Vandalism With a Point, and the Fascination with Anti-Heros.

I was waiting for the subway in one station when I saw something that caught my eye.

If you ride the subway (and chances are good you do if you live in New York City and especially if you commute to Manhattan often), you know that vandalism in the subway stations is really common, and it is especially true when it comes to the sticky announcements. Faces with painted mustaches, with bubblegum on it or with written things are among the things you see in the subways.

So, this is what caught my eye: I have no cable TV but I know Showtime has all these popular shows, which are all lumped together in the same announcement. So you see the pictures of the protagonists of Californication, Weeds, The Tudors, State of the Union, Diary of a Call Girl and Dexter. In each of these, the vandalist wrote the moral flaws of these characters with the words "Hero?" under them. I don't remember what did he put in State of the Union, but I can tell you about the other five:
Californication: "Sex addict. Hero?"
Weeds: "Drug Dealer. Hero?
The Tudors: "Poligamist. Hero?"
Diary of a Call Girl: "Prostitute. Hero?"
Dexter: "Murderer. Hero?"

Well, Showtime seems to have a knack for anti-heros these days. Or maybe they are reflecting 21st century obsession with anti-heros? Are we recognizing we are humans or are we, as a generation tired of heroes who save the days in traditional ways, but we just don't want someone we identify with?

The First Philosophical Entry: About Those Dentine Ads...

(Warning: It is cross-posted in my Livejournal!)

One of the things that attracts my attention about many of the subways in New York City is that publicity about a product or show takes a whole car of a train for promotion of a product.

Last friday, however, publicity worked on me. I saw those Dentine ads all over the cart I was riding on my way to meet a friend. Basically, this group of ads was playing with the ideology of how the internet seems to be, well dehumanizing us and what should be there instead. For example "The Ultimate Instant Message" is a picture of a kiss. "Friends Requested" has two people hugging each other. And "Chat Room Full" has a group of people lying on each other. And in the bottom of the ads, they say such things as "close the browser, get close" and stuff like that.

Of course, this is not the first time that such a philosophy is used to sell a product. I wonder what many media critics have to say about this. For me the whole thing was intriguing. What has a gum that cleans teeth has to do with re-humanizing us humans anyway? Will Dentine return that? What about bloggers like myself? Should we become lecturers.

I am not one who plays in the anti-Internet campaign, mind you. I love it! I love the possibilities it gives me to communicate with others! It brought me the possibility to meet likeminded people offline here in New York.

Anyway... I think those Dentine ads are, indeed, intriguing.