{"id":63956,"date":"2019-05-05T21:50:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-05T21:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=63956"},"modified":"2019-05-16T17:29:18","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T17:29:18","slug":"eros-the-renaissance-and-advertising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=63956","title":{"rendered":"Eros, the Renaissance and advertising"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[ by <strong>Charles Cameron<\/strong> &#8212; Dell ad challenges magic, Couliano shows advertising <em>is<\/em> magic (in the Renaissance sense) &#8212; intro to a series on TV commercials ]<br \/>\n.<\/p>\n<p>Continuing the series we began with <a href=\"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=64391\">Advertising series 01: Music<\/a>..<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dell intro:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dell Technologies, not having much historical insight into either magic or advertising, pits magic against tech and suggests that tech wins, hands down..<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MX-ZRZ_0Xdw\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I take that as a personal affront..<\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ioan Couliano:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The late, esteemed scholar <strong>Ioan Couliano<\/strong>, in contrast to Dell, shows in his great book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Magic-Renaissance-Chicago-Original-Paperback\/dp\/0226123162\">Eros and Magic in the Renaissance<\/a> that magic, as practiced in the Renaissance, is precisely what advertising is up to today..<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Couliano-cover.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"333\" height=\"499\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-64385\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Couliano-cover.jpg 333w, https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Couliano-cover-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 333px) 100vw, 333px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Renaissance magic, according to <strong>Couliano<\/strong>, was a scientifically plausible attempt to manipulate individuals and groups based on a knowledge of motivations, particularly erotic motivations. Its key principle was that everyone (and in a sense everything) could be influenced by appeal to sexual desire. In addition, the magician relied on a profound knowledge of the art of memory to manipulate the imaginations of his subjects. In these respects, Couliano suggests, magic is the precursor of the modern psychological and sociological sciences, and the magician is the distant ancestor of the psychoanalyst and the advertising and publicity agent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That&#8217;s from the cover of <strong>Couliano<\/strong>&#8216;s book, and the remainder of this post will track <em>eros <\/em>from simple erotic desire &#8212; mostly from the male perspective? &#8212; to the mystical ascent in response to the divine beloved..<\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>Desire, the universal lure:<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>lure of the erotic<\/strong> will peel your money from your wallet in various skillful ways: <\/p>\n<p>Sandals<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i4Dnaq8eyMQ\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What is love? Love is advertising. Love &#8212; didn&#8217;t the Beatles mention this? &#8212; is all you need.<\/p>\n<p>Nugenix:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fV3rrx03FKo\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What is love? It is nod-nod, wink-wink..<\/p>\n<p>You wanna go more overt still?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4vhRNLqo4Po\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For that (beer) you&#8217;d best be in Rio..<\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>And then there&#8217;s the broader sense of desire:<\/p>\n<p>Wanting it all:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jkZ_9vkmL2c\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But that&#8217;s just the desire for food &#8212; easily satisfied, even here in  these United States..<\/p>\n<p>But wanting the world, in the cultural appropriation sense? That&#8217;s a more subtle desire, and Las Vegas aims to satisfy it by bringing analogs of Venice, the Pyramids, whatever, to a single easily accessible location:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EH3bxXVH344\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>But wait..<\/p>\n<p>All of these inevitably fall short of what interests me: the desire to be acquainted with the <em>ludus globi<\/em> or game of the world, which Couliano describes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The ludus globi is the supreme mystical game, the game the Titans made Dionysus play in order to seize him and put him to death. From the ashes of the Titans struck down by the lightning of Zeus, arose mankind, a race guilty without having sinned because of the deicide of its ancestors. But, since the Titans had incorporated part of the god, men also inherited a spark from the murdered child, the divine child whose game is the metaphor of the ages: ?Aion is a child who plays checkers: the sovereignty of a child!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>and the desire for the mystical ascent, not infrequently expressed in erotic terms:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In Mecca in 1201, he composes a Diwan dedicated to Nezam (Harmony), daughter of an Imam nobleman of Persian origin, Zahir ibn Rostam. Entitled The Interpreter of Burning Desires, the<br \/>\nDiwan&#8217;s prologue contains these intimate confessions:<\/p>\n<p><em>Now this sheik had a daughter, a slender and willowy adolescent who attracted the attention of anyone who saw her, whose presence alone was the embellishment of public meetings and struck with amazement all who looked upon her. Her name was Nezam (Harmonia) and her surname ?Eye of the Sun and of Beauty&#8221; [?ayn al?Shams wa&#8217;Z-Baha? .[Scholarly and pious, with experience of the spiritual and mystical life, she personified the venerable antiquity of the Holy Land and the innocent youth of the prophet&#8217;s great city. The magic of her glance, the grace of her conversation, was so enchanting that if she happened to be prolix her speech was filled with references; if concise, a marvel of eloquence; holding forth on a subject, clear and lucid. . . . Were it not for petty minds eager for scandal and inclined to slander, I would here comment on the beauty that God lavished on her body as well as on her soul, which was a garden of generosity. ..<\/em> .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Plato<\/strong> in <em>The Symposium<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Love is simply the name for the desire and pursuit of the whole.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ by Charles Cameron &#8212; Dell ad challenges magic, Couliano shows advertising is magic (in the Renaissance sense) &#8212; intro to a series on TV commercials ] . Continuing the series we began with Advertising series 01: Music.. Dell intro: Dell Technologies, not having much historical insight into either magic or advertising, pits magic against [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[734,133,526,1899,1900,1350,529,722,912,1898,1481,218,1901,19,1873,943,714,220,1,1902,1903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advertising","category-book","category-charles-cameron","category-dell","category-desire","category-erotic","category-games","category-gender","category-glass-bead-game-2","category-ioan-couliano","category-mystical","category-philosophy","category-plato","category-recommended-reading","category-renaissance","category-sex","category-sufi","category-tech","category-uncategorized","category-vegas","category-venice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63956"}],"version-history":[{"count":79,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65123,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63956\/revisions\/65123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}