Once Again, Spike Jonze Makes Us Care Way More Than We Should About an Ad
If there’s one thing that I hate about Spike Jonze, it’s that his directing and creativity are so compelling that they force me to care about corporate advertising. Damn you, Spike Jonze. Damn you.
First, it was getting me to care about a lamp. Then it was getting me to care about perfume. And there’s also the jillion legit music videos that are not ads that he’s directed. Now, I’m supposed to care about Apple’s new HomePod. You know, the thing they made to compete with the Amazon Echos and the Google Homes that already exist? While I may or may not buy the product (I won’t. I already have both a Home and an Echo in my apartment, and I don’t need any more AI keeping track of my goings-on, thank you), the short film/commercial above almost makes me believe that the HomePod is somehow magical.
In it, a young woman (singer/songwriter/dancer/all-around-artiste FKA twigs) feels crowded by her life and her city, only to go home to her cramped, overstuffed apartment. It isn’t until she asks Siri to “play something I’d like” and Siri obliges, playing “Til It’s Over” by Anderson.Paak that she’s able to expand her life, literally. She dances around her apartment expanding the furniture, the walls, and then a mirror…
Here’s where things get interesting. I didn’t notice this at first, but someone in the comments on the video mentioned that, when the young woman meets her mirror self, and they share a dance, the one that stays in the expanded mirror world is actually the “real young woman” while the mirror version ends up back in the cramped apartment. Upon watching it again, that does seem to be the case.
Which means that just after this video, Mirror FKA twigs is gonna start wondering why her apartment is so small. Perhaps to get frustrated with her life, come home, play some music, and make all this happen all over again? Wait, was this really Jonze’s test short for a sci-fi feature film?
I may not be in the market for a HomePod, but this commercial was pretty dope. What do you think? And do you think that it’s Mirror FKA twigs that we’re left with at the end?
(via Laughing Squid, image: screencap)
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