The Joneses. And also some other stuff.

Recently I wasn’t feeling well, and I stayed home while Thad went out. While he was gone I did something I’ve been meaning to do: I watched The Joneses.

You read that correctly. I had been meaning to watch The Joneses. Somewhere, months back, I saw a preview for it, and I thought to myself “I will watch that.” And I did. And yes, the movie is exactly what you’re thinking, so there’s no point in writing a full review. There is a beautiful moment in the conclusion that I will relate, perfect in its superficiality, in which Mr. Jones realizes that he does not need a life mired in material possessions, that he has bought the American dream at the cost of the happiness and lives of the people around him, that there can be dignity and joy in living in reality instead of a glossy catalog fantasy. In this moment he manifests this decision by nobly giving away the keys to his limited release Audi to drive away in a humble Toyota Sequoia, pristine, black, and (shame) this year’s standard model.

The movie is petty amazing. I initially wanted to see it because I just can’t help but believe that any movie in which David Duchovny goes to live in an idyllic gated community full of picture perfect people must, just absolutely must, be a reference to my favorite X Files episode,"Arcadia." This extreme and probably irrational certainty was only confirmed by a particularly strange scene in which Mr. Jones sees Mrs. in a face mask and immediately initiates a makeout session. This:

Simply has to be a reference to this:

I just can’t live in a world where it isn’t, because in that world I have wasted two hours of my life. Utterly.

So, this brings me to the other thing about this movie, which is that it’s about a world in which branding is almost gloriously inescapable. I say “gloriously” because, though the movie dutifully frowns on the pursuit of a name brand persona, it is completely, totally, wholly and unabashedly, branded. Without a doubt, the brands are the stars of this film, and they shine. Everyone looks wonderful. Everything looks desirable. It made me, during a week I had been denouncing cell phones as dated and unnecessary junk, certain android was certainly the way to go. This movie made me want sweaters and hair extensions. It made me want to golf.

So that’s the thing about this movie. It’s a film about how we all would be best served by purchasing name brands, and by recognizing that we are not truly brand people. The brands, in fact, confirm that about us. I think this is not only the thing about this movie, but this is just the thing these days. We love to participate in branding that affirms we are not branded people.

No doubt you’re saying this is nothing new. It isn’t. It might be more accurate to say “this is just the thing…still.” But we are newly excited about it somehow. Mad Men is an incredible example of how branding is a very trendy part of our history, and "historical" is its own brand. Or take Morgan Spurlock. This guy has made a career of consuming what he criticizes, and The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is no exception. Spurlock’s TED talk does a great job of illustrating some ways in which he’s better at branding than the ad agents he tries to woo for his film. Spurlock plays it off as satire, but that’s disingenuous. Or, perhaps that is the satire. He’s just good at this, frankly because he’s one of the best ad agents in the “documentary” media business. He’s not an author, he’s not a filmmaker, he’s not a journalist; he’s Realty brand, and he’s saturating our media. He’s getting the name out. In fact, the more I think about marketing, buy ins, brand names and brand exclusivity, I can’t think of a better sale then 18 minutes on TED. TED itself is one of the most successful brands in the academic business, and it’s a pricey one. TED is fame for fortune, no different from any marketing ploy in the clothing, food, media, or automobile industries.

Like I said, none of this is really new, it's just newly interesting to me. It is late, it feels later, so I’m off to bed. But I’ve finally posted something (woot!), and this particular post may have inspired me to finally write that hipster/tramp chic post Lydia and I talked about several years back. I’m also, still, working up to an X Files post.