{"id":5564,"date":"2016-02-26T15:44:07","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T22:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=5564"},"modified":"2016-02-26T15:44:07","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T22:44:07","slug":"a-mindfulness-dystopia-pamela-anderson-gets-connected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/02\/a-mindfulness-dystopia-pamela-anderson-gets-connected.html","title":{"rendered":"A Mindfulness Dystopia? Pamela Anderson gets ‘Connected’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/iframe><\/p>\nWith the help of Jane Fonda (narrating), director\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cadence-films.com\/c\/directors\/luke-gilford\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Luke Gilford<\/a> (a David Lynch prodigy) has created a disturbing glimpse into a future of technology, loneliness, and a techno-spiritual-cult of connectedness.<\/p>\nThe short film has echos of \u201cHer\u201d but features not an average Joe, but a beautiful-but-aging fitness instructor\u00a0named Jackie (Pamela Anderson). Her teaching is done alone: mediated by technology. Her walks on the beach, out among people, are also mediated by technology.<\/p>\nIn the film the only person Jackie speaks with is the young, new cult-of-connectedness member named Luna (Bree Hemingway).<\/p>\nWriters have thus far focused on the commentary about aging and technology and Gilford himself has said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>After having explored issues of self-perception and transformation in some of my photography and film projects, I was ready to create a narrative film which investigated these topics in a deeper, more grounded way. What is the evolution of a performer who has made her mark on the world with her body, something that inevitably depreciates with age?\u00a0I wanted to ask these questions in the film, and to bring forth a vulnerable performance that blurs the lines between reality and fiction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nYet there are at least two other angles one could explore. One of those is the draw of fringe religious groups on the disconnected, the \u201cseekers\u201d of the contemporary world. And the other is the expanding reach of a shallow version of mindfulness\/meditation practice in mainstream American culture.<\/p>\nJane Fonda\u2019s voice echoes platitudes that could be found in a number of self-help\/Buddhist-y books, such as \u201cthe one you are looking for \u2013 is you\u201d and \u201cif you remove your doubt and have faith, you\u2019ll be reborn.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5565\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5565\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/83\/2016\/02\/connected-pamela-anderson-meditating.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5565\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5565\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/83\/2016\/02\/connected-pamela-anderson-meditating.jpg\" alt=\"connected pamela anderson meditating\" width=\"600\" height=\"319\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5565\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">That posture \u2013 ouch! Get some support under those knees. Chin down. Your lower back must be killing you!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAt the spa, Luna tells Jackie that \u201cthose breathing exercises are really working for you\u2026 you\u2019re stress levels are down\u2026 you must be doing the meditations.\u201d Then she goes in for the sell: \u201cDo you have a minute? I really want to invite you\u00a0to\u00a0our extended wellness retreat\u2026 I have never been more plugged into the universe than I am now.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5566\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5566\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/83\/2016\/02\/connected-pamela-anderson-at-spa.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5566\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5566\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/83\/2016\/02\/connected-pamela-anderson-at-spa.jpg\" alt=\"connected pamela anderson at spa\" width=\"600\" height=\"349\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5566\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ohh, orchids. And is that a Rothko?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAt the retreat we see a very bizarre, but all too real, potential future of \u201cmind-link yoga\u201d and a meditation application that gives users a \u201ceuphoric jolt if they can maintain a clear mind for an extended period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5567\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5567\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/83\/2016\/02\/connected-pamela-anderson-at-retreat-meditating.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5567\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5567\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/83\/2016\/02\/connected-pamela-anderson-at-retreat-meditating.jpg\" alt=\"connected pamela anderson at retreat meditating\" width=\"600\" height=\"316\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5567\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jackie gets \u2018Connected\u2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBack here in the real world we have long had technological meditation boosters<\/em> such as\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.centerpointe.com\/v2\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Holosync\u00ae Meditation Technology<\/a>, which has been around for over a decade, and the newer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.choosemuse.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Muse\u2122 headband<\/a>, whose website video eerily resembles the fictional wellness retreat\u00a0of \u2018Connected\u2019.<\/p>\nA problem many of us have with this is the reliance on a \u2013generally profit-driven<\/em>\u2013 technology for personal transformation\u00a0and well-being. Why can\u2019t Jackie teach spin class in person, or better yet, take people an an actual bike ride? Why can\u2019t she interact with people \u2013 connect! \u2013 in everyday life? Why can\u2019t she go to a library, find a nice meditation group?<\/p>\nTo the extent that this is indicative of real life for so many people, we have a problem. And it\u2019s a problem that nobody seems to adequately addressing if people are continuing to pour millions (or billions?) of dollars into self-help platitudes and magic technologies.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\nTake my money. \nTake my autonomy. \nGive me peace.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nIs this\u00a0the mantra of modernity?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the help of Jane Fonda (narrating), director\u00a0Luke Gilford (a David Lynch prodigy) has created a disturbing glimpse into a future of technology, loneliness, and a techno-spiritual-cult of connectedness. The short film has echos of \u201cHer\u201d but features not an average Joe, but a beautiful-but-aging fitness instructor\u00a0named Jackie (Pamela Anderson). Her teaching is done alone: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":5567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15,19,28],"tags":[522,102,527,541],"class_list":["post-5564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-buddhism","category-buddhism","category-meditation","category-technology","tag-meditation","tag-mindfulness","tag-technology","tag-yoga"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>A Mindfulness Dystopia? 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