Tales from Hyperreality: Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

It is again the time of the year...

When over 40 million of American travel over 50 miles or more from their homes. In the same day $282 million worth of food will be wasted, according to the NRDC (National Resource Defense Council). The day after is "black Friday" which is not the title of a horror movie but the day when several hundred million of shoppers (226 millions in 2011) floods shopping malls, retail outlets, or cybershops.

In this surreal apotheosis of consumerism I try to relax and, as always, enjoy recording the most grandiose spectacle extravaganza of consumerism: the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade. Over 100 feet high cartoon characters float in the Manhattan skyline, cheered by hundred thousand spectators: it is only three weeks after hurricane winds roared over Manhattan and in this unseasonably warm day (what's new?) and New York city seems to be fully back to its relentless rhythms.

events | Shopping Is the Opium of the People

 

Karl Marx wrote in 1843 "Religion is the opium of the people" ("Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes"). This statement became paraphrased in many forms including the popular “Sport is the opium of the people”. As the holidays approach, a paraphrase Karl would not object to, is  “shopping is the opium of the people". The beginning of the holiday season, is announced by the bombarding by countless ads in many form and format for black Friday and cyber Monday; it also marked by the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (started in 1924), which I cannot escape living a few blocks away from the balloon inflation and beginning of the parade. 

Cheering crowds start flowing in the neighborhood from the Wednesday afternoon; even this year, in spite of the economical crisis and Occupy Wall Street protest few miles away, the shopping and its celebration seems to be untouched in the hyperrealistic Macy’s parade, where inflated thirty-foot high balloons float (often face down) among the imponent Central Park West trees and buildings. The inflated balloons, are quite a metaphor for the current economy but hopefully will not burst in the crowds.

Events NYC | Travels in Hyperreality: Macy's Parade

In a almost full moon night I drag myself to the next block in the crushing crowds cheering 20- meter high balloons. It is the surreal atmosphere of the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

Welcome to the land of hyperreality!