Kylie just posted Google’s “Zeitgeist” year-in-review video, and I was intrigued. Obviously, its content is loosely based on what people searched for on Google during 2012, and yes, it has a hopeful and inspirational bent, as one would expect, but I was struck by how, well, realistic it was about what actually went down this year. Look:
Storms, disaster, protests, conflict, suffering, war, it was all there interspersed with the achievements, milestones, and derring-do. Usually these kinds of things are so pollyanna, so maudlin, that you can barely stomach them. This felt more like a genuine look at what the hell actually happened, and what people gave a damn about, this year. I think I even saw Malala in there for a split second.
So, I know it’s an ad, really, a piece of branding, but it’s a good one. Kudos.
(Also, I can’t help but notice a none-too-subtle grab at the Apple “crazy ones” mantle with the “here’s to the curious” line. Gutsy, Google.)
8 comments
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Ashley F. Miller
December 13, 2012 at 11:17 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
And Honey Boo Boo :)
Paul Fidalgo
December 13, 2012 at 11:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Well one can only ask so much.
maxdwolf
December 13, 2012 at 12:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Meh, still felt maudlin to me. Yeah, glimpses of bad news. But far less in proportion to how much there actually was and how important it was. I suppose that can be blamed on the searchers. But still, meh.
F [disappearing]
December 14, 2012 at 12:47 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Can’t say I’m impressed with the encapsulating metaphor, either.
StevoR
December 14, 2012 at 9:54 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
But.. but.. there’s still sixteen days left in the year! /pedant.
(Think its a split second at the two minute twenty second mark where Malala is shown right?)
(Drinks to the memories of Sally Ride, Neil Armstrong and Patrick Moore.)
StevoR
December 14, 2012 at 9:55 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
And again to Ray Bradbury and Bryce Courtney.
BCat70
December 14, 2012 at 5:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I liked it, probably much more than a straight up “happy times” B.S.
Because that’s us. All of us, doing what we all do. The great inspirations, the gigantic tragedies we have all lived this year. It is the ups and downs that is our communal story.
win 7
February 22, 2013 at 12:12 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
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