- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
This is a modern media and consumerism global culture parable inspired by the values-magnification film The Ice Storm.
Signing off,
====
Batman was dealing with the chainsaw-wielding cannibal Leatherface in Gotham. Batman spent his free time meditating idly in his inherited mansion as the wealthy businessman Bruce Wayne (CEO of Wayne Industries) and making child-like stick-figure doodles about himself standing next to Leatherface for camera-men marketing a new 'modern circus/carnivale freak-show' involving himself and the cannibal. This museum-like display would symbolize a complete descent into criminal insanity and its problematic ramifications (i.e., contagion). The audience would be guilty of idol-worship, and this freak-show was no fairy-tale like The Hunchback of Notre Dame!
Fortunately, a strange visitor wandered into town claiming he was the real Frosty the Snowman! This freak seemed to be covered in snow and using buttons as eye-placeholders and a carrot nose and a top-hat and scarlet scarf which he claimed he needed to keep his head on his shoulders. Frosty (as he claimed to be!) wore his scarf as if he was a devil of a salesman, and his witnesses claimed he must have been a man who covered himself up in snow for a brief self-presentation (to any audience he could find). Frosty's message was an omen --- of consumerism.
Frosty said Batman was accurate in deducing that a 'Batman-Leatherface' freak-show in a modern circus/carnivale would illuminate modern-man's obsession with entertainment and vanity. Frosty said that he was a simple 'messenger' who wanted to draw humanity's attention towards the deadly Indian kitchen-tool the 'boti' (a basic and rustic blade-and-board item used for cutting foods on the floor with hand-and-foot). Many women in India who labored with the boti in kitchens preparing meals for their families on very hot days were cut by the boti (on hand or foot). Frosty claimed that the 'demonic-spirit' of the evil boti would now surface in this new modern sea of consumerism hysteria (e.g., Crate & Barrel, Facebook, Wall Street) as a 'scimitar of sadism.'
Frosty then reminded Batman of the metaphysical symbolism surrounding the Hindu goddess Kali (female symbol of feminine rage who wields a scimitar, or a curved blade). Frosty suggested to Batman that Kali's omen was that mankind's use of metal and dangerous objects will result in a preoccupation with imagination and neglect of temperance/humility. As men descended into vain-glorious modern minions hypnotized by toys (e.g., Facebook), the spirit of the boti and its blood-dye would rise from the depths of the sea and invoke the vengeful spirit of Kali wielding her bloody scimitar. This was all the metaphysics of marketing in this new age --- the age of tokens.
Batman realized Frosty was very sensitive and shrewd, and even though he was completely insane, Frosty seemed to understand/communicate folk-paranoia very very well. Everything now lay in the hands of the all-important journalists who were responsible for generating the satisfactory patriotism-inducing public reports and stories on behalf of democracy/capitalism. The people needed to believe in the power of media and education once again. Kids started experimenting with more libertine forms of art (even at young ages!) and toy-design interests, and a completely new genre of 'folkism' emerged known as Juvenile Art (a patronage rather than a misnomer).
====
Signing off,
====
Batman was dealing with the chainsaw-wielding cannibal Leatherface in Gotham. Batman spent his free time meditating idly in his inherited mansion as the wealthy businessman Bruce Wayne (CEO of Wayne Industries) and making child-like stick-figure doodles about himself standing next to Leatherface for camera-men marketing a new 'modern circus/carnivale freak-show' involving himself and the cannibal. This museum-like display would symbolize a complete descent into criminal insanity and its problematic ramifications (i.e., contagion). The audience would be guilty of idol-worship, and this freak-show was no fairy-tale like The Hunchback of Notre Dame!
Fortunately, a strange visitor wandered into town claiming he was the real Frosty the Snowman! This freak seemed to be covered in snow and using buttons as eye-placeholders and a carrot nose and a top-hat and scarlet scarf which he claimed he needed to keep his head on his shoulders. Frosty (as he claimed to be!) wore his scarf as if he was a devil of a salesman, and his witnesses claimed he must have been a man who covered himself up in snow for a brief self-presentation (to any audience he could find). Frosty's message was an omen --- of consumerism.
Frosty said Batman was accurate in deducing that a 'Batman-Leatherface' freak-show in a modern circus/carnivale would illuminate modern-man's obsession with entertainment and vanity. Frosty said that he was a simple 'messenger' who wanted to draw humanity's attention towards the deadly Indian kitchen-tool the 'boti' (a basic and rustic blade-and-board item used for cutting foods on the floor with hand-and-foot). Many women in India who labored with the boti in kitchens preparing meals for their families on very hot days were cut by the boti (on hand or foot). Frosty claimed that the 'demonic-spirit' of the evil boti would now surface in this new modern sea of consumerism hysteria (e.g., Crate & Barrel, Facebook, Wall Street) as a 'scimitar of sadism.'
Frosty then reminded Batman of the metaphysical symbolism surrounding the Hindu goddess Kali (female symbol of feminine rage who wields a scimitar, or a curved blade). Frosty suggested to Batman that Kali's omen was that mankind's use of metal and dangerous objects will result in a preoccupation with imagination and neglect of temperance/humility. As men descended into vain-glorious modern minions hypnotized by toys (e.g., Facebook), the spirit of the boti and its blood-dye would rise from the depths of the sea and invoke the vengeful spirit of Kali wielding her bloody scimitar. This was all the metaphysics of marketing in this new age --- the age of tokens.
Batman realized Frosty was very sensitive and shrewd, and even though he was completely insane, Frosty seemed to understand/communicate folk-paranoia very very well. Everything now lay in the hands of the all-important journalists who were responsible for generating the satisfactory patriotism-inducing public reports and stories on behalf of democracy/capitalism. The people needed to believe in the power of media and education once again. Kids started experimenting with more libertine forms of art (even at young ages!) and toy-design interests, and a completely new genre of 'folkism' emerged known as Juvenile Art (a patronage rather than a misnomer).
====
