"If I've Only One Life to Live..."
Doug Pray's Art and Copy opened two days ago in Manhattan. At last January's Sundance Film Festival I said it had "turned out to be a little thin. It's basically a chapter-by-chapter history of the most legendary ad campaigns of the last 45 or 50 years, each chapter with a corresponding flattery profile of the advertising exec (or execs) who dreamt each one up.
"But there's no arching theme to it, no undercurrent, no inquiring line of thought. Pray doesn't begin to think about the odious implications of modern advertising (as Adam Curtis did in The Century of the Self). Nor does he think to draw parallels between certain legendary ad copy lines and the contours and tendencies of the culture from which they sprung.
"One example of this was pointed out by Tom Wolfe in his legendary 1976 essay 'The Me Decade and the Third Great Awakening.'
"In 1961 a copywriter in the employ of Foote, Cone & Belding named Shirley Polykoff came up with the line: 'If I've only one life, let me live it as a blonde!' The basic attitude of having 'only one life,' said Wolfe, contradicted a general belief among families and nations that had existed for centuries, which you could sum up as a belief in 'serial immortality.'
"Boiled down, serial immortality means that we're all part of a familial stream -- our lives being a completion or fulfillment of our parents' lives and our children's lives completing and fulfilling our own, and everyone understanding that we're part of the same genetic river of existence and spirit.
"Polykoff's copy line, which was written for Clairol hair coloring, basically said 'the hell with that -- it's just me, it's just my life and my goals, and I'm going to satisfy myself!' By the time the early '70s rolled around the culture had begun to believe in the 'me first' philosophy en masse.
"I just wish Pray had decided to dig into this and other correlations between advertising and cultural values."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 23, 2009 at 5:38 PM
comment #1
televisiontears
says ...
This sounds completely pointless. If you're pointing a camera at the most manipulative industry on the planet and not asking some serious questions about the nature of the industry, what the hell is the point.
I don't need an anti-ad tirade. I've read enough issues of Adbusters to have my fill. I'm a big boy, and I know the subtle ways that advertising hacks into our souls to create a desire for something we don't need. I've been to college (that's right - COLLEGE motherfuckers!), so I don't need an ethics lesson.
But if nothing else, the ad industry is fascinating, and is still insanely ripe for dissection. Mad Men, while an incredible show, doesn't do it well enough. It's a shame. We need a great, sprawling docu about this. Something to make people think twice about what's being pumped into their skulls. What we don't need is a greatest hits collection.
Posted by televisiontears
at August 23, 2009 6:11 PM
comment #2
televisiontears
says ...
I've never seen Century of Self. Is it worth the four hours?
Posted by televisiontears
at August 23, 2009 6:17 PM
comment #3
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
Are you kidding? More than worth it.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at August 23, 2009 6:40 PM
comment #4
lipranzer
says ...
I wish the hell it and other Curtis films were available on DVD. Is he emulating Frederick Wiseman and having his movies available only through directly ordering from him, or are they just completely out of circulation?
It's too bad about ART & COPY. I like Pray's films (particularly HYPE! and SURFWISE).
Posted by lipranzer
at August 23, 2009 7:16 PM
comment #5
corey3rd
says ...
I enjoyed Art & Copy. Perhaps it reminded us that the same guy who sold us bottled water figured a way to get Reagan re-elected with "It's morning again in America." Or how Nike's Just Do It campaign was hatched by Gary Gilmore.
The film works as a way of letting us understand the Mad Men universe.
Posted by corey3rd
at August 23, 2009 9:25 PM
comment #6
televisiontears
says ...
Thanks, Jeff. I didn't know much about it.
Posted by televisiontears
at August 23, 2009 9:32 PM
comment #7
Brendan
says ...
televisiontears - I just re-watched the "The Century of the Self" this past week on YouTube. I grew tired of waiting for it to come out via Netflix. The show is a masterpiece, one which should be shown in schools around the Western World. The fact that only a small percentage of the population knows that Edward Bernays is truly the "man behind the curtain" is amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PLFMIdMv2c&feature=related
'The Power of Nightmares" is also worth a viewing. Solid, enlightening, but not as monumental as "Self".
Posted by Brendan
at August 24, 2009 5:40 AM
comment #8
free online games
says ...
Wonderful post. I have bookmarked it therefore.
Posted by free online games
at March 18, 2010 10:51 AM
comment #9
rifan
says ...
thanks you very much...........
Posted by rifan
at June 8, 2010 9:13 PM
comment #10
ssupreme11
says ...
Thanks a lot
Regards,
Dissertation Writing
Posted by ssupreme11
at March 13, 2011 5:34 AM
comment #11
cheapetiffany
says ...
I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it. Those who nominated and confirmed me as Vice President were my friends and are my friends. They were of both parties, elected by all the people and acting under the Constitution in their name. It is only fitting then that I should pledge to them and to you that I will be the President of all the people. Thomas Jefferson said the people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. And down the years, Abraham Lincoln renewed this American article of faith asking, "Is there any better way or equal hope in the world?" cheap tiffany co jewelry
Posted by cheapetiffany
at April 23, 2011 2:08 AM
comment #12
affiliatesreview
says ...
really good post :) Thank you
Best regards!
----------------
Free pc games
Affiliate review
Posted by affiliatesreview
at May 16, 2011 4:26 AM
comment #13
alan
says ...
Thanks to this blog I finally managed to find the information matching my criteria and for this I would like to thank the author for sharing this blog with us. Looking forward for more.
Posted by alan
at November 1, 2011 9:17 AM
comment #14
alan
says ...
Nice post, Thanks for sharing....tegaderm
Posted by alan
at November 1, 2011 9:19 AM
comment #15
Toolman11
says ...
It's good to train your kids at the proper way like not pushing them for what you want them to do for poo or pee.Let them discover by themselves if it is good or bad.Thanks for Sharing.
Regards,
Custom Essay Writing Service
Posted by Toolman11
at January 26, 2012 12:54 AM