The Incomplete Menorah: Instinct versus Enlightenment in Pandora’s Box

Louise Brooks is a sunbeam in the 1928 film Pandora’s Box. The film itself is a reflection of the decay of Weimar Germany and was directed by George Pabst. Pandora’s Box is based on a series of plays by Frank Wedekind concerning a character Lulu in a regressive struggle between the instinctive and the enlightened.

Lulu is a courtesan and would-be stage performer. Her relationships with the cultured Dr. Schon and his son Alwa form the basis for the two parts of the film. In the first, Dr. Schon destroys himself. In the second, the other characters ruin themselves. Two metaphorical associations early in Pandora’s Box make it clear that Lulu is a character driven by instinct, devoid of enlightenment.

Pabst uses a menorah in the set decor. It is prominently displayed in Lulu’s modern apartment and our attention focused on it several times. It eventually becomes apparent that it is missing the 9^th, center branch. This is the branch for the candle that lights all the other candles. The implication is that Lulu is a character without enlightenment and one incapable of obtaining enlightenment like the Lilitu.

Pabst goes on, though, to reinforce this point. We also see in background during Lulu’s dance for Schigolch and in several closeups, a painting of Lulu as Pierrot, the trusting fool in mime and the comedy of artists. Pierrot is the object of other’s machinations, and is fully unaware of reality. Lulu is driven by instinct, and like Pierrot driven to calamity.

Pabst additionally asserts that enlightenment is fragile, in school with Adorno and Horkheimer. The old German culture, manifest in the main characters other than Lulu, rapidly disintegrates in the face of Dionysian instinct. High culture breaks down without a personal commitment to the processes of enactment, selection and retention.

Schon’s fiancé, in contrast to Lulu, personifies this commitment. Yet, she is abruptly rejected in a series of rebuffs during Lulu’s theater revue, which is financed by Schon. The fiancé is bewildered by Schon’s embrace of the instinctive Lulu, rudely brushed aside by the backstage manager, and her ostracization complete, she leaves the backstage world in two movements.

The die is cast at that point for the eventual ruin of the other characters, all of whom profited in their own way within the enlightened framework. A transition (a ship) over a season (3 months) takes place to a world governed by instinct. Pabst’s final act in this film postulates that this world is populated by sociopaths and those who administer to broken souls. Pandora’s Box in 1928 foreshadowed what would happen a decade after its release. During that intervening decade, three of the main actors in this film had to escape the new Germany for America because they were Jewish: Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, and Siegfried Arno.

This is a great film, carried by Amazon at Pandora's Box

Fractal Art in Mobile Marketing

Fractals provide useful video art for mobile marketing. Large and amorphous patterns crystallize into smaller, distinct shapes. Or the logistic equation can be graphed in reverse from chaos to tipping point to order. The advantage of these as dynamic logos is that a small code module can be downloaded to create them rather than the download of a large video. The downside would be security concerns.

An example is the Focusing Triangles Fractal with code included in this post.




'******************************************************************************************
' This program creates a diffuse pattern and focuses it to a crisp, smaller triangle.
' Author: George Ray
'******************************************************************************************Option Explicit
Dim iGMR, RandNum As Integer
Dim gmrDenom As DoubleDim gmrAx, gmrAy, gmrBx, gmrBy, gmrCx, gmrCy, gmrPx, gmrPy As DoubleSub Main()
gmrDisplay.BackColor = QBColor(0)
gmrDisplay.Show
Call gmrLogo
End Sub
Sub gmrLogo()
gmrAx = 5000 / 4
gmrAy = 3000 / 4
gmrBx = 4000 / 4
gmrBy = 5000 / 4
gmrCx = 6000 / 4
gmrCy = 5000 / 4
gmrPx = 5000 / 4
gmrPy = 4000 / 4

gmrDisplay.PSet (gmrAx, gmrAy), RGB(255, 0, 0)
gmrDisplay.PSet (gmrBx, gmrBy), RGB(255, 0, 0)
gmrDisplay.PSet (gmrCx, gmrCy), RGB(255, 0, 0)

gmrDenom = 1.5
Randomize
For gmrDenom = 1.2 To 2.2 Step 0.4
For iGMR = 1 To 10000
RandNum = Int(3 * Rnd + 1)
If RandNum = 1 ThengmrPx = (gmrAx + gmrPx) / gmrDenom
gmrPy = (gmrAy + gmrPy) / gmrDenom
gmrDisplay.PSet (gmrPx, gmrPy), RGB(255, 0, 0)
ElseIf RandNum = 2 ThengmrPx = (gmrBx + gmrPx) / gmrDenom
gmrPy = (gmrBy + gmrPy) / gmrDenom
gmrDisplay.PSet (gmrPx, gmrPy), RGB(0, 255, 0)
ElseIf RandNum = 3 ThengmrPx = (gmrCx + gmrPx) / gmrDenom
gmrPy = (gmrCy + gmrPy) / gmrDenom
gmrDisplay.PSet (gmrPx, gmrPy), RGB(0, 0, 255)
End IfNext iGMR
Next gmrDenom
End Sub
If you have difficulty with the code, please post a comment and I will try to help.

Visual Rhetoric and Operant Conditioning

My Grandmother used to tell me that there’s no such thing as bad booze. I feel the same way about chocolate. There hardly seems a need to use advertising and conditioning for an obsession and so fetching a delight. Nevertheless, the major chocolate manufacturers and retailers use a combination of both classical conditioning and operant conditioning, but mostly classical.

Classical
Classical conditioning is the association of chocolate with an appealing stimulus. Hawkins, et al (2007, p 331) inform us that music, holidays and popular personalities are often paired in commercials with chocolate as part of classical conditioning. With chocolate, there is usually an undertone of romance.

