Elegant Simplicity

A few weeks ago, I checked the “mentions” tab on my Twitter account and saw the beaming face of a smiling, 1960s styled hippy named “GibbyGooBop” directing me to a YouTube link. He only said two words to me in his tweet…”Elegant Simplicity”.

How he found me and why he thought he should hit me personally with this is anybody’s guess. I’m still trying to figure that one out for myself.

At first, I thought it was some form of spam but upon careful observation, I concluded that it wasn’t and curiosity got the best of me. So I cautiously clicked on the link. What I saw was a music video titled Strife on Mars?.

It was the WEIRDEST, most unique, well produced piece of work I have seen in quite some time.

At first, I didn’t exactly get it but I must admit, I was smiling and my mind was quite blown. I couldn’t decide if I had just seen the work of a madman or an absolute genius. Being an advertising creative, I’m used to the ideology that a message should be delivered clearly. However, being an artist (and an individual that I believe to be deep and intelligent), I LOVE weird metaphoric content (movies for instance) that actually makes me think about what I had just seen for days to come.

Boy Gibby, did this EVER make me think. So much that I really haven’t stopped thinking about it since the original viewing.

I admit, I must have watched the video a dozen more times in the last few weeks. I’ve studied the lyrics. I’ve listened to the music. I’ve examined the acting and special effects. I carefully watched everything right down to the editing and the overall production and this is no regular YouTube garbage simply thrown together with a standard video camera. It is a well thought out work of art that has been professionally executed in every area.
In SO many ways. I quickly went from feeling baffled and a little weirded-out to an extreme sense of awe.

I must also mention that the song is an earworm. It’s been weeks and I can’t get the “Zim Zam” or Bowie-esque “Curly never gave up on Moe” out of my head. The accompanying musicians that performed on the track are great. Of course, it's a swipe of Bowie's "Life on Mars" but I'll forgive GibbyGooBop for this as he made it his own.

So, what does it all mean?

This is the best part. I’m still trying to figure that part out. I’m almost positive that I get it and if I could sum it up in a few short words, I would say it’s about “Innocence lost”. Tree-huggers, hippies of old, and others that try to voice their concern over important issues (like harpooning whales and destruction of Mother Earth) typically lose the fight. People in today’s world (for the most part) are too serious, oblivious, and angry. All that really concerns the masses (my buddy likes to call them “drones”) of today is if the local coffee shop has WiFi and that you quickly make up your mind and move along (as so many have also done when it came to viewing this video but more on this is just a moment). The woman in the opening scene in the coffee shop doesn’t even look up from her newspaper when a weird looking stranger bumps into her.

I believe the underlying message is that people lose their innocence. Somewhere along the way they stopped caring or understanding. Especially about many things that are important. We must spread goodwill and happiness. We must show compassion. We must all get along and dance and sing. We must look for joy in the small things in life and appreciate our surroundings.

If you already do this, then “you’re in orbit and all alone”.

At least, that’s my take.

As of today, the video has been viewed over 14,000 times. It has 83 likes and 55 dislikes.

55 dislikes? Of course this is art and those that hit the dislike button are entitled to their opinion BUT you must stop and take some time to look at the message more deeply (as with things/problems/issues throughout life in general). Comments such as “this is retarded”, “strange” and “somebody must be on some serious drugs when they made this” are angry and shallow. What’s “retarded” is that so many people today don’t look beyond the surface. This piece of art is FAR from that of a creator that is all those things. It’s extremely well thought out, executed, and ridiculously deep. What you 55 people have actually done is more or less PROVEN Gibby’s entire point.

And THAT’S why I believe it is brilliant.

Well done Gibbygoobop.

I stand up and applaud you.

Bizarre, enjoyable, metaphoric and mesmerizing.

EXTREMELY well done.