Strangers kissing for the first time

[Bonobo]

Many of them did not even know each other's names.
Did they see each other as "fully integrated beings"? Did they seem them as "objects?" Is this video tasteful? Distasteful? Beautiful? Manipulative?

Does it make humans look beautiful? Ugly? All? Neither?

What did the kiss mean? Did it mean anything?

I find these questions very interesting and I find it interesting that I find it interesting.

Do you find it interesting? Or just interesting that I find it interesting?

[JI7]

1. some look recognizable, these are actors and/or models

it looks like it's kind of scripted. maybe not the specific lines but they know what they are supposed to act like.

there is nothing unusual about kissing someone you don't really know and just met.

[hfojvt]

16. there isn't?

It certainly is unusual in MY life. I don't pretend to know how other people live, but that would be highly unusual for me.

But I am doubtless odd, because I have never kissed anybody.

One thing that jumped out at me was that they all seem reasonably young and attractive. I would not mind kissing any of the women in the video.

Might be tougher to film if you included somebody like me, where presumably a number of women would say, "excuse me, but I am not gonna kiss the sky."

[AgingAmerican]

18. Riiiight

nt

[pnwmom]

26. "there is nothing unusual about kissing someone you don't really know and just met"

How do you know? Do you have a link for that?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I thought it was absolutely beautiful and very touching...

It reveals our humanity. And that makes us beautiful.

I thought it was great.

[1000words]

3. I find it very interesting

As to meaning, only those engaged are truly qualified to comment.

[BainsBane]

10. Or the director who staged the production

and told the actors what to do.

[1000words]

11. Reminds of this:

[Gravitycollapse]

4. I find it interesting how they feel the need to converse, familiarize themselves...

With one another before kissing each other. It speaks to a necessary intellectual and emotional connection on some level. Rather than objectifying one another, they are seeking some pathway to subjectivity.

I will also say there is a symbolic strength associated with kissing as if it is an attempt to merge each other's minds. That's how I see much of this.

[Delphinus]

37. Ooh,

I so appreciate what you have written. Thank you!

[brewens]

5. I'll never forget my first kiss and I'd have to pull out and old high school annual to even

remember her name right now. That's not right and I should go find her picture so I remember again. At the time, I was an awkward shy sophomore in high school even though I was a pretty fierce football player that made varsity on a tough team. I danced with this cute girl that was a junior and got to go outside with her and finally had te nerve to kiss a girl! Nothing ever came of it, it was just a few wonderful kisses, and holding her close. I didn't even have a car yet or really any money to be actually dating. She would have had to persue me to get that going.

I should look her up on Facebook and tell her I remember that fondly. She probably had no clue it ws my first kiss. That kind of thing is important to me. It's funny that at times when I've been really lonely, I'd wish I was back with girls like that when I was a kid, when just a good night kiss or makeout was the biggest thrill in the world!

[JI7]

6. The Random Strangers In That Viral 'First Kiss' Video Are Mostly Actors And Models In A Clothing Ad

http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/143332/The-Random-Strangers-In-That-Viral-First-Kiss-Video-Are-Mostly-Actors-And-Models-In-A-Clothing-Ad

[BainsBane]

9. More games to denounce feminism

Another ruse, another charade, all in a sad effort to justify a mid-20th century views of women and the exclusive rights to men to control public space. This is getting boring. This battle has already been fought, and they lost badly, as the hundreds of recommendations for the threads listed below demonstrate.

DU should be ashamed that members deny objectification is a problem, 75 recs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024538977

T and A threads create a hostile environment, 175 recs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024522226

I used to think HOF exaggerated the misogyny around here, 183 recs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1255&pid=38236

It's about respect for women
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10024559897#post464, 112 recs

Thanks to Skinner and Earl G for the locks, 121 recs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024547063

I'm against the gender wars but women shouldn't be the ones to surrender 62 recs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024535851

And Skinner: http://sync.democraticunderground.com/12595087#post1

Yet despite all of this, he continues to fight against the offensive notion that most women want to be treated as human beings. What is particularly astounding is that he spends so much time complaining about this issue, but the one thing he absolutely refuses to do under any circumstances is to try to understand what people here mean when they talk about sexual objectification. It's not a particularly complicated concept. Anyone should be able to understand it, yet doing so requires summoning enough respect for the feminists and hundreds of DUers who rec'd the threads above to read what they write or watch that short video by Laci Greene. Ironically, his refusal to do so exemplifies precisely what he seeks to deny--that we are not human beings whose views matter but instead mere objects upon which to visit his angst.

[JI7]

12. i thought so

i'm wondering what he thinks the intention of the video was .

it looked like those previous ads for perfume, jeans etc and i recognized one woman and a few other faces looked familiar so i looked it up.

[Bonobo]

17. You seem to be on a campaign against me personally.

If there is something you object to in this video, please say it.

But your following me around with unrelated personal attacks is really over-the-top and a bit creepy.

You are making me uncomfortable with your stalking behavior and I am asking you to kindly stop.

[RobertEarl]

7. Having kissed a hundred ladies

Last edited Wed Mar 12, 2014, 02:09 AM - Edit history (1)

I find it interesting and would like to become involved in an experiment like that.

Very rare was the kiss which didn't create some, shall we say, electricity.

And if you happen to think this while kissing, look over her shoulder and see if she is flat footed or on her toes. If she's on her toes, there's something more happening there. Learned about that observation from an old movie.

[Gravitycollapse]

8. That advise is on par with the "if her feet are facing forward, she's into you" nonsense.

Body language is one thing. Confining women to simplistic physical "cues" is another thing entirely.

