I don't know if Marshall McCluhan said it or not, but I'm sure he'd agree that media is a reflection on who "we" are (true, the mirror is far from flat, so the distortions make some feature appear monstrous and others small).
I watched "The Devil wears Prada" last night, and upon reflecting during the credits, thought what a profound commentary this is on our culture. The message is really about a shift in the way that we relate to one another at a cultural level. It's no secret that I'm exceedingly fond of The Wisdom of Crowds. This movie is deep exploration of the shift from the wisdom of experts to the wisdom of crowds. In this light, the shift is a major memeological shift, significant like the flipping of the magnetic poles, or the melting of the polar ice caps. [read Michel Bauwen's entry on Trust and the Edelman Trust Barometer for evidence of the shift]
The Runway magazine organization is run on fear and scarcity. There is very little approval in the world, and you have to fight like hell to get your scrap. This mindset taps into our primal instincts and is very addictive (and possibly all consuming, no matter how disdainful Andrea, played by Anne Hathaway, is at the start of the movie).
At the end of the movie though, you see Andrea come into her own. They are peers, but in different worlds. The days of a single powerful individual being able to ruin your career are coming to a close. Reputation is no longer controlled simply by the elite and powerful.
My reflections on this theme were also spurred on with the juxtaposition of another recently seen movie, Pursuit of Happyness. The theme is similar, but more subtle. Work hard, get to play in the game, and (in the afterward here) find your independence from the big cheese. I was struck with two conflicting reactions. The first was just how scarce scarcity can be, and the second, how strong drive can be. These tension between these two elements is stretched to the limit in Pursuit. Even though the protagonist prevails, the echo of his tragedies resonates strongly with my lizard brain: hold on to what you've got, if at all possible. My monkey brain doesn't buy it, and remains curious about the possibilities of an abundant world, but that snake is whispering messages of fear that sound quite compelling if one listens too closely.
Out of the media, and into the news (wait, is there a difference?). In thinking about the new world order stuff, I think we are going through a tectonic shift which is redrawing the landscape of power, and that's what the whole Iraq war is all about. Sure, oil is underneath it all, because oil is the scarce commodity that drives much of the worlds power elite, but those days too are numbered. Not because of the threatened depletion of oil, but because the populace is starting to wake up to the fact that the experts can no longer protect us from the boogeyman.
We have met the enemy, and he is us. The problem is, we look more monstrous in the distorted mirror than we actually are, and power is derived by the promise that someone will protect us from the monsters under the bed.
The "Few Good Men" quote in the title is testimony to the shift in power. It also reminds me of Al Franken's book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. The thing is, somewhere in their lizard brain, they truly think they are lying for our benefit. They believe in the monsters that we are starting to realize is just our distorted reflection of ourselves. The truth that apparently can't be handled, is that the powerful are no longer those who hold the reins of power, but rather, with those who listen to them. The mass entertainment media, especially in children's stories, is all about A Bug's Life, in which the realization dawns on this upcoming generation, hey, we outnumber them, and it's only because we're afraid that we are compelled to do what they say. This scares us and them.
To a child, the most fearful thing imaginable is the disapproval of mom or dad. To the matue adult, disapproval is only a feedback mechanism to be considered in the course of choosing one's own direction. Safety isn't insured by the institutions anymore. There isn't a fairytale world, but it is one in which passion with drive can triumph over either alone.
