The Importance of Ads

I watched the Super Bowl last Sunday (along with the millions of others who watched it). Much like I had done for the previous years, I went to a watch party to watch the game. At this watch party, there were about 20-30 people watching the game. During the game, I can distinctly remember chattering as people were talking about the game. During the commercials, however, there was silence. No one spoke. The entire audience was so entranced with the commercials, not wanting to miss a single second of them. Then, I thought back to previous years, to the other Super Bowls I had watched with a large crowd. I remembered the same thing! There was always chattering during the game, but silence during the commercials. People love the commercials of the Super Bowl. Then, I started to think about what makes someone love a Super Bowl commercial. Is it humor? Is it wittiness? What is it? Then I decided that what makes people love commercials is the outrage. I have noticed that the crazier the commercial, the more people like and remember it. Each year, the commercials seem to get more and more crazy. This year, the overall perception of the commercials was rather negative. This made me wonder, have the commercials just become too crazy? Is there a limit to the craziness of our culture?

-Thompson Berhow

Picture Time

The other day, I was at the Fort Worth Water Gardens. The Water Gardens are a really peaceful place that somehow squeezed their way right into the hustle and bustle of downtown Fort Worth. I went to the Water Gardens for the same reason that many other people go there: to relax. As I was walking around this fountain, I saw a rainbow. If you look closely in the photograph, you can see it. I sat down on a nearby ledge and listened to the water pitter-patter on the pool. The sound of water droplets hit the pool mixed with the beautiful rainbow began to calm me. As I sat and looked and listened, I began to wonder why these sights and sounds are considered “calming.” I couldn’t find any answer to my question. I realized that I thought this visual experience was calming just because it was. If you think about it, there is no negative connotation to things such as the pitter-patter of rain or rainbows. They are universally thought of as happy, calming sights and sounds. Why is that? Is it just because they always have been? Is it just because we are told that they are calming? As I thought more and more about this, I wondered if you could convince someone that these were not calming things. I really believe that some things are considered happy and calming just because we are told that they are.

-Thompson Berhow

Why Focus On the Meaning?

As I was sitting in my fraternity’s chapter room this evening, I looked at this piece of art on the wall. I have seen this painting hundreds of times, but I had never really stopped to examine the piece of art. At first glance, someone might think “Wow, look’s like a kid painted that.” And that’s right – a kid did paint that. My fraternity’s philanthropy is through Cook’s Children’s Hospital. Children in the hospital paint pictures and then we auction them off and give the money back to the hospital.

After looking at the painting, I started thinking about why the picture was up on the wall. Sure, it was a cute painting that a child worked on, but what reason other than that? Why is this painting important? It most likely has no symbolic meaning or metaphor as it was painted by a child. Then I realized, it is important because of who painted it. We often search for deeper meanings in all art without taking the time to appreciate art for what it really is: a creation. We speculate and formulate opinions about what something means when sometimes, it really is just a creation. I think we should take a step back and appreciate art for what it is at its core: a creation.

– Thompson Berhow

Bandwagon Fans

I took this photo at the Macklemore concert in the Commons last week. In the moment, after I took the picture, I looked down at my phone and thought, “Wow. Good job, Thompson.” I thought it was a pretty good shot.

A few days later, I got a message on my phone telling me that I was running out of storage. I started going through my photos, deciding which ones to keep and which ones to delete. I came across this photo and almost hit the delete button before I started staring at it. “Go Hawks,” I chuckled to myself because of their loss against the Panthers. Then, my eyes made their way down the photo. I was stunned at the numerous hands thrown into the air in a praise-like manner due to Macklemore’s holding up this simple sign. I started to think about how we look at celebrities. Society mimics what celebs do. We look up to them. I then thought about what makes an image “powerful.” What was making these fans scream not only for Macklemore but for the Seahawks as well? Surely they aren’t all from Seattle. Then it hit me. They are cheering for the Seahawks simply because Macklemore is. I came to the conclusion that often times, we enjoy images because the people around us enjoy them, specifically celebrities.

After staring at this photo for what seemed to be a century, I moved my hand away from the delete button. I thought to myself, “I wonder how many people cheered for the Seahawks last Sunday just because someone they admire did…”

– Thompson Berhow