Life without color

Daytime television is full of commercials geared to the predominantly older audience who have the time to watch television during the day. The commercials are primarily for Medicare supplement insurance plans, pre-paid funeral arrangements, and prescription and over the counter medicinal products. One of these has me scratching my head every time I see it: an ad for a prescription drug called Toujeo (insulin glargine injection) indicated for the treatment of Type II diabetes. Here is the commercial.

Can someone explain to me the significance of the coloring (or lack thereof) in this commercial? Other than the main character, a middle-aged woman, everyone and everything is white and almost appears two-dimensional. The (actual) woman sits at a café with a 2D friend, goes on a walk on a 2D street, stops and buys 2D flowers (also white, although no “green” seems to change hands), and comes home to a little white dog. She is greeted at home by her two-dimensional husband. And then, suddenly, color appears and everything becomes real. Is the idea supposed to be that living with diabetes can be a frighteningly empty experience unless it can be controlled by Toujeo? I am really scratching my head over this one.

As I am writing this it occurs to me that it provides perhaps a very good segue into the movie we saw a couple of days ago, “I Am Not Your Negro,” a documentary about the playwright/essayist/novelist James Baldwin that received a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. I have to admit that I was not at all familiar with Mr. Baldwin’s work, but the script of this documentary was all from his writings, either captured in tapes of television shows or read by Samuel L. Jackson. It was clear that he was an amazingly talented man. Despite a rather miserable life as a young child with an abusive father and coming of age during an especially difficult time for young black men, he managed to maintain a sense of decency, saying “I can’t be a pessimist because I’m alive; I’m forced to be an optimist.” It was a thoughtful documentary worth seeing.

I am busy today pulling together everything we will need for the next ten days that we plan to spend in Sharon. We have even put together a schedule for activities with our grandchildren, who are off school next week. This “President’s Week” vacation seems to be part of the school calendar only in the northeast. My first winter in this part of the country was when we moved from St. Louis to West Hartford, CT the summer before my senior year of high school, and it seemed somewhat odd that there was yet another vacation so soon after returning from winter break. My impression was and is that it was primarily instituted as an opportunity for New England ski resorts. No one in our family skis, but we have a long list of fun things to do, including Disney on Ice for Julia, a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts with Maya, and a new indoor go-kart place for the older children. Then there are movies, bowling, indoor rock climbing, and trampolines. And in between we will spend time with Noah, who is growing up very quickly and waiting for his turn to participate in all this fun. I just hope we old folks will have the energy to enjoy it with him!

Meanwhile, have fun and stay warm.

Love,

Rebecca