By A Seperation Of Four Degrees

A food item [Fast Food Burgers]
An innovation in technology [Television]
A book [1984]
A film [Apocalypse Now]

One of Americas favorite food items is the fast food burger. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam-Websters in 1951. It's basically a term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with low quality preparation and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out.

Arguably the largest fast food chain is McDonalds. The business began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardina, California. Their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast food restaurant. The original mascot of McDonald's was a man with a chef's hat on top of a hamburger shaped head whose name was "Speedee." Speedee was eventually replaced with Ronald McDonald in 1963.

One of the biggest reasons for McDonalds success can be contributed to the invention of the television. Television (TV) is a widely used telecommunication-medium for transmitting and receiving moving images. The word is derived from mixed Latin and Greek roots, meaning "far sight": Greek tele, far, and Latin visio, sight. The most common usage of the medium is for broadcast television, which was modeled on the existing radio broadcasting systems developed in the 1920s. Television was first widely used for the German 1926 Olympics. Now television seems to be in just about every single bedroom. Broadcast television is mainly financed by either the government or by advertising. Television's broad reach makes it a powerful and attractive medium for advertisers, advertisers like McDonalds.

As an observer, advertising appears to get information across in a fair and unbiased way. But underneath the flashy images and catchy jingles lies a dark and malicious world that's made up of subliminal messages and propaganda. However, the most disturbing aspect of advertising are the messages that aren't subliminal. An example of this is McDonald's jingle, "da da da da da...I'm Lovin' It!." Sure it seems harmless, but damage is being done every time you pay attention. I'll find myself walking around campus humming to the McDonalds jingle. I don't know about you but I generally feel violated when someone or something enters my mind without my consent.

One of the biggest advocates for the dangers of the television is George Orwell, writer of the book 1984. He warned of the power of Big Brother. What allowed Big Brother to control the masses was the television. It was the medium through which big brother viewed people and kept society in order.Based off Wikipedia, "1984, published in 1949, is a dysotopian novel about the totalitarian regime of the Party, an oligarchical collectivist society where life in the Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, public mind control, and the voiding of citizens' rights. In the Ministry of Truth (Minitrue), protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party's progaganda by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct, yet his meagre existence disillusions him into rebellion against Big Brother, which leads to his arrest, torture, and conversion." What's disturbing about 1984 is that there is no happy ending. Basically the only way to escape this dysotopian society is death.

One movie that has made a big impact on me would be Apocalypse Now. It's a Francis Ford Coppola movie that's based in Vietman, but it's definitely not a Vietnam movie, it's more of a movie dealing with humanity and ethics and the thin line we dance around. The main character of the movie is assigned and now in search of an American commander with madness. In the end, ironically the song at the end is called "The End", everyone looses either their lives, their cool, their self-control, and their humanity all for the good of "Big Brother."

In the final scene, there is the sacrifice of a cow and the sacrifice of a God. For the followers of the mad Commander, the cow is a God, something they cherish, love and respect. The act of them killing it shows that they were willing to set aside their beliefs, for what they know is right. That's why I say, put down the beef!!!

6 DEGREES OF SEPERATION

DC Comics produces material featuring a large number of well-known characters including Batman and Superman. Watchmen, a movie put out by D.C. Entertainment and Warner Bros., is also a twelve-issue comic book series written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It was under D.C. comics and lasted from 1986 to 1987.

Wikipedia says "Moore used the story as a means to reflect contemporary anxieties and to critique the superhero concept. Watchmen takes place on Earth in an alternate history where superheroes emerged in the 1940s and 1960s, helping the United States to win the Vietnam war. The country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the soviet union freelance costumed vigilantes have been outlawed and most costumed superheroes are in retirement or working for the government. The story focuses on the personal development and struggles of the protagonists as an investigation into the murder of a government sponsored superhero pulls them out of retirement and eventually leads them to confront a plot to stave off nuclear war by killing millions of people."

D.C. Comics and Marvel Comics both have a trademark on the term superheros. The first aspect about watchmen is the focus on the superhero or superhuman. It plays with the idea of an extraordinary person dedicated to protecting the public. The most important aspect of why superheros where invented was because of the Great Depression and the harsh times. I guess the United States and maybe the world needed an uplifting and what better way have one than to create an fictional "God."

Watchmen is set in a time where technology is booming, along with pressure and tempers, and government funds and time where being invested into technology at a fast rate. Archigram was an avante garde architectural group formed in the 1960s based at the Architectural Association in London that was futurist, anti-heroic and pro-consumerist, drawing inspiration from technology in order to create a new reality that was solely expressed through hypothetical projects.

I believe that Archigram is related to the watchmen due to the fact that they see problems around them, they feel like they want to help make a difference, but there's still that little piece of them that wants to escape and leave the job up to someone else. Archigrams designs are very much so of that of a comic book, taking influence from Gotham city and such. Their designs are in a way, solutions to the problem by embracing the problem, just like the watchmen.