Cracker Barrel has been in the news the past couple of weeks due to a logo change. Although they’ve since changed the logo back, the beleaguered restaurant and country store continues to be in damage control. Rather than dive into whether the change was due to woke policies, I’d rather talk about what’s really concerning.
Why is everything so boring lately?
Company logos are just one example. From Cracker Barrel to Wells Fargo and Jaguar, companies have opted to move forward with linear and blocky logos that have zero artistic value whatsoever. In each of these situations, the changes have been blasted on social media and the public at large for one reason or another.
What happened to the McDonalds of my childhood? Where a purple grimace was once smiling down on me as I entered, he’s been replaced with a utilitarian box with all the personality of IKEA instructions. Let me be clear, I don’t eat at McDonalds anyway because the food is both gross and not really food. That’s not the point. I have no idea who they’re trying to market to here. The people who are regularly eating fast food don’t care whether Grimace is on the roof or not.
Unfortunately, the boring concept hasn’t been contained to corporate logos. Although it’s not the case with every new house, many of them under construction around me are in the shape of a box, complete with tiny rectangular windows and adorned in a dark paint scheme. Sounds pretty homey doesn’t it?
When it comes to the beautification of our surroundings, it’s hard to think that we’re not regressing as a society. A thousand years ago, there were master sculptors carving statues of world leaders. This has been replaced with factory made molded plastic that can be purchased millions of times over at Dollar Tree’s across the country.
Madison Square Garden (MSG) is arguably the most famous arena in the country. Although it has a beauty of its own, especially with recent changes and upgrades, it will never be as beautiful as the building that once stood in its place. Penn Station was modeled after Roman and Greek buildings of the past and was considered one of the crown jewels of American architecture. It was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the arena.
Penn Station is hardly the first and only example of a beautiful building being demolished in the US or throughout the world. You can probably point to any number of buildings, monuments and landmarks torn down each year in the name of progress. (I’m not including anything removed due to historical controversy. Many of these are removed due to political reasons or public sentiment and would be included in a separate category). My question would be, is it progress to destroy something that most would agree is beautiful?
As an advanced society, we all want highly functioning places to work, live and play. And yet, there’s a distinct beauty in the imperfect. It’s why Boston loves Fenway Park, Italy loves the Leaning Tower of Pisa and France loves the Eiffel Tower. Having something tangible that’s perfectly imperfect resonates with us as human beings. We identify with the imperfections, finding a sense of comfort in something that remains the same year after year.
Comforting is good, but it may be time to take Grimace off my roof.
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