Videos of the day -- the sincerest form of flattery
These videos are, believe it or not, completely American; they're ads for the Los Angeles metro system, to discourage rude behavior by riders. Yet the imitation of Japanese pop-culture aesthetic is virtually perfect, and there's even some Japanese language used. It's an interesting reversal considering how long other countries (including Japan itself) have imitated American mass-culture style and tossed in English words because those things seem "cool". More info on the ad campaign here; found via Mock Paper Scissors.
posted by Infidel753 at 5:18 PM
4 Comments:
Heh! I guess the saying "The circle is now complete" comes to mind (also with the BLADE RUNNER 2049 anime prequel BLADE RUNNER: BLACKOUT 2022).
It's part of a growing trend, of course -- spending as much time on DeviantArt and Tumblr as I do, the extent of Japanese influence on artists and fans all over the world is impossible to miss. This is the first time I've seen a PSA campaign like this, though.
My first thought wasn't how pitch perfect these PSAs are, it was "hey, look at the subway I helped build!" I was paid to be an inspector for paleontological and archeological resources in the first leg of the subway, a provision of the federal money used for the subject. I went down in all of the station excavations between Union Station and MacArthur Park for two years ending in August 1989. That written, those are really good ads and I can say that as a former bus rider in Los Angeles, the people need this advice.
BTW, any complaints of cultural appropriation yet?
Congratulations on having built something that has lasted, and I can well believe that the PSAs are needed! As for cultural appropriation, that seems to be just an American thing as best I can tell. The Japanese never seem to complain about the growing global influence of their pop culture -- any more than Americans are bothered by the worldwide spread of American mass culture.
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