time changes everything

In Dr. Miller's class we're learning about World War I, and he showed a clip from the movie Gallipoli. It was the ending scene where Mel Gibson's character was running from the camp to the trenches with an urgent message to saying not to have his troops attack, because they were so outnumbered. Before he returned his commanding officer was on the wire with another higher powered official telling him to continue with the attack.

This is one of the many climaxes throughout the movie, but at this particular moment I found myself laughing a little because of one of the lines. The commanding officer couldn't hear the order and kept saying, "Hello? Hello? Hello?!" My friend turned to me and said, "Can you hear me now?"

It was so inappropriate to be laughing at this moment, but the correlation between that particular line and the Verizon commercial made it funny. Peter Weir, the director, probably never imagined back in 1981 that he would have to worry about a cell phone commercial destroying the intensity of his scene.

Time changes everything, including media. Interpretations, symbols, signs, and meanings in culture and society can all be changed due to the time period.