"I don't know. Where is he?"
Apparently, he's traveling around the world to do a jig with random people on the street. "Where the Hell Is Matt?" is a video created by Matt Harding and sponsored by Stride Gum that followed Matt's journey across the globe. Stride had seen a video that Matt's friend had taken of him dancing in the street during their time backpacking throughout southern Asia, and asked Matt to consider making a video for them. This turned out to be the best decision Matt had ever made. Stride sponsored a large trip that allowed Matt to visit 42 countries and videotape his dancing experiences in each of them. The result is absolutely mesmerizing.
First off, the scenery is gorgeous. It's probably the first thing that anyone notices about the video. He travels to beautiful places like the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Lancelin, Australia, and other stunning destinations. Each of these places are beautiful, but I give special props to Matt and the cameraman for choosing locations that really showed what the country was proud of, or things that the country was known for. In Bhutan, it was the Buddhist monastery. In Sydney, Australia, it was the Opera House. In Chicago, it was The Bean. These images allowed for the audience to make a level of connection that would have been impossible if Matt had danced in front of "Joe's Hot Dogs" even if the sign on the door clearly read, "Joe's Hot Dogs. Chicago, IL". Even when he danced in places with no landmarks, the terrain and the background still gave people an idea that they were looking into Zambia or any other country.
The dancing is the most recognizable feature of the video. Matt's signature dance moves add the comedy and give it a flair that sets his video apart from others. The dance is remarkably simple--in fact, it reminds me of my little cousin's impersonation of how leprechauns dance. Yet the simplicity is what made the dance so great. He didn't spend all his time choreographing insane dance numbers because that would take away from the rest of the video. The video wasn't about the dance; it was about how the dance brought people together. Matt kept the dance simple and silly so that everyone could join in, regardless of age, skill, coordination, or anything else.
To me, Matt's video is saying that everyone is connected somehow. Maybe our interests are different, our cultures are different, our looks are different, and our languages are different, but all it takes is a guy with a weird dance move and a video camera to bring us all together for a good time. That's how people should be, in my opinion. Perhaps we stay out of each other's lives for the most part, but when it really matters, we can rally together and get it done. In this video, the people rallied. You can see people of all ages, sizes, races, and cultures coming together in this video and having fun. No one cared about anything but having an awesome time and having fun dancing with everyone. It was the same in every group. The Polish, the French, the Spanish, the Zambians, and every other group of people had a great time, and it was astounding.
"Where the Hell Is Matt?" is of the most beautiful videos I've ever seen on YouTube. It's one of those videos that really restores your faith in humanity, and even after watching it just one time, you realize that the real beauty is not the scenery, or the music, or even Matt's dancing--it's the people who dance with him.
- Emily G. Horvath I
Really interesting, Emily G. Horvath I. Like you said, the video did a great job showing just how much the entire world is interconnected. I think this holds even more relevance for me, since I regularly have experience with different cultures myself.
ReplyDeleteSince my mom's from Colombia, and I go there once a year to visit family in Bogota, I often feel that I am a part of two completely different worlds (and sometimes feel the need to sing a Disney song about where I truly belong, but that's beside the point). When I think of Bogota in regards to Chicago, both strike me as vastly different in terms of what they're like, and just how they are in general. I can't begin to think that both societies are part of the same world.
Then I watched the video. Sure, Colombia wasn't in it, I'll be sending you rage mail later. But Chicago was, and so were a buttload of other cultures, each also vastly different in its own way. As different as they were, though, there they were united by doing the same thing: dancin' with Matt. This video taught me the same thing it did you: despite all of our differences, deep down we are all one people.
(One person? Two people? Ah, grammar.)