The Mechanical Thinker Man Parody

The Mechanical Thinker

Parody involves both imitation of an original text and discrepancies from the original that create humor and insight. Parodies re-describe what we take for granted as conventional wisdom, rational thought and timeless truth to be absurd wisdom, incongruous thought and unreasonable truth. The parody I chose for the visual analysis is the satirical reflection of the Thinker man used for the advertising campaign of the car Accord Sedan. The Thinker man parody is an ad buster. Ad busters define themselves as a global network of culture jammers and creative working to change the way information flows. Though we can easily visualize the iconic figure “The Thinker without even seeing it, The Thinker is not so life-like statue like the Statue of Liberty or the Christ the Redeemer statue. Though it is not celebratory or commemorative, “The Thinker” conveys the need for silent contemplation in a powerful way that everyone can identify.

The Thinker was sculptured by Auguste Rodin. Auguste Rodin was a French sculptor. He created several iconic works including “The Age Of Bronze”, “The Kiss” and “The Burghers of Calais”. Rodin made the first small plaster version around 1880. The first large-scale bronze casting was finished in 1902 but not presented to the public until 1904. The original Thinker is located in the city of Paris. The Thinker is a bronze sculpture usually placed on a stone pedestal. The work shows a nude male figure of over life-size sitting on a rock with his chin resting on one hand as though deep in thought and is often used as an image to represent philosophy. This work by Rodin conveys being lost deep in thought, frozen from action. Rodin says, "What makes his Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, but with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back, and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes."

In my perception, the thinker man is emerging in thoughts to come out of the web of difficulties. He is arising. I personally feel, the statue is a true motivation for me to create awareness or generate hope by my thoughts. A perfect thought can be the solution to the toughest problem. While observing the statue, most of us get involved and connected to ourselves deep in our minds or thoughts. I feel the statue has a lot of psychic or hypnotic connection with the people. The statue of “The Thinker” emerges us in thoughts and I feel that is good for me. Our thoughts make us the better individuals.

This parody was published by a car company, The Honda. The parody of the Thinker is used for an advertising campaign of the Honda Accord sedan. The way the advertising company promoted their car “Accord Sedan” using the Thinker was so thoughtful.