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. With Dept. of aesthetics & protest
Posted by Rob Walker on December 3, 2008
Posted Under: The Designed Life
Posted Under: The Designed Life
I’ll admit I’ve been distracted, so maybe I missed it, but has someone written about the aesthetics of the Thai anti-government demonstrators?
Aside from the remarkably consistent outfits, what’s up with those hand things? Where did they get those? It looks like something that would have to have been manufactured, and they don’t appear to be rare:
Reminds me of the Orange Revolution a bit. And I was thinking the visual analysis looks like a job for Mr. Heller, right?
Again, maybe this has all been covered and I missed it, but I’ve been struck by some of the pictures, even if I clearly haven’t been reading the articles!
Further diversion may be found at MKTG Tumblr, and the Consumed Facebook page.
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Reader Comments
They used those hand clappers at a charity wine auction I attended last summer to try and drum up enthusiasm and increase the bidding frenzy…kind of ironic.
Indeed, the hand clapper things are available in party supply stores (but they make a kind of agreable racket, so kudos to the protesters for using them…I’m assuming the crowd sounded like a giant baby rattle)
The yellow is meant to signify loyalty to the Thai king. By wearing those, they affirm both their patriotism and their mutual ethos. Smart/lucky.
Dr. H & Drew: I had no idea that’s what those were — basically a novelty item? I searched “hand clapper” and encountered this:
http://www.nextag.com/hand-clappers/search-html
Very weird, to me at least.
Tree Frog, from the pix then I’m gathering the word was just spread to wear something, anything, yellow, and plenty of it. Interesting.
Those things are usually sold at High School sporting events and I remember people giving them as party favors/New Year’s Eve things. Seems like a good way to annoy their government into listening to them.