"Consume Me"

Famille Station, the shopping and dining district between the Express Bus Terminal and Shinsegae Department Store in Gangnam, Seoul, inspired me to create this video.

This image, in particular, was what inspired my work. As a Christian, I am always wary and careful of idolatrous behavior, and as much as I love Famille Station, the big image of the Starbucks Siren located so high up looked to me like the ultimate symbol of the cosmopolitan people's worship of rampant consumerism. 

I set the destination of this work to Paris, France, the fashion capital of the world. Fashion is also closely tied to hedonism and the near-worship of unrealistically perfect physical beauty that plagues many big cities today. I used very "pretty", pastel colors much like those in Sofia Coppola's 2006 Marie Antoinette to tie together the vapid nature of Queen Antoinette's love for luxury. Everything and everyone is cut out and has a 2-d feeling, like props in a play. The only people with real color are Madeline and her peers and the girl in the white dress who is about to enter the city life. They are untainted by the city's hedonism, the reason for their full color. Except for Madeline and the girls in the bicycle to the right, you cannot see anyone's full face because they are all consumed by their love for luxury and outer appearance. Finally we have John Everett Millais's depiction of Shakespeare's 'Ophelia," this time drowning in the Seine River. 

The blue-black ink-drop background is an image I found from online and thus does not belong to me; I thought it added the perfect atmosphere to the rest of this work. 

Background music- "My Secret" by Jane Birkin

It's true, I can't hide,
I only need you
No more truth can i find
With anyone else but you

But, oh, my love,
My heart won't break
But, oh my god,
How it has ached!
And, oh, my love
I know I can't escape
The loss of your embrace.

It's you that i feel
I always want you...
And my thoughts, so unreal
With anyone else but you

But, oh, my love,
My heart won't break
But, oh my god,
How it has ached!
And, oh, my love
I know I can't escape
The loss of your embrace.