0:00
In the first frame we see the words “American Dream” written across the middle of the image. The background is of a diner and the sky behind the diner is darkening as if the sun is setting. The outside of the walls of the diner are red glossed bricks with a continuous diamond pattern across the top. Three people are walking into the frame, two adults and a child. The child is wearing a red and white striped shirt, one of the adults is wearing a dark blue button up shirt and the other is wearing what looks like a light blue button up shirt but it may be white. In the diner we see a few people sitting inside. It is brighter inside than it is outside.
0:00 – 0:03
We see the three people who are outside the diner walk across the screen and as they walk near the words, the letters disappear.
0:03 – 0:06
The camera angle changes and we are now looking at an entrance of the diner. The words “steak sandwich” are printed on the door in blue. The door is being opened by one of the three people we saw outside previously. The kid walks in first then the person in the dark blue shirt walks someway through the door.
0:06 – 0:09
The person in the dark blue button up shirt walks halfway through the door before the scene changes. we now look at the back of the boys head who’s now sitting down scooting further into the diner booth. The person who was in the light blue or white button up shirt is a woman with brown hair at the length a little past her shoulder. She is moving into the booth as well and is facing the camera but looking down. In the background we see two people sitting in another booth. One person almost directly behind the person int the (I’m saying white) white shirt and the other is in front of the kid wearing a bleu checkered shirt and a cowboy hat. The person in the dark blue button up shirt has glasses and is taking a seat in the booth next to the kid. It is unclear if the kid is theirs or not. The couple of adults look a little older (couple as in couple of people not the two people dating- that is also unclear).
0:09 – 0:12
The person in the dark blue shirt fully sits down and is comfortable in her seat as she is no longer shifting. Everyone is comfortable int shier seat as they are no longer shifting in their booth seat. The person in the white shirt looks at the young boy and moves her head to the side towards the boy then moves it to the other side and opens her mouth halfway as if she is going to say something.
0:12 – 0:15
Then she looks back towards the boy and closes her mouth. The lady in the dark blue shirt looks slightly to her right at the boy. Then the scene changes and we see the outside of the diner again and the three people we saw in the previous scene are now sitting at a table inside the diner. Outside the diner we see a person in all black leaning against a post.
0:15 – 0:18
The scene stays the same except for the lights that pass by from the passing cars. The reflect on the side of the diner.
0:18 – 0:21
The screen goes black and the words in white, reading “American Reality” is on the black background.
0:21 – 1:24
Then the words “LGBTQ+ people are nearly 4 times more likely to be victims of violent crime,” fade onto the screen, also in white text.
0:24 – 0:30
The rest of the video shows the same words as said above and then two square shaped boxes pop up. The one on the right is smaller than the one on the left. The one on the left has words in the box saying “love has no labels.” The other smaller box says “ad council”.
Overview:
Three people are arriving at a diner. Two woman and a younger boy. We can assume that the two older woman are a couple and the kid is their grandkid or child, that part is unsure. They walk in and sit down in the diner then we return back outside. Then the screen pans to black and we learn that, “LGBTQ+ people are nearly 4 times more likely to be victims of violent crime.” This video is a bit confusing… I don’t understand if the two adult females are a couple or not, but if so I guess that kind of plays into the message of the video at the end.
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
In the first frame we see the words “American Dream” written across the middle of the image. The background is of a diner and the sky behind the diner is darkening as if the sun is setting. The outside of the walls of the diner are red glossed bricks with a continuous diamond pattern across the top. Three people are walking into the frame, two adults and a child. The child is wearing a red and white striped shirt, one of the adults is wearing a dark blue button up shirt and the other is wearing what looks like a light blue button up shirt but it may be white. In the diner we see a few people sitting inside. It is brighter inside than it is outside.
—i.p., I’m depending on you to tell me everything I would feel if I were watching what you’re watching, and right now I’m pretty much in the dark. The “American Dream” supertitle is a strong clue, but it might be the name of a new diner chain, so I’m uncertain.
The first judgment we make when presented with moving images on TV is whether it’s an ad we’re looking at, or a public service announcement, a promotion for upcoming programming, an ad for a commercial product or service.
Which one is this? Understand that your first impression may be proved incorrect, but it can never be wrong. The image and text combination created an impression on you for which the creators are responsible. What did they lead you to believe—or mislead you to believe?
To me, the sun setting behind the American Dream suggests the END OF the American Dream, not the beginning. But that’s just me. Or is it? And what’s with all the red, white, and blue clothing? Just coincidence?
Is the diner isolated against the sky or part of a commercial district, on a street, or seen from the parking lot. Are the people so non-descript that only their clothing bears description?
0:00 – 0:03
We see the three people who are outside the diner walk across the screen and as they walk near the words, the letters disappear.
—Three full seconds is long enough to communicate a world of information. Is this really how the creators of the video wasted the first 1/10th of their entire budget?
—If so, there’s a LOT of significance to that “fading away” of the American Dream message. Is catastrophe pending?
I’ll go look at the first 3 seconds now.
—OK, maybe you didn’t want to say so, but you must. The child’s shirt is SOOOO completely intended to evoke the red and white stripes of the American flag that the choice of a dark blue shirt above and to the left of it is CLEARLY intended to evoke the flag’s field of blue. So, an American flag is walking outside the diner. And, as they walk toward the door, they wipe away the words AMERICAN DREAMS from the screen.
—Here’s the part that might have made you uncomfortable: the child is being walked by two adults of uncertain gender. The child is holding the hand of the “flag” wearer to his right, possibly also the hand of the white-shirt wearer to his left. The gait of the adults is masculine in length. The haircuts of both are inconclusive: very long but not styled to favor either a masculine or feminine conclusion. The extraordinarily wide trouser width of the flag wearer would not be chosen by a male who wanted to send masculine signals. The shape of the white shirt wearer’s upper torso vaguely hints at breasts but is baggy enough to at least partly conceal them.
—Whatever is intended here, I think we can rule out an ad for a new diner chain.
—You see how this is going? Whatever the social or political intentions of the filmmakers, they depend on us reacting to social signals in every frame. As analysts of the “argument,” we have to confront what we’re being shown, react to it, resist it if it makes us uncomfortable but name that discomfort, and describe our reactions, whatever they are.
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