You may have recently come across the new animated video “Late for Meeting,” as it has accrued over nine million views on YouTube in a matter of days. It was originally introduced to me on this site as the “weirdest video ever:”
This video called “Late for Meeting” features a crazy weird floppy man who flails down the street in a disturbing (yet kind of hilarious) manner. The video is called “Late for Meeting” because… I’m guessing whenever he’s late for a meeting he just walks in, says nothing, and plays this video. No one’s gonna ask you why you were late. No one’s gonna ask you nothing. They’re gonna be too busy trying to figure out what they just watched.
I think I may have figured out what I just watched.
0:00: It’s a beautiful summer day. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing. Endless opportunities.
0:10: Boundless consumption. Late for Meeting man is confused and disgusted with the variety of choice in the supermarket. His life lacks purpose, and he realizes that he has spent literally thousands of hours of his life trying to decide whether to buy Corn Flakes or Cheerios. His life revolves around false choices between shit, and less shit; this office, or that office; this car, or that car; this corn syrup gruel, or that corn syrup gruel. It’s all stuff. It doesn’t mean anything.
0:18: LFM man realizes he doesn’t need these empty calories. More processed shit to pollute his body with? No thanks. He can almost taste freedom.
0:28-: Where is he going? Where is his direction? He flails wildly. LFM Man walks by a massage parlor, he walks down a quiet street (complete with white picket fence — his home?), he’s in the middle of the road, he’s in a park. Where are you going, LFM Man? He’s giving it some serious thought for the first time in his life.
0:39: Our hero finally arrives at his car (ie. “My Car”), and it hits home: “What the hell am I doing with my life? Where am I going? On my way to another pointless, ego-driven, soul-crushing corporate meeting..? Fuck. That.”
0:41-: A joy ride to end all joy rides, endangering his own life and everyone else on the road. It’s reckless and completely irresponsible, but does it matter? Does anything really matter? He isn’t sure.
0:55: My favourite segment in the whole video. “FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST.”
1:08: No more driving, more flailing. LFM Man’s lack of direction and purpose has turned him into a complete joke, and he knows it. He punishes himself for his spineless lifestyle choices by attempting to break his own spine through intense gymnastics, humiliating himself by dancing naked all over town, and nearly killing himself on the highway. His entire life was leading up to this moment. This is good.
1:10: “Book Sale?” What means this “book?” If it hasn’t been on television in the past twenty years he probably hasn’t seen it. His imagination has suffered the consequences.
1:19: He steals the balloons from the “Book Sale” sign, which carry him into the vast unknown. These balloons — knowledge, new ideas, focus — will carry him to previously unimagined heights. For me, the video ends on an optimistic note. LFM Man is not going to make it into the office ever again. It’s time to make some difficult choices about where he wants to go, and the man he wants to become. Fuck the meeting.
