 |
| Abarth ad still |
Do you feel lost thinking that I could be yours forever?
In yesterday's post,
Gender and Sexual Dynamics, I posted a video for the Fiat 500 Abarth. In the post I mentioned wishing I knew what the woman (played by Romanian actress/ model Catrinel Menghia) was saying, but felt afraid that by knowing, some of the tension and greatness of the ad would fade.
My curiosity got the better of me and I looked it up. Below is a translation.
What are you looking at? Uh!?
What are you looking at?! (slap)
Are you undressing me with your eyes?
Poor guy… you can’t help it?
Is your heart beating? Is your head spinning?
Do you feel lost thinking that I could be yours forever?
Those last three lines are brilliant, in my mind. They tap into the male's (at least this male's) psyche and think about fantasy/possibility of "forever". I need to remember though Carla's cautionary words she shared in her comment about the dangers of being a man's fantasy girl.
He doesn't have a clue who you really are. Indeed, you don't exist.
You are just the stand-in for a dream and had better stay that way. You
are so right. In reality, your competition is a car, a job, the guy's
mother or religion, whatever.
 |
| Abarth ad still |
After reflecting on this a bit, I have to think about fantasy. I believe fantasies can be healthy, beautiful, inspiring, and needed. Sometimes my fantasy narrative was the only thing that kept me going in the roughest parts of my life. What I worry about is when
fantasy becomes
fanaticism. It is funny how those two words are so similar in spelling.
Fanaticism - "... a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious or political cause or in some cases sports, or with an obsessive enthusiasm. Philosopher George Santayana defines fanaticism as "redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim"; according to Winston Churchill, "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject". By either description the fanatic displays very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions. In his book Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk, Neil Postman states that "the key to all fanatical beliefs is that they are self-confirming....(some beliefs are) fanatical not because they are 'false', but because they are expressed in such a way that they can never be shown to be false." - Wikipedia (bold emphasis mine)
When I read Carla's blog post that started all of this, she wrote of the sexual troll's in both real life and the pixel forest or internet. These guys only focus on the sex and not the person they are interacting with. I am wondering if part of their problem is that they have lost the ability to differentiate between
fan, fantasy, and
fanatic and are lost in their
uncritical zeal, strict standards, and little tolerance for contrary ideas.
 |
| Abarth ad still |
