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This project aims to investigate the act of consuming in both physical reality and the cyber world by deconstructing physical gestures of consuming. This includes both voluntary and involuntary actions like biting, sucking, licking, chewing, and swallowing. At the same time, I incorporate mass information that we digest in the cyber environment. The conservation here, specifically, ranges from consumerism culture to female bodies. As a female who constantly suffers from eating disorders, I find it difficult to build a peaceful relationship with food. My training in social science defines this struggle as an evolutionary and political phenomenon. Yet, in the context of consumerism, I intuitively hypothesize that the act of consuming represents more subtle but shared experiences. I believe the following description would help and I hope you will enjoy the film.
The final selection includes an Apple, a Budweiser, a Boba, and an Ice Cream. I went out of my way to research their diverse representations, interpretations, and meanings with Google, YouTube, or even Canvas. Starting from Apple, I explored the most basic word in all human languages, and I introduced the concept of consumerism in general. With Budweiser, I specified my subject matter in today’s culture. with a cup of Boba Milk Tea, I brought up the enthusiasm, zeal, or celebration of consuming a product. And this is about the collective experience of desiring and entertaining rather than a personal one. Finally, with an Ice Cream, the enthusiasm/zeal/celebration continues, but I placed female bodies under the spotlight.
Female bodies are both a means and a subject matter in the project. On the one hand, as females, we consume with a mouth. We are programmed in our genes to do so. And we are delighted to consume in that way. On the other hand, we are being consumed while consuming. Under the cyberpunk setting, we are immersed in the loop of production and reproduction. For example, Blackpink released this song Ice Cream celebrating Ice Cream, and influencers created reactions to their song. And then there will be more reactions to the reactions if there are potential audiences, and so forth.
Lastly, the “mouth” is certainly symbolic for the act of consuming. According to Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development, the association with a mouth dates to the Oral Stage in our infancy. And this association is sexual and erotic. Still, I realize that the representation of a “mouth” is universal as all humans have mouths and we share the pleasure and struggle of consuming. Though the signifier rests on a universal language, what is signified is quite gender specific.

Acknowledgement
My deepest gratitude to Professor Lorena Gómez Mostajo.
Also, special thanks to my friends Fiona Tian and Maoyuan Wang
 
Transcript

THE ACT OF CONSUMING
Editing……
Hi there!

ICECREAM
Do you ice cream? Lick it before it melts.

BOBA
Do you boba? Boba milk tea, light sugar, and light ice.

BUDWEISER
Do you drink? Budweiser. Or you prefer local ones.

APPLE
Do you eat anything? Apples? Do you like eating apples?

Editing……
Hi there!

Eat me like an apple. Cultivate me. Water me. And Grow me.
Goggle search. Combo APPLE. Maps, google maps, google maps has. Available filters. Goggle search, has finished, has finished loading. Google books has finished loading, has finished loading. Apple. Google shopping has finished loading. Has finished loading.

Editing……
Hi there!

Drink me. Standardization. Efficiency. And mass production.
[VIS 11, Winter 21, Discussion Section A11]
What would be the meaning behind this advertisement, do you think? Like, what would be the signified?
I think the pretty girl would be the signifier. And the signified would be the youth, health and happiness because of her smile.
I think one thing that’s also being signified is like home life. Like Budweiser belongs to the home, as part of the domestic environment, (which) is a strict environment.

Editing……
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Boba me. Brand me. Advertise me. And serve me.
This is a National Bubble Tea Day. Raise your hand if you know what bubble tea was.
CNN: back in the 80s, an employee at this tea shop chain was experimenting putting local food inside her tea, and she came up with bubble tea.
Hilary Clinton on MSNBC: this’s good!
CGTN: I waited for 3 hours.
Was it worth waiting for a cup for 3 hours?
No, it wasn’t.
They why did you still choose to wait and buy?
Because of love.

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Ice Cream me. Ice me. Cream me. And write a song for me.
[Black Pink & Selena Gomez – ‘Ice Cream’ (music videos on YouTube playing)]

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