Had you stepped on board the Pequod at a certain juncture of this post-mortemizing of the whale; and had you strolled forward nigh the windlass, pretty sure am I that you would have scanned with no small curiosity a very strange, enigmatical object, which you would have seen there, lying along lengthwise in the lee scuppers. Not the wondrous cistern in the whale’s huge head; not the prodigy of his unhinged lower jaw; not the miracle of his symmetrical tail; none of these would so surprise you, as half a glimpse of that unaccountable cone,- longer than a Kentuckian is tall, nigh a foot in diameter at the base, and jet-black as Yojo, the ebony idol of Queequeg.
Extending it upon the forecastle deck, he now proceeds cylindrically to remove its dark pelt, as an African hunter the pelt of a boa. This done he turns the pelt inside out, like a pantaloon leg; gives it a good stretching, so as almost to double its diameter; and at last hangs it, well spread, in the rigging, to dry. Ere long, it is taken down; when removing some three feet of it, towards the pointed extremity, and then cutting two slits for arm-holes at the other end, he lengthwise slips himself bodily into it. The mincer now stands before you invested in the full canonicals of his calling.
it’s just that i don’t feel instant revulsion towards this commercial and i want to understand why. as i re-watched it today it occurred to me that i appreciate the research that the ad agency did. walt whitman, for one, being the original american spokesman. the music is by an acquaintance of mine, final fantasy. the look is different than most commercials but familiar to me. it’s cribbed directly from robert frank’s ‘the americans’ which if you aren’t already familiar with it i suggest you check it out. the printed monograph of the exhibition had an introduction by jack kerouac.inspiring things and the influences show.
i can’t deny that the imagery is beautiful. and i like that they tried something extremely different from their previous ad campaign. i realize i’m using the words crib, advertisement, etc and that sucks. but i can’t remember the last time a commercial reminded me of poetry, art and history that i adore. i guess that’s why i forgive it and just ignore the final shot with the levi’s symbol.
