Serious Claims by Way of Animation?

In this posting, I discuss an example of a different type of video—an animation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_fPV13lKm4

This video is a representation of one person’s thoughts, in the form of visual art. The topics touched upon range from the rapidity of identity change that is now possible to the phenomenon of technology taking over our lives, all the way to divinity and history. The characterization of the stick figure as “The Chosen One” is both a source of humor and a way for the author to make a serious claim. Often, in popular culture, people throw around the term “The Chosen One” as a way of mocking those who deem themselves as great, or in order to mock those who are most definitely not great. It is generally a source of humor because of its connection to divinity and history (serious, sacred, revered topics) and its simultaneous application to mocking situations.

Humor in this video is also derived from the way the stick figure is animated. He is given a sledgehammer and instantaneously breaks down a mirror; a mysterious shotgun shoots at the stick figure who quickly breaks the shotgun in half. The uncanny abilities of this lean, thin, flexible stick figure are so unrealistic that they are simply funny to the average man. This relates to America’s obsession with failure, and of making fun of peoples inabilities, as explained in the first blog post.

This brings me to the main point of this post: animations allow the author to craft serious situations in a humorous light. The video's creator touches upon the notion of identity change, and how quickly it is possible for one’s identity to be altered. For example, the creation of the being (the stick figure, in this case), is so easily controlled by the typing in of a word into a dialog box—a killer, a victim, or a “BEAST” could all have easily been created. This is a very serious topic nowadays, especially with the coming of internet security and the possibilities of identity theft. The creator of the video touches upon this facet also while creating a scene using AOL Instant Messenger, a feature known to have been the source of many internet identity safety threats. Such serious topics are brought to light in a comical way by their funny portrayal. For example, as the creator is deciding which identity to give the stick figure, the video portrays the creator as simply indecisive—as he/she keeps writing something down, then changing his mind. The viewer is mainly laughing at the creator’s inability to decide on a protagonist and keep his choice. Underneath this humor, though, are the pressing issues of today which affect technology users such as those reading this blog.

YouTube plays a role in propagating such forms of self-expression, a prominent characteristic of American culture, because it allows anyone anywhere to post a video. This video was presumably a self-made production, and it allows for the creator to express his opinions about serious topics, in a humorous way, to a large audience. In this way, YouTube is the haven for different forms of media, those which appear to be serious, and those which don’t yet turn out to be.