Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Late At Night...

Nicholls criticizes the Torys' "Rising to the Challenge" attack ad as follows: Then the rest of the ad shows Prime Minister Harper in his office late at night working on crossword puzzles or something.

But dig this still from the ad itself.

What's that shining in through the slats, if not sunlight? And you can see other examples of the same anomaly throughout the spot. So maybe we should add crap production values to its list of faults. Or maybe the PMO can't simply command darkness whenever Mr. Harper wants to do a Photo Op.

Or maybe the point of the ad wasn't to show Harper working at night, it was to show that he works all day in his office until night falls without any interruption from kin or colleagues. Which means he has no friends nor family life.

Maybe somebody should give Norm Spector a heads up.

13 comments:

double nickel said...

They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. Guess that's why he closes the shades.

Michael said...

How do you know that wasn't meant to depict Harper being awake all night on the job and that the sunlight you see is from the rising sun?

bigcitylib said...

Because at the start of the clip you see him against a window. Thats either sunlight or the fires of hell shining in.

Michael said...

So? That is what I'm saying; that sunlight could just as easily be a very early start to the work day with the rising sun, working late with the sun setting, or being there all night with the rising of the sun. Or the sunlight could mean absolutley nothing at all and is merely the subject for Liberals because of a slow news day.

Tof KW said...

A lot of 'ifs' there Michael. Usually the most obvious explanation is the correct one. In other words it's daylight and the ad production people screwed up.

Gene Rayburn said...

or Michael, Stephen Harper is a vampire and those blinds are keeping the deadly rays out. Its about as believable as what your are proposing.

crf said...

Michael, you're taking this post way too seriously.

Maybe it's the light from AECL exploding into a billion little pieces.

Maybe John Baird is combusting outside the PM's window, after he and Harps had a late night tiff. Spectorvision has the details. Are domestic problems related to Harper's weight problems? Is he on the phone to girlfriend Oprah?

Maybe Harper moved his office to the south pole, so that he could get some quiet time alone to think. Like Ozymandias in Watchmen. Harper weeps for humankind, while watching 100 TV sets, all tuned to CTV.

Maybe Stocks is a few blocks away, but took off his shirt.

Maybe Harper hired Dion's clown cameraman. But such poor videography clearly shows that Harper is constitutionally unfit to be PM, and is surely in a coalition with the Bloc.

Rotterdam said...

The ad has him walking in a hallway during daylight as well.

He is working during daylight!

Brian Busby said...

Michael, "the subject for Liberals because of a slow news day", you write. Other than Gerry Nicholls, I don't really see this aspect of the ad being discussed elsewhere. Anyway, I'll play.

What we have here is the prime minister walking through an eerily deserted and ill-lit corridor, then passing a window. Is the sun rising? Is the sun setting? We can't say, though it does appear to be low in the sky. Next we see the prime minister working alone in his dimly lit office with (as the observant have noted) shutters closed against the daylight. And finally, we see the Parliament Buildings, bereft of people, at night.

Is this meant to be a depiction of our prime minister working into the wee hours? I don't always agree with Mr Nicholls, but I do here. Would that we could posit the question, but the Conservative Party has disabled the comments. A shame because it might benefit from the feedback.

The script is fine, but the visuals serve to reinforce the image of Stephen Harper as something of a controlling loner. Almost as bad, it serves as a reminder of that unfortunate rumour.

bigcitylib said...

BB, I think you've got it.

Michael said...

LOL Good Lord, your party needs a narrative if this is the kind of quality control we've come to expect.

Holly Stick said...

Or Parliament is empty because Harper has dismissed it. He doesn't need a Parliament of elected members, he rules all by himself.

crf, thanks for the laughs - Stocks taking his shirt off. :D

Holly Stick said...

Stephen Harper - Not a Team Player