As English majors, we often take the alphabet for granted, forgetting that it is the backbone for all our reading studies, literary critiques and linguistic arguments. This tendency to delude the importance of fundamentals, however, does not only apply English majors, but rather effects the general population. In their music video, "Meet The Elements," They Might Be Giants highlight how every single aspect of human life, general society and natural environment is created and composed of the periodic elements, yet most individual are ignorant of their existence and function. Through their playfully satiric music video, They Might Be Giants invite mass to society to “meet the elements”
A self-proclaimed infographic music video, "Meet The Elements" employs visual representation of the periodic elements in an effort to help its viewers draw a connection between an everyday object or event and the more abstract scientific notion. For example, to demonstrate the idea of “iron,” the film juxtaposes its chemical symbol, Fe, with an image of a ordinary pipe. The viewer, having probably come in contact with a vast range of iron pipes in his or her lifetime, is therefore able to associate this object with the chemical concept of Fe, iron.
One aspect of this music video that I particularly found fascinating was how rather than presenting 3-D images of the discussed concepts, "Meet The Elements" present only two-dimensional images in basic shapes and colors. For me, this further reinforced the main argument of the video, and object, person and event’s complexity derives from its small basics. By conveying this argument through the infographic media of music video, , They Might Be Giants successfully explain conceptual difficult science in user-friendly visual representation.
I watched this video as well, and I also found it interesting. While the fact that I am an English major often reminds me how important the alphabet is, it is also the fact that reminds me how much I do not understand science. But, this video really helped to illustrate exactly what the table of elements is brains like mind that were made to simply not understand such things. Also, I'm not going to lie, it sort of had a catchy beat.
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