Hi, being a new member of the boards I would really appriciate it if someone is willing to point me in the right direction of the theme in PR. I was reading the "Theme of Pattern Recognition" by WayqUp that was posted a long time ago and I cannot seem to interpret what you guys are saying. It is most definitely because I am in grade 12 and that is why I would like to know if a major theme would consists of advertising and American Culture.

Thank you.

there are quite a few themes involved with "pattern recognition," a few of which you've accurately touched on. a good way to find more is to research how the ones you've uncovered interract.

oh, and welcome to the boards! it'll be interesting to hear your opinions, as there aren't many people of your professed demographic in here.

Thank you boogerhead for that warm welcome, I am in fact preparing an annotated bibliography in english class. After reading some posts, I have come to a thesis conclusion that human thinking often leads to apophenia. As humans we tend to try to connect every little thing to something else in life. In PR, Cayce related this phenomena of this "new footage" to meaning. As a result of this apophenia she better discovered her self and the maker of the footage.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: g00mp,

quote:

apophenia

maybe it's a sixth sense we'll all one day have developed.

..or not.

One of the problems with the old theme threads was that they ran off in other directions pretty quickly, as threads tend to do.

Anyway, my ideas for some themes of PR:

Pattern Recognition: a natural human skill, essential for us, but also dangerous as it leads to seeing patterns which are not real. Paranoia, in particular, is a kind of pattern recognition gone too far, but the book points out that paranoia can be useful if cultivated and controlled. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Marketing: The rise of marketing as a thing almost entirely independent of the products being sold, and also the insidiousness of it all. The person you're talking to at a bar? She could be marketing something to you, and she might not even know it. Also note that in my opinion the footage itself is very nearly pure marketing-- the content is almost inconsequential; what the footage heads are there for is the mystery, the buzz, if you will.

Globalization: The boundaries between our cultures are being broken down, by communications, and easy travel, and by marketing aimed at a single global market. Differences survive, in some places more than others, but in many ways they are fading away.

Mediated intimacy: Modern communications, the internet, is leading large numbers of people to interact in relatively new ways, and this can have interesting side effects on our personal relationships. (I say "our" because here we are, doing it.) Not really knowing for sure who's on the other end of the line can make things different, for better and for worse.

Take all that as you will. I never did that well in my high-school literature courses.

Thanks a lot Colin you were of great help, I appriciate it.