Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
One of the things my education has given me over the years is what is called “media literacy.” We all have it to a certain degree and it’s meant to help us navigate the world around us; particularly in understanding better the things we see in film, on TV, or on the Internet and the deeper meaning they intend to portray. Oftentimes it pops up for me when watching an ad of some kind, and there’s a piece of it that catches my eye or ear as not being correct. Sometimes that’s intentional on the part of the ad, trying to imply something more or different by they way things are phrased. Sometimes it’s unintentional, where the advertiser wanted to say one thing, but ends up doing something else instead. There’s a recent ad from Nike that proves to be an interesting example of this.
Nike recently reframed its famous slogan of “Just Do It” to meet changes in our culture with a new ad campaign asking the question, “Why Do It?” The ad is slick, with a mixture of famous athletes interspersed with amateurs, all in slow motion and in the heights of athletic endeavor. There’s a narration happening over the top of it, asking the question of “Why?” in a variety of ways, with the implication being that you still might fail even if you try. All the while, there’s also this swell of dramatic music that’s happening, raising the stakes while you watch. But the music chosen for it, has a much greater significance than Nike probably realized when they selected it for the ad.
The music is the main theme for a film which is part of a trilogy: Trois Couleurs by the deeply Catholic director Krzystof Kieslowski. Film Bleu centers the entire story around this piece of music used in the new Nike ad. In the film, the piece is unfinished, the composer having died tragically. It’s up to his wife and his close friend, to try and finish the piece and present it. It’s got very complex themes of love and grief, of destruction and creation, and I’d recommend it, if you’re okay with reading subtitles. But the music itself, specifically the lyrics, are where the surprise lies. It’s in Greek and it quotes St Paul and his famous section speaking about the importance and nature of love.
And so, hidden within a slick ad promoting sports equipment, is someone singing about the necessity of love. To love as Christ loves; the kind of love that “hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things.” A love that never fails. I’m not sure that it was intentional on the part of Nike, but for those that catch the reference, they’ve created a powerful reminder to live as Christian disciples. And as to their question of, “Why Do It?” we may answer confidently by saying, “For Love of God and Others.”
Peace and Goodness,
Fr. Dan
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