The price of being COOL?
I found this, and it reminds me about what we talked about being “cool” and all.
In the end, the “cool” guy is killed by a hunter (the “cool” hunter?) with a quote at the end, “to floss and be the boss you must pay the ultimate cost.” Doesn’t it resonate with the class topic?
It seems like the hunter spoils everything cool, but there is a twist here. This is a BAPE, a Japanese fashion brand, cartoon. It uses the mockery of street fashion into its promotion. promoting its coolness >>> coolness being spoiled >>> making a mockery of that fashion cycle >>> the brand becomes cool again???
Maybe, there are different interpretation, but the BAPE is using cartoon to promote its coolness instead of using ads because putting up ads is not cool. Ads represents commercialism, and that’s not about subculture or street fashion anymore.
September 15, 2008 at 8:12 pm
*WIN*WIN*WIN*WIN*
Note: the shots of the character’s shooz… which push BAPE (Bathing Ape) product at an almost subliminal level.
Q: is it the mockery of street fashion or the mockery of the ecosystem? THE SPRAWL.
What makes this piece fascinating is how it almost devours itself. As a piece of media it can’t possibly hope to *stop* the exploitation of The Sprawl… so it tries to be self-aware, and also nihilistic given the fact that the coolhunter wins (love the fact that it STOPS TIME to sample the street). The viewer is *entertained* because they can recognize the cycle of cool, but they are blessed with cool because they’ve seen the animation. You are all now cool.
Note: the coolhunter is rendered in 3D while the rest of the piece is 2D. Very intentional because the coolhunters literally operate in a higher dimension — if The Sprawl is 2D, then those who hunt The Sprawl have access to that third axis…
We know that the Gorilla is a symbol of BAPE… but it’s also a traditional symbol of Black people in the West. BAPE *knows* this. So there is another interesting level of self-awareness operating here.
oh, what a rich bit of forensics we have here!
September 15, 2008 at 10:41 pm
i love how after the murder, when he dons the jacket, he levitates and resembles da vinci’s vitruvian man; as if this is the ideal man.
very very cool.
September 16, 2008 at 8:02 am
MORE WIN via FAIL: click the video and read the COMMENTS on YouTube. I can’t tell whether people are typing ignorant to be cool, really can’t type, or really are that stupid… people appear mystified, mind raped, stunned…
pure victimhood.
If the coolhunter was 3D with a view on the Sprawl, reading these comments makes you the ____Hunter with a 4D view onto cyberspace.
Fire at will. Too bad they have nothing of value we’d want to take.
September 17, 2008 at 2:26 am
This is such an awesome way to tap into the back of the public’s mind and change their feelings toward the company without them even knowing. Many people, especially children, look up to their favorite TV and cartoon characters/heroes. What we see are those heroes turning into products or even entire companies. I predict that in the near future we will see many more ads dressed up with this sort of fashion. such an awesome short cartoon.
btw
If the coolhunter was 3D with a view on the Sprawl, reading these comments makes you the _5D___Hunter with a 4D view onto cyberspace.