Here is a Nestle’s :30 second spot on Youtube with many elements of classical conditioning. An ecstatic cellist. A woman, melting and open. How beautiful she is too. Enchanting music. Nestle's Alpine TV Spot
Latent romance in the popular commercial touched our need for objectification (see Hawkins, 2007, p 367) by having us view the behaviors of “others and [draw] inferences as to what one feels and thinks.” Showing affection in interpersonal relationships can also help satisfy our need for affiliation (p 371).

There is a dark side to chocolate too, an unstated sexual desire. Unstated motives are often driving forces in our culture but unlike manifest motives, are not directly presented (p 375). Instead, indirect appeals through artwork are made.

Hawkins, et al (2007, p 386) further report that “repeated exposure to positive-emotion-eliciting ads may increase brand preference through classical conditioning.” What is an example of such an emotion – they tell us: love. The 1989 commercial above was actually the apex of a multi-year campaign that started in 1986. Here is the first ad, notice the Maxfield Parrish theme; Parrish was noted for his sexually suggestive art: 1986 Nestle's TV Spot

Nestlé’s does not have a lock on chocolate advertising though. For their part Hershey’s follows suit with a more recent and similar Special Dark :15 spot (much louder): Hershey's :15 Spot

Here Hershey’s employs gold and copper colors to convey richness in the affective interpretation by the consumer, to supplement the same unconditioned stimuli we saw in Nestlé’s. Hawkins, et al (2007 , p 299) give a print ad example with a similar gold and copper color combination for a Godiva chocolate ad, but Hershey’s even gives us the words to associate with the product.

Hershey’s Kisses added a popular personality to the music, Thalia as she covered the Shirelle’s hit It’s in His Kiss: Thalia TV Spot

They also changed colors for the Christmas season and bell-rang a popular carol: Hershey's for the Holidays . Hawkins et al (p 332) use Christmas music as an example of eliciting the emotional responses characteristic of classical conditioning.

Hawkins and crew give other interesting examples of classical conditioning for chocolate candy (p 286): Reese’s Pieces product placement in the movie E.T. It was E.T.’s favorite food and its cinematic use in a natural way resulted in positive transfer to the product and sales jumped 6%.

In their Darwinian competition for attention, the chocolate makers are now exploring non-traditional venues. The response rate for advergames is between 16% and 45%. Additionally, customers spend an average of 25 minutes with our message. Blank (2001, ¶ 1) reports that Hershey’s Chocolate also experienced a phenomenal response rate with advergaming.

According to Ron (2002, ¶ 1), advergaming is a marketing device where the brand elements are an integral part of an online or computer game. Two academic studies have found that classical conditioning in advergaming produces most the most positive attitude (see Bailey, 2008, pp20-1 and Huang, 2005, p 1).

Operant Conditioning
Chocolate candy is a low involvement purchase. Duncan (2005, p 158) notes that conditioned learning is especially active in low involvement purchases. Gum and candy are the examples Duncan uses for low involvement products (p 140).

Operant conditioning works from the consequences of a purchase rather than through forming a positive stimulus for purchase. It rewards purchase “with positive outcomes,” according to Hawkins, et all (p 332) who also give an example of operant conditioning for chocolate candy. A free sample of chocolate in a candy shop resulted in a 25% higher purchase of chocolate. Tools of operant conditioning are free samples, discount coupons and sweepstakes (p 332). All are oriented to “secure an initial trial.”

Hershey’s used sweepstakes. Blank (2001, p 1) observes that the effective campaign used prizes ranging from Sony Play Stations, a one years supply of candy, a trip to Hershey’s Park, and daily prizes earned using the advergames – Reese’s Treasure Hunt and Reese’s Table Tennis. The sweepstakes was part of the advergame reported in classical conditioning.

Huang (2005, p 1) notes there is a secondary operant conditioning effect in advergaming, although the prime effect is from classical conditioning. Stokes, et al explain further (2008, p 9) “where reinforcement or punishment is used to promote specific behaviors,” advergames use operant conditioning to achieve desired behaviors.

Coupons and gift cards are standard fare also. See’s uses coupons as do the others, (See
See's Deals). Sweepstakes too (see See's Sweepstakes ).

ReferencesBailey, R (Summer 2008). TRAINED TO EAT: CHILDREN’S COGNITIVE AND
EMOTIONAL PROCESSING OF SNACK FOOD
ADVERGAMES. Univ. of Missouri. Retrieved on March 17, 2009 from http://edt.missouri.edu/Summer2008/Thesis/BaileyR-072308-T11745/research.pdf

Blank, C (August 6, 2001). Hershey's Online Push for Reese's Gets Sweet Response. Direct Marketing News. Retrieved on March 16, 2009
http://www.dmnews.com/Hershey39s-Online-Push-for-Reese39s-Gets-Sweet-Response/article/74093/

Hawkins, Del, David Mothersbaugh and Roger Best (2007). Consumer Behavior. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Huang, Y (August 7, 2005). The Application of Learning Theory to The Study of Advergaming. Retrieved on March 17, 2009 from http://etdncku.lib.ncku.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0807105-020544

Ron, S (June 27, 2002). Inject Some Fun and Games Into Advertising. Direct Marketing News. Retrieved on March 16, 2009at http://www.dmnews.com/Inject-Some-Fun-and-Games-Into-Advertising/article/77963/

Stokes, B, S Seggerman, and D Rejeski (9/28/2008). Digital Games and the Social Change Sector (For a Better World). Retrieved on March 18, 2009 from