The other day, Ashley and I were talking, and we had a dialogue something like this:
Me: I thought to myself--
Ashley: "Self"?
[we laugh]
Because how many times have you seen, in movies, tv, comics, etc., a character say: "And I thought to myself: 'Self, blah blah blah.'"
Nobody actually speaks to him- or herself as a third-person direct address using the word "self." Nobody. But somewhere along the line, someone made it into a punchline. And it's a funny one because it resonates with everyone. Everyone does "think to themselves." However, now that punchline has become something that I (and apparently Ashley) can't help "thinking to ourselves" sometimes. Ironically, yes, but we think it.
Today, it also occurred to me (via dinosaurcomics, my muse) that we might have lots of cultural things like this. For example, the dream that you're at school or somewhere public without your pants. Or naked. Or whatever. It's probably been done on at least 40% of television shows (statistic completely made up on the spot, right now, by me). It's a cultural meme, right? It came from somewhere and then got imitated and reiterated until it's just a part of us. A stupid, hackneyed part, but it's there. Have any of you ever actually had that dream? I certainly have not.
It's life imitating art, I suppose. "Art" is used loosely, and really might just mean "media." But I'm sure there are more examples of things which are part of the lexicon, or pop culture, or whatever, and which, instead of actually representing what real life is like, have become so popular and widely used that they cause themselves to be lived out in real life, even if only as an ironic reference to a banal cliché. They've etched themselves into us to some extent.
/ramble
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7 comments:
The whole "self" idea never occured to me as funny or even ironic that no one does it in real life, till i met my us history teacher. he would speak in third person for just about everything. i believe this was an act, as a real conversation i had with him the other day while visitng my highschool, he spoke without saying self all the time. it was almost disheartening.
as for the cutural memes, i believe you are right amanda. dreams of nudity or unpreparedness ( in an exam setting for example) are very common thoughts, but i have had both dreams, but fortunatley not at the same time. however i do believe you are the first person to apply common themeatic elements of dream sequence in the form of a viral meme. now, if only we could rickroll in our dreams.... get back to be on that one.
I would give anything to be rickrolled in real life. Okay, not anything. But if anyone ever has the means or opportunity to arrange it so that Rick Astley surprises me somewhere, I would owe you big.
In a dream is like second best.
Similar dream phenomenon: you are running towards something but find yourself displaced a number of steps back through time and space (?) so that said object is always infinitely far away. Thank you, Mel Brooks.
This never happened to me prior, but now I see it everywhere AND have it happen to me (creepily often). Lame.
Let's call that "The Sisyphus Dream" for the sake of brevity. This is going to be my thesis. jk.
ASHLEY: You need to post whatever you wrote about "see what I'm seeing" for your friends / the entirety of the internets to read. I am serious.
ash, that's more commonly known as "Lag In Halo" syndrome, named after the scientist who discovered it, of course.
Amanda: I cannot find the notebook I stored my brilliance in. I should just start over, but I feel like I was totally 'on' when I wrote it.
Ashley: How dare you?
That is a tragedy. My notes are in the stoner notebook if you ever wish to consult them.
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