It's Eating My Brain

in 2004's Super-Size Me, a documentary about fast food, writer-director Morgan Spurlock notes the corrosive influence of fast food not only because of the poor nutritional value, but also the effect of fast food on american culture. Spurlock invites several people to recite the pledge of allegiance. standing on the sidewalk in front of the White House lawn several people give multiple efforts, but no successful recitations are presented in the film. then Spurlock invites them to quote the words to the jingle from the early 80s for the for the Big Mac. "Two all beef patties, special sauce..." and so on spills out easily.

i don't think Spurlock was trying to say that fast food or even jingles in general are the cause of memory loss, but there is something that should be noted: the way jingles etch out an apparent permanence in our brains. over 20 years later, that same type of corrosiveness still leaves its mark. perform a sad little experiment on the average american by singing a little "ba da buh ba bah" and see how many times you get "i'm lovin' it" in response. pathetic.

the ingredients for this mental deterioration are as follows: some simple words, a recognizable tune and endless repetition. the claws dig in and find a home. the words don't have to be good or clever. the tune doesn't have to be unique or even new. your brain doesn't even care if you like mcdonald's or whatever else they're trying to sell. there isn't even any respect for your value system. This last point was demonstrated by the shock on the faces of Spurlock's impromptu test subjects.

perhaps not quite as vile as some commercials are the theme songs to television shows. at least with the theme songs you are choosing to watch the program more often than not. you are intentionally supporting the product that the extended jingle was designed to sell. the same tactics are exploited, but without such malice.

i will admit that i know more words to television theme songs than i'd like to know. let's face it, i've seen too much TV. nevertheless, these songs have a knack for carving into your brain. the Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island were well beyond the years in which they were filmed by the time i saw any episodes and it's been a long time since i found either show entertaining, but i can still sing along. i'm not the only one with that problem either. ¿which are your particular "favorites"? ¿The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire? ¿Cheers? ¿Friends? (i know that my roommate sings the "Thank You for Being a Friend" theme song from The Golden Girls more often than i am comfortable with.)

now let's come back to the present day. i have become the fan of another television show. along with that fandom, i think i'm well on my way to having another theme song burrowed into my brain for the rest of my life.

uuuuuuuuuooooooooOOOOWWWWAAAOOOOOHHHWWWAAAOOOOOOOEEEeeeaooeeeooooh!

Curse you LOST!... i'm going to be singing that song all week.

now i just have to be careful and not get addicted to watching all of those past seasons of 24 ("boop bip boop bip...")