| Snowman
is 'Everyman,' and that's the best and worst of humanity
Check
out the online magazine Today's Snowman
By Jennifer Taylor
February 29 |On a morning so cold
your breath looked like a smoker exhaling deeply, 21-year-old
Jordan Taylor and 20-year-old Jennie Schmidt left the
house slightly heavier than usual.
It was 12 degrees outside that morning
and they were bundled up to keep warm. As they set off
on their journey, taking full advantage of their day
off school, they stop along the way to play in the white
powder that feels, ironically, like sand straining through
your fingers on a hot beach. They continue on, up Old
Main Hill, the beast of a hill that everyone dreads
climbing.
Taylor, with a star-like twinkle
in his eye, starts packing a snowball and launches it
at Schmidt. Her mouth drops open with astonishment and
says, "I can’t believe you just did that." She
bear tackles him, and they start to roll down the steep
hill. They giggle and laugh and throw a few flirtatious
punches. Then Schmidt randomly exclaims, "I have an
idea!"
She starts to pack the powder with
her hands and forms it into a tiny ball. She gingerly
rolls the ball on the ground to make it gain more weight.
Taylor joins her, once they have a pleasantly plump
ball going; they attempt to find the perfect positioning
for it.
They shove it this way and that way,
beside a pine tree, in front of some grey stone steps,
until finally they find the perfect spot, which was
relatively close to where they started, smack in the
middle of the steep hill. By this time, of course, the
ball is four times bigger than they had first intended.
They take a few steps back and admiring
their work and purposefully brush the remaining snow
from their gloves as if to give themselves a pat on
the back. They repeat this snow rolling process two
more times and carefully place these smaller balls on
top of the big ball.
That’s how he was created. He, a
frosty man, whose existence consisted of cold, packed,
circular, frozen water, which was sparkling white in
color. He was a snowman.
Taylor and Schmidt have been building
snowmen since they were 5. Both born in Draper, they
have had plenty of opportunities and experiences to
build unique snowmen.
Taylor said, "The first snowman my
family ever made together we accidentally rolled up
dog poop in the process, and when we were done we named
him Michael Jackson, because he was half black and half
white."
Schmidt said, "I remember my siblings
and I had already made a snowman and we couldn’t find
any facial features for him, so my mom gave us a bag
of Twizzlers and we made him a face out of those, but
it didn’t last very long. My sister ate it."
Many children have had these experiences
growing up in Utah. Rachel Jensen, originally from Herriman,
said, "I remember one year my sister and I were sick
of making white snowman, so my mom told us to make one
and put some Kool-Aid on him, so we made a pink snowman."
Brigham City native, Jake Beck, said,
"When I was teenage boy, my friends and I would build
snowmen. Being the immature boys that we were, we would
make the snowman have manly parts, if you know what
I mean."
Maybe doing things like this to snowmen
is what irritates people like Bob Eckstein and Raymond
Briggs. Who think the snowman is "Everyman" and an innocent
creation meant for children.
In The History of the Snowman: From
the Ice Age to the Flea Market, Eckstein says a snowman
is far more than the sum of his stacked snowballs. Or
rather, it's his very emptiness that makes him so full.
''The snowman might be different
to everyone, but most importantly, he is nobody to everybody,''
Eckstein writes. ''We can all relate to him. He's the
last man picked on the team. He is Everyman.''
Maybe this is why the snowman has
been over-marketed throughout the years, but has it
made the snowman lose its "Frosty" innocence?" The Snowman
has suffered "crass exploitation" at the hands of marketing
men hoping to "cast a charming glow over products which
are so charmless," said Briggs, 73, in a letter to The
London Times.
According to the London Times, "Briggs
complains that his iconic Snowman, with his soft curves
and floppy felt hat, has been used to sell everything
from fizzy drinks to fried chicken. "It is galling to
find that the innocent character one has created for
young children is being used to promote junk food and
drink, and also to decorate the packaging of lavatory
paper," he said.
Some people find that the marketing
done with snowmen to promote certain products is derogatory
toward the innocent creation. It has proven to be a
controversial issue. Schmidt and Taylor both have comments
on this issue.
Schmidt said, "Oh yes, I do find
it quite derogatory, but it’s not going to change the
way I look at the snowman. I mean, it’s all about how
you look at things and how you let things, like the
media, affect you. Mind over matter, that’s my view
on it."
Taylor said, "Ha! Who cares? Little
kids will always build snowmen and people will always
want to market the snowman. Nothing changes. I don’t
think that marketing the snowman makes it loose its
innocence. I think kids will still watch Frosty and
think he’s the coolest snowy dude ever, no matter what
they see him advertising."
After positioning the man and stacking
the balls. Taylor and Schmidt decide it’s time to decorate
their winter creation. They scurry around trying to
find supplies, but proved to be very difficult. "I can’t
find anything," Schmidt said. "Me neither," replied
Taylor. It was apparent that Taylor has idea because
his whole face lights up and his eyes fly open wide
like he had just made a discovery that would make him
millions. He starts jumping and trying to grab a branch
from the above pine tree.
Schmidt said, "What the heck are you
doing Jordan?" "You’ll see," he replied. He finally
gets it. By the time he turns around to look at Schmidt,
he has a mischievous look on his face. She said, "What’s
that for?" He replied not missing a beat, "It’s a loin
cloth for our snowman. Let’s call him Adam."
They both burst out laughing.
MS
TB
|
