"
. With Mankind’s narcissistic tendencies, the iPhone, etc.
Posted Under: America
A weird irony of the New Interactive World or whatever is that nobody reads the letters to the editor anymore. Except me! Check out this: Reacting to the David Brooks column I mentioned recently and cast as an example of the media/message problem, a guy who was actually in an iPhone ad wrote to the NYT and said in part:
During the filming, I spoke with the director of the ad, Errol Morris, for 30 minutes about the iPhone’s effect on human interaction and the philosophical implications of its technology on modern culture. We discussed what the iPhone revealed about mankind’s narcissistic tendencies and the vital importance of human connection in today’s world of electronic communication.
Needless to say, none of this made it into the commercial. In addition to recommending you read this guy’s letter, I ask you: Isn’t it weird that Errol Morris makes ads at all?
.
.
Kim Fellner's book 
.
A
Reader Comments
A weird irony of the New Interactive World or whatever is that nobody reads the letters to the editor anymore.
well, think of it like this: given the ability to comment immediately on a blog and then receive comments in response to that – including perhaps from the author of the piece themselves – why would anyone write letters to the editor? they’re essentially super-super-moderated blog comments with bizarre space restrictions and no real feedback as to why they’re published or not. Essentially, writing into a black hole. So I wouldn’t write a letter to the editor over Brooks’ column because I would know that one or two people at NYT would read it, it wouldn’t get printed, and that would be it. Instead – post a comment on your commentary of his column and know that at least you and several dozen/hundred other people will see and perhaps then again respond to it. Much better deal, for actually wanting a message to be heard.
That being said – that’s an excellent letter, and I really do love that Errol Morris does commercials (it’s essentially how he makes his [not insubstantial] living, and finances his art, which though it usually does reasonably well at the box office almost never has a budget or studio backing to speak of).
I thought the same thing! “Errol Morris is directing IPHONE ADS!?”
But in all seriousness, I’d love to see an Errol Morris documentary on our new media landscape. Well, let’s be honest: I’d love to see an Errol Morris documentary on just about anything.
I’m not sure that Morris only does ads for the money. I think he likes doing them. He highlights his ad work on his own site, and he certainly doesn’t have to do that.
I’d also like to see a Morris doc on the new media landscape — and in fact about how commercial persuasion’s current iteration (murketing, if I may) fits into it .