Sometimes my thoughts invoke images procured from advertisements. For instance, in my current reading Virginia Woolf describes a dream where the scene changes from a room of some sort to specifically a shop. In my head I see wispy figures and the world dematerializing as these figures move into this new setting. Now, I know that without some former image I've absorbed, that would not be my go to thought. I can't remember the advertisement but it has to have something to do with air fresheners or candles or tampons. I'm not sure which but the idea is someone so comfortable or refreshed and the cartoon woman (it is definitely the figure of a woman in ads like this) loses her legs in favor of wispy ghost tendrils as she flows around the screen in ecstasy.
This explains nothing but it's no wonder we remember the advertisements of our youth. In our formative years as our brains are developing we are confronted with images designed to be remembered, even beyond the life of the product or sale or whatever else is being sold. Certain smells or colors will remind me of Lucky Charms or Doublemint or Kix or British Knights shoes with the neon laces.
Whatever the underlying reasons, it baffles me that I read Virginia Woolf and images that didn't exist at the time of the writing pop into my head. Time and space are tightening around us and Virginia Woolf sits next to Wonder Woman and choosy Jif moms and the ghosts of tampon users.
No comments:
Post a Comment