The boy who beeps is a commercial I was introduced to this past weekend when I went to see Interstellar. Yes. A commercial. One of many, many commercials that ran before the movie. (Remember the days when people went to the movies to avoid commercials?) But thats another rant, for another day. This rant is about the boy who beeps! A ridiculous commercial that begins when the boy who beeps is born. And why is he the boy who beeps? Because he doesnt speak, cry, or say gaga. He just beeps. Like an annoying robot from the 1950s. Beep! Beep! Beep! So, during the course of this two and half minute pseudo Science Fiction drama, we watch the boy who beeps born and grow into a grade school aged kid. And of course he is very special. Any time something goes wrong the boy simply beeps, and magically the problem is solved. He wants a toy, he just beeps for it. And it goes -- well, beep. His mom is stuck at a red light -- he just beeps and all the lights turn green. The teachers class isnt interesting enough, he just beeps and presto -- the chalk board is now an awesome HD projection screen. This last trick catches the eye of a fellow first grader. A pretty girl who apparently likes the boy who beeps. But it continues . . . . There is a city wide power outage, and the boy who beeps . . . beeps, and brings the lights back on. This draws attention of the news media who says he saved the city from the darkness, all because he is a very special little boy. As he grows a little older, he fixes airport congestion, free trade, creates new technology all by beeping. The boy becomes famous. He is some sort of savior of mankind. The commercial ends with the him and the girl gazing up at the stars. She wants to see more stars, so he beeps and all the city lights go out. She says thank you. He says, youre welcome. She smiles and the commercial ends, with a tagline about GE and technology saving us all. Or something. Okay, maybe Ill rant about whether or not technology will save us or be our undoing -- but not today. Today it is strictly about the TERRIBLE message that the boy who beeps sends to us. What message is that? Well, the message is that EVERYTHING can or at least should be solved in the blink of an eye. And all based upon our own personal desires. Whatever the intentions of this commercial were, it comes off (to me) as an especially egocentric commercial that only a spoiled, American generation could possibly dream up. Whatever I want, SHOULD happen in the blink of an eye. Or in this case, the beep of a vocal chord. And its not just about wanting things like love, health, and happiness. The boy doesnt actually do much of that. Its all about him being bored. He changes the TV station to cartoons, or impresses the little girl by beeping at a vending machine to get candy for her. Thats right. He STEALS from the vending machine. And this is all okay, because its cool and it is what he wants. Children already think the world revolves around them. And now this commercial just reflects how deeply that sentiment is. Whatever HE wants, HE gets. No effort put forth. No considering the consequences of others. ( He gets his mom through the red lights, but what about everyone else???) Now, this might seem like just a silly commercial. And on one level it is. But, General Electric has decided to make it a philosophical commentary about the benefits of technology. And I LOVE technology. I really, really do. But I do NOT like the idea that technology does (or should) give us whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want it. I think thats a dangerous idea. And the boy who beeps is a perfect illustration of what is so wrong with the modern American idea that ALL our problems will be solved with technology -- simply because we WANT that to be true. We, nor our children, are the boy who beeps. And I personally wouldnt want to live in a world where the whims of a child control the fate of the world. But, isnt that what technology is? A child? In the long scheme of things: given 250 Thousand years of homosapien existence - technology is very young. Is it great? You bet. Im a geek! I love it. But we should NOT be like the boy who beeps. We shouldnt just beep and the gods serve our every whim. THAT is a bad idea, and this commercial just rubbed me the wrong way. Oh . . . and the boy who beeps was plain annoying as well. I was glad when that commercial was over.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 23:17:35 +0000
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