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Froghoppin' with Gatsby

2010-01-13 · letter vlog · John · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal essay · tags: punishment or challenge, recurring series, timely hook, on location, community lore

Answering Hank's teaching-week jab, John corrects 'froofy' and the Gatsby billboard (the eyes, not the billboard, stand for a God who sees but does not act) and argues that critical reading and a liberal arts education teach what to think about, citing Pat Robertson's Haiti remarks; he also rides the Frog Hopper as his punishment.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Reply to Hank's ecosystem services video: 'froofy' is not a word (froufrou); off to Xscape for the Frog Hopper

  • ★★ John says he liked Hank's ecosystem services video and learned a lot, but Hank's attempt to rib him there was an 'epic fail'. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Epic fail
  • ★★ John says 'froofy' is not a word; Hank probably meant froufrou, a French word for frilly ornamentation, which more fine arts classes would have taught him. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:00 · froofy, froufrou
  • ★★ John is on his way to pick up his friend Chris to go to Xscape and get on the Frog Hopper. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Not the billboard but the eyes on it are the metaphor for God; like math once did, critical reading feels pointless to many; Frog Hopper ride

  • ★★ John rides the Frog Hopper, screaming; the ride's audio is cut because Lady Gaga music was playing; afterwards the operator says he was the biggest guy she'd seen on it. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John corrects Hank: in The Great Gatsby the metaphor for God is not the billboard but the disembodied, bespectacled eyes depicted on it. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ As he once felt math was arbitrary rules made to hurt his feelings, many people feel critical reading of literature wastes time; John argues it is not as boring and inconsequential as masters of science claim. — 00:01:01

00:01:30 — Plot events under the eyes, Owl Eyes; eyes only see; an unjust world where wealth escapes what's coming to it

  • ★★ John points out that key plot events happen beneath the giant bespectacled eyes, and at the end only Nick, Gatsby's father and Owl Eyes, a character with big eyes and glasses, are there for Gatsby. — 00:01:30
  • ★★★ Eyes only see, John notes, and in the novel's context that matters: life isn't fair, bad people often escape what's coming to them, and wealth and social standing improve those chances. — 00:01:59 · just-world hypothesis
  • ★★ John calls it a huge challenge to live in an unjust world without, in Nick's words, closing out your interest in the sorrows and elations of men. — 00:01:59

00:02:47 — God in the seeing business, not the doing business; Pat Robertson on Haiti as bad reading; what a liberal arts education does; sign-off

  • ★★★ John reads the eyes as Fitzgerald arguing that God is in the seeing business but not the doing business; how far God or the universe cares about human sorrows is, he says, a very interesting question. (hedged) — 00:02:47

    “God is in the seeing business, but he's not in the doing business”

  • ★★★ John says Pat Robertson, explaining why an active God allowed the earthquake in the worst possible place, claimed Haitians made a deal with the devil and were getting payback; John calls that stupid. — 00:02:47 · just-world hypothesis

  • ★★★ John argues such stupidity comes from bad reading, teaching and thinking; a liberal arts education teaches what to think about, and critical reading, like math, helps him learn what is interesting and grapple with an unjust world. — 00:03:17
  • ★★ John says his liberal arts education and time spent on the billboard eyes let him listen to Hank talk four minutes about something he doesn't understand yet; and he now knows 'frou-frou'. (playful) — 00:03:46 · froufrou

Humor (significant)

  • Hank called John's degree 'froofy'; John plays the clip back and delivers the verdict. — 00:00:00

    “Froofy, I regret to inform you, is not a word.”

  • The Frog Hopper footage is silent, John explains, because of his screaming and the music playing. — 00:00:29

    “there was the mellifluous tones of Lady Gaga, and Lady Gaga loves her copyright.”

  • Just off the Frog Hopper, John reports what the ride operator told him. — 00:01:30

    “the girl operating the Froghopper said that I was the biggest guy she'd ever seen on it. Thanks?”

  • John quizzes himself on what eyes do, getting 'They see. Good job, smarty pants.' — 00:01:59

    “They blink? Not when they're making videos, they don't.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: liberal arts education · T. J. Eckleburg · The Great Gatsby

Also: People: F. Scott Fitzgerald · Lady Gaga · Pat Robertson

Terms: froofy · froufrou

Concepts: close reading · just-world hypothesis · mathematics · problem of evil

Places: Haiti · X-Scape

Events: 2010 Haiti earthquake

Characters: Jay Gatsby · Nick Carraway · Owl Eyes

Products: Frog Hopper

Memes: Epic fail

Also centred on The Great Gatsby: Question Tuesday! Paula Deen Riding Me (and critical reading) · THE FAULT IN OUR STARS · Gatsby's American Dream: Reading The Great Gatsby Critically, Chapter 1 · The Great Gatsby: Living the Dream in the Valley of Ashes · Our Capacity for Wonder: A Review · The Best Books Get Better

Replies to

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