The Beauty of the Grotesque

 

I have to give props to Angry Asian Man. He can occasionally dig up some really captivating videos that transfix you, leaving an impression that lingers upon the mind.

The latest?  A video from Japan.

One of the things that modern technology has brought us is the marvel of the high speed camera. Sometimes costing up to $100,000, these cameras can slow down motion to such a degree that the seemingly banal actions of everyday life are transformed into the extra-ordinary, revealing detail and nuance invisible to the naked eye.

An example of this can be found in an obscure video from Angry Asian Man.

Most likely shot with a high-speed camera of some sort, the video is simple yet mesmerizing.

It’s composed of a series of shots of Asian people running towards the camera, while making wild flailing gestures and bizarre facial expressions.

Viewed in real time (and real life), these people would be considered bizarre, weird, freakish.

But seen from the perspective of the high-speed camera (and set to a groovy soundtrack) , these people are transformed into something oddly compelling–like images from a dream or a Salvador Dali painting expressed in video.

Maybe, there is even a lesson that can be applied to life from all this.

Something about how beauty can be found in the mundane, the grotesque, or even the ugly….