Big Box Mart

One of my favorite types of rhetoric is satire. More specifically, I love how it means using clever humor to get a point across to the audience. JibJab, a digital entertainment studio, is known for its witty uses of satire. The studio creates satiric videos criticizing politicians or past events. My personal favorite JibJab video is “Big Box Mart.”

This video is drenched with satire. From the smog-filled Beijing to the house bursting with stuff, JibJab makes use of burlesque, parody and exaggeration.

For each character, the heads of photographed people have been cut off and pasted onto disproportional bodies. All of them are the same height and have stiff movements, making them more comical.

The characters’ stiff gestures move in tempo to the parody of “Oh Susanna!”, a classic 19^th century American song. This folk ballad, recognizable to most Americans, reinforces that the clip’s content is criticizing what’s going on in America.

Rather than using a tone as serious as the topic, the song has an upbeat tempo that contrasts to the troubling phenomena being described in the clip. By doing this, JibJab is using irony. It puts the context of the message in a humorous light but continues to highlight the dismal truth reflected through the parodied lyrics.

Along with the comical-looking people and parodied American classic, JibJab makes use of exaggeration. Beijing in a smog-filled city of factories, America’s countryside is filled with billboards, the main character’s shopping cart is overloaded with stuff, and Big Box Mart has over 90 isles.

The visual exaggerations play off of stereotypes of American consumerism. The man claims he has “lots of needs” and proceeds to place a yard gnome in his bright red cart. He pulls out 7 credit cards while pushing his overloaded cart. His wife is pressed against a window of their house because there’s simply not enough room inside because of all of the things they bought from Big Box Mart.

The exaggeration continues as “American Industries Est. 1776” is shut down as it can’t compete with cheap foreign labor. The man can now no longer afford retirement and now must “scrub toilets until they put [him] in the grave.” Not all of American industries have been shut down and not all those who have lost their jobs will be forced to scrub toilets for the rest of their lives. To say the least, these are major exaggerations. Yet, despite the humor found in the amplifications, JibJab is emphasizing a sad truth—cheap foreign labor is hurting some Americans, leaving them in sad situations. This man’s however, it overly pathetic.

To me, JibJab’s over exaggeration is humorous while still being effective at delivering its message.  I for one would prefer to not like to work for a place like Big Box Mart, thus:

‘Oh Big Box Mart, no don’t you cry for me. I come from Happy Valley where I will get my degree!’