This video isn’t about what you might initially think…

Unravel from Aeon Video on Vimeo.

The familiar blunts our perspective…

We get so used to how we live that it seems normal.

Seeing with fresh eyes…

We can interrupt this pattern by seeing our society through other eyes, as filmmaker Meghna Gupta gives us a chance to do in her video. When I taught consumer issues, students did a discovery exercise that elicited insightful observations about the consumer culture.This was the task:

Imagine you landed here from another planet. You know nothing about this civilization except that it is populated by  beings that are called humans. You are able to be invisible and observe their daily life without disturbing it. Your home planet has sent you on this mission of discovery so you can report back about what kind of beings these humans are—what they do, how they spend their time, what seems to be most important to them, what personal characteristics are most evident.

So…

What would you report back if you were that visitor from outer space?

P.S. Just before I posted this, I heard a radio report about a website where you can “Book personalized video shoutouts from your favorite people.” What does it say about us that we are willing to pay up to $500 to do this?