by Chris Coleman with sound design by George Cicci, 2004.

The original movie, “Modern Times,” featured Charlie Chaplin struggling to deal with man’s relationship to technology in the Industrial Age. We have now moved into the Age of Information in which our connection to the world around us is not only defined by technology, but the information it does or does not provide.
This video examines the issues we cope with regularly such as racism, surveillance, and apathy by using imagery from specific safety brochures. These pamphlets about terrorism readiness, provided by the Department of Homeland Security, are part of a larger system designed to promote meta-fears like terrorism that serve to distract people from their everyday concerns. This animation discusses the effects of fear, apathy, and isolation, and how they are transmitted and utilized for control. The iconography seen in this video is used in very polar situations: often we see warnings with simplified bodies being harmed as a consequence of not following the rules. These illustrations evoke fear without being real or graphic. In contrast, the same simplified pictures in airplane brochures show a complete lack of alarm and are used to make one feel safe and to reduce fear and anxiety.

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