I listened to the “99% Invisible: Pockets” which talks about the evolution of pocket and the difference between man’s pocket and woman’s pocket.
It’s interesting to view this everyday object in this way. While we’re used to having a pocket on our clothes, we often overlook the difference between pockets in terms of gender and seldom think of the reasons behind. “A pocket is internal and it’s secret”, said the women in the audio. And that reminds me of what Mcluhan says about “an extension of the human body”. From this perspective, a pocket can also be considered as a special kind of extension and therefore it’s closely related to people’s status.
It’s also interesting to look at the history and the evolution of the pocket and how the pocket as a daily object can also mirror the history of fashion and social change. It’s surprising to know that people were once really fascinating and crazy about have pockets. And it’s hard to imagine a suit with 24 pockets and people at that time all accepted that design. Then the topic comes to the relationship between the pocket and the utopia and it’s really interesting to see this connection. And the idea to consider the phone as another type of pocket is new to me but also make sense. In this way, the phone is a pocket that carries almost all of the invisible assets just like the pocket carries all the physical assets in the old days. And these two things do give us similar feelings in terms of the sense of security.
Though I’m still not sure about whether the pocket does carry so much metaphor in terms of social change and gender or it’s up to people’s interpretation, the perspective and thoughts of the pocket are really intriguing and raise my interest in the pocket.