alexander represents the "nerdy" man who is still a kid at heart. The first scene where we are shown his white socks with tevas and glasses sets the tone for the video clip. As he delivers the pizza to his customer, he is disrespected and called a jerkwad. He was excited about the party in the background but was dismissed none the less. As soon as Jason Alexander's character climbed into his beat up car, he has his computer by his side and watches Brad Paisley perform in front of a large audience. He instantly gained confidence and held his head higher as he drove away. As Wood and Smith stated on page 37, "The world wide web is exciting because of its transformation of how people interact with computers and each other." The fact that Alexander had a computer in his car shows a glimpse of society's need for technology and specifically the internet. When he gets home he instantly logs onto Myspace and again that is a representation of our culture. One of the song phrases is, "everytime I login." If you ask students today, even adults for that matter if they have a Facebook or Myspace, I guarantee they will say yes. Those internet communities are realms for mass wide communication.
The next scene of the online video shows him going home and he still lives with his parents. His character is shown as a sci-fi "nerd", who has asthma and is scared of girls. Now with all of that said when Alexander logs online, he can transform into anyone he chooses and no one would know the difference. He puts on his cowboy hat and has all the confidence in the world. In his world, with the power of the internet he can be anyone he chooses. The internet is a huge realm of possibilities. The line sang throughout the video, "so much cooler online" says it all. Anyone can choose the be another person when they're online. The idea is that you can be successful, smart, funny...you name it. Its whatever and whoever you chose to be. The freedom of speech.
In the video when Alexander goes online he is Brad Paisley. He is good-looking, famous and well liked. The women he is having a three way chat with, have no idea what he really looks like, everything can be fabricated. It can be extremely difficult to distinguish between fabrication and the truth. As Postman stated in chapter 3, page 45, "Technocracy filled the air with the promise of new freedoms and new forms of social organization. Technocracy also sped up the world. We could get places faster, do things faster, accomplish more in a shorter time." The internet has given our society the option and choice of how we want to represent ourselves. It's a unique form of social organization and Postman is correct when he states technocracy has created speed. Today you can create or change a profile online, and talk on instant messenger with someone far away within seconds. The speed is increasing at an alarming rate.
So what does this idea of online communication say about our society and culture in general? If we didn't have the internet to communicate or have the opportunity to be someone else in the online realm, things would be a lot different. There are so many people who thrive in the "made up" online world. There are games where you create characters in altered realities and also internet communities such as Myspace where its just a click of a button to become someone new or anyone of your desire. I think that our culture would be completely different and society standards would be altered. If the online media was stripped/taken away or someone had a bad experience, our society would still keep on going. We would continue as is and make adjustments along the way. That's what both authors express in their chapters, the need for technology and the advancement of it. The internet online is a huge new reality that anyone can join. It makes me wonder, have any of us pretended to be someone else online?
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I watched Paisley's video as well for this assignment. What I got from the video was that online communication enables us to fabricate an image of who we really are. The web can be used as a tool to enhance communication and make it easier, but we should not solely depend on it. I think the pros of technology outweigh the cons, but we still need to be careful.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how addictive the internet can be. I know people who are so addicted to online gaming, online poker, and other databases that it has caused them to fail classes and drop others. I do not understand it at all. Perhaps we get so caught up in it and do not realize the damage we have done to ourselves until it is too late.
It is true that everything is simply a click of a button away. It is satisfying to be able to partake in instantaneous communication right when you think of a question for a friend or whatnot. Yet as satisfying as it is to have your needs met quickly I find it more fulfilling to partake in forms of communication that take a little more time that posting on my friend's facebook. An email is excellent but some snail mail really makes my day!
ReplyDeleteI think you also make a good point about how it is harder to sort through the truth and the fabrications on the internet because they are so easy to believe. One example of this that I can think of is the method used to phish passwords. These people can go and make a page that looks exactly like your login page, and it's no wonder maybe people will give up there information without a thought otherwise.