WOW, I couldn’t stop laughing at how perfect all of the characters were, yet at the same time shockingly realistic!
The “star” of the video was a short, balding, over-weight, nerd dressed in ratty cloths, living in his parent’s basement apartment. His parents were both played by older people straight out of the 50’s. His mom wore a house-coat/robe/dress (something for all occasions I guess?) and her hair was the typical curly bob of the 50’s (she reminded me a lot of Mama on that show Mama’s Family…any one remember that?). Anyway, dad was played by a handsome man, in his own era I am sure: very conservative and old-fashioned. One of those couples that wanted you to think the husband made all of the decisions, but in reality it was only if his wife thought they were a good idea.
What was being portrayed on-line was that the “star” was tall, dark and handsome like Brad Paisley, but in reality he was exactly the opposite. In this video the whole scene was portrayed in a light fashion (for entertainment purposes), but the reality is that it’s not always that way! People can act or display a COMPLETELY different image though the strokes on their keyboard, than what exists in reality. True, this ability to change one’s self or morph into something that you’re not, can give you more courage and strength and when these things are applied in a good, positive way like in the video it’s great! By the way, he did get the girl in the end of the video: his high school sweetheart!
However, these same ego-boasting qualities are often used in negative ways to deceive and harm others. People, especially internet predators, use these exact types of deception and corrosion to lure children into harms way and it’s this warning that I would hope people remember when they watch this video or hear this song: an entertaining reminder, of a very serious lesson!
Like in our readings this week from Wood and Smith, so much of relationship building is lost with on-line communication: emotional responses, gestures, facial expressions and attitudes all the way down to cleanliness and hygiene habits can NOT be observed, processed or evaluated through on-line communication and this is where I think we run the risk, as a society, of putting to much importance or trust in CMC. CMC skews our reality too much by the lack of information it offers, which is ironically supposed to be one of its features (increased information)?!?!
As for the video, I think Brad’s done an excellent job communicating an important message to people through music. And I just hope that people can see past the entertainment value in it and really listen to the true message: who or what’s behind those words on the screen may NOT be what or whom you think it is!
If you’d like to see this video, click So Much Cooler Online.