[AgingAmerican]

24. Good god lol

nt

[Orrex]

39. Your use of scare quotes proves you're into him.

[font size=8]SCIENCE![/font]

[NuclearDem]

13. God that was gross.

[JI7]

14. no

just fucking NO

[snooper2]

41. So you want to go back to the 3rd grade again?

LOL

[PhilSays]

43. And if she adjusts her hair a lot in your presence.

That's also a good indicator.

[Vashta Nerada]

15. Sensationalistic drivel.

Who hasn't kissed a complete stranger?

[AgingAmerican]

19. It's pretty predictible who the 'anti's' are

Isn't it? The thought police.

This video is epic. Nothing like a first kiss.

[Bonobo]

20. Well it does seem to bother some people.

I don't know if it's prudery, homophobia or what, but clearly it irritates some people.

[JI7]

21. you seem bothered about being told that it's a scripted fashion ad

[Bonobo]

22. No, I'm not. Where did you get that idea? nt

[Violet_Crumble]

23. I just read this thread and he doesn't seem bothered by that at all...

I picked that up by noticing that for someone you claim to seem bothered by it, he hasn't said anything about it.

[Bonobo]

27. I'm not. It doesn't bother me in the least in fact.

I see this video as a very interesting work of art whether it is scripted or not.

[JI7]

29. based on agingamerican's reply to me

where i mentioned it was actors. and him agreeing with agingamerican .

[Violet_Crumble]

30. Which reply was that?

I can only find one where agingamerican replied to you, but bonobo wasn't there...

[JI7]

31. this subthread

where he agrees with agingamerican .

[AgingAmerican]

32. Gasp!

First kisses are EPIC!!

Well, most people think so anyway...

[Violet_Crumble]

33. Agingamerican didn't say anything about it being scripted or not...

And he wasn't replying to you in that post that started this subthread

[JI7]

34. but he was referring to others

and based on his earlier reply to my post i would see that as his problem.

[Violet_Crumble]

36. Sorry, but I'm taking what people do or don't say at face value..

I'm not keen on performing convoluted mind acrobatics to try to interpret someone else's post who's already said he wasn't bothered...

[JI7]

45. that was after

He said he wasn't bothered after i said that seemed to be his problem.

[11 Bravo]

46. Hey, it's DU. It doesn't make a damned bit of difference what one ACTUALLY says. It's ...

all about the willingness of some to interpret one's words or, on occasion, to just make shit up and claim that it had been said.

[LanternWaste]

47. I used to purposefully attribute intentions to people who disagreed with me too...

I used to purposefully attribute intentions to people who disagreed with me too... third grade was such a simplistic time.

[defacto7]

25. Are there mouth and tongue prophylactics being used here?

Could be a strain of H5N9 or a diseased rotifer colony oozing between dangerous facial orifices.

[seattledo]

28. Disgusting

Seems very Republican to me.

[sufrommich]

35. It's a viral ad for a clothing company called Wren.

They're paid models and actors and it's scripted. What it shows is how adept Madison Avenue has become at using the internet to sell crap to unsuspecting customers.

[Javaman]

38. I hoped they all brushed their teeth first. nt

[Arugula Latte]

48. That's what I always think when I see kissing on TV and in the movies

I can't really "stay in the moment" because I'm too busy wondering if one (or both) has bad breath.

[MineralMan]

40. An interesting video to watch, but I don't think it really signifies

anything. After reading the thread and finding out that it's an ad, it means even less, I think.

Complete strangers rarely kiss each other in a romantic way. It happens occasionally, but it's not the normal thing. I can only remember a single instance in my life. It happened at the airport in Las Vegas. I was walking toward my gate, when a woman approached me and said, "I like your beard. Can I kiss you?" Seeing no reason to say no, I said "OK." It was a pleasant kiss, and kisses are generally a pleasant experience. Afterward, the woman giggled a little and said "Thanks." That was it.

But, it was an odd experience, and meant nothing in the end. Pretty much the same as my reaction to this video.

[PhilSays]

42. Holy shit. The elderly woman is Opal from All My Children.

Awesome video.

[Bonobo]

44. Jenny's mom!? No way! nt

[riderinthestorm]

49. I also really liked this. So what if they're actors. Its still 2 strangers

Being asked to kiss on camera for the first time.

[Gormy Cuss]

52. Yes, but actors and models who may have had to kiss strangers before on camera

aren't quite the same as two nonprofessionals agreeing to do same.

In addition because it's unclear how the director crafted the event, what looks like casual nervousness, giddiness, etc. may not be a natural reaction but rather a scripted one. After all, ads are meant to be manipulative. That you and others liked the ad is a separate issue.

[riderinthestorm]

53. I guess it works for me because the actors are so believable. All of them.

Maybe Wren got lucky and found 16 - 18 people +/- who could all truly fake the awkwardness of that situation but it "felt" real watching it.

I felt just like they did when I imagined myself in that situation.

Hoping that a stranger's kiss could end up to be just as sweet.... Very effective imho.


(full disclaimer I haven't had tv for a few decades so maybe I'm just probably pretty susceptible to commercials since I never see them )

[The Stranger]

50. I was kissing someone recently, and I noticed she kisses with her eyes open.

I didn't want to say anything in the moment. But, looking back, it kind of freaked me out.

She's sitting there watching me as we are lip locked.

[penultimate]

51. heh...

Maybe she was just checking to see if you were being creepy with your eyes open and you just caught each other at the same time?

Next time that happens you should open your eyes open really really wide and roll them back as far as you can and keep them like that. You know, for the "lulz".

[PhilSays]

54. You knew this was coming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=SAnjUhQvGi0