Theremustbesomethinginthewater's Blog

Is Villainy Worth the Money?

theremustbesomethinginthewater — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:53:16 +0000

I think the reason Brock flipped off his audience is because a lot the UFC fans do not believe that he has earned the fights that he is given. He just started his pro career and his fights are against prominent fighters. Some fans do not believe he has earned his status, especially because he got beat in his first fight.

I think Brock feels very threatened because he is not nearly as trained in formal mix martial arts and so he has to create buzz and popularity some other way and he does so by being entertaining. He entertains the audience during the fight by constantly boxing, and also by yes, being a villain and talking shit. People either love Brock or completely hate. People want to see him win or be destroyed. His name alone sells tickets, but his smack talk and wins keep them tuning in.

This is a video of Brock apologizing for the way he acted which is a little redeeming. He is the heel of the UFC, but Dana White the President of UFC wants his industry to remain professional. He wants his brand to be authenticated unlike the reputation of WWE. UFC is a sport not just a form of entertainment like “professional wrestling”.

The way Brock used to act is not acceptable for the UFC brand especially for bad mouthing their sponsor Bud Light. But his brand helps promote the UFC program and brings in money. So the real question is whether or not his negative actions are worth the money they gain from the negative publicity.

Sources:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBEs130CjY

Plastic Surgery > Talent

theremustbesomethinginthewater — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:26:11 +0000

This is a response to Kelly’s Blog.

Kelly makes a very good point, that people are changing their personality and their looks to become celebrities. They resort to changing themselves into wannabe celebrities. It used to be that celebrities were famous because of their beauty, personality and skills, but now people are becoming famous because they look pretty, or have celebrity family members. The list unfortunately does not include the most important word, TALENT.

Take these “celebrities” with little to no talent, who focus on their looks instead of their skills.

We focus in class on pop culture. Plastic surgery is something that has become a pop culture phenomena, something that is common place. The problem with this is that we tend to get pretty people with nothing to offer us, except for their beauty. This era of plastic surgery has defined what beauty is for our generation, negatively portraying what it means to be perfect.

Sources:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/socyberty/2008/06/20/188389_6.jpg

http://mybreastsurgery.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/heather_nose_chin.jpg

http://kellymay.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/ordinary-people-can-not-be-celebrities-and-vice-versa/

Potent Quotables

theremustbesomethinginthewater — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:18:56 +0000

This is a response to C.C.’s Blog.

First of all, great movie! I do agree with how movies are so much more quotable than any other medium. One thing that I found interesting, is that I looked up some of the top 100 movie quotes and I knew the majority of the quotes. The problem was that I have never seen or even heard of some of the films. It’s like today’s culture is engrained with this somewhat pointless knowledge.

People learn some of these famous lines from references from television shows like The Simpsons, Seinfeld, and even The Animaniacs. Pop Culture feeds the beast and makes the quotes flourish and become memorable. Even Marlon Brando’s shouting “Stelllaaaaa!” was originally a stage production of Tennesse Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, but it was the film that made the line well known.

This is the scene when Elaine is doped up on pain killers and meets Jerrry’s Aunt Stella and she quotes Streetcar. I grew up watching Seinfeld and I first heard this line quoted from Elaine, not Stanley Kowalski. It wasn’t until I was older that I understood the reference. This clip just shows that pop culture fuels itself.

Sources:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI0xJ_NfywI&feature=related

Unreal Reality

theremustbesomethinginthewater — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:35:57 +0000

This is a response to Megan’s Blog.

She commented on how so called Reality Shows are not actually real, they are a product of clever editing. It has been speculated for a long time that shows like The Hills were actually scripted and not an unedited account of reality. As we saw in “Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe-Reaity TV Editing,” editors can replace and re-edit shots to make it seem like what you are watching is truthful, when in fact it is a total fabrication.

Lauren Conrad, star of The Hills admits on RealityTea.com that there were times when parts of the show was scripted. She recalls one point where she was supposed to get a call from Spencer apologizing for past actions. “To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t on the other end of that call,” Conrad replied. “That was filmed, and I wasn’t on the other end. So I didn’t even know about it until [it was on TV]. So, no, I didn’t get an apology. He lied.”

There is a first hand account of how reality show stars are more actor/personality than an average person. I will leave you with this, a show called MyHome2.0 in which a family gets an extreme makeover technology wise. We see the director talking to the makeoverees and making them reshoot takes. Reality? I Think NOT!

Sources:

http://www.realitytea.com/2009/06/19/lauren-conrad-admits-the-hills-is-scripted/

Banned VW Commercial

theremustbesomethinginthewater — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:22:43 +0000

This is a banned car commercial for Volkswagen. The video starts out with a middle eastern male in his VW Polo. He drives up to a cafe and attempts to bomb the place. The bomb explodes in the car but the car itself is not destroyed. We then see a caption saying “VW Polo. Small but tough.”

This is a fairly clever and interesting way to advertise the durability of a car, however it is extremely racist. Considering we are witnessing a Muslim male attempting a suicide bombing, this is something that I find over the line. I for one am glad that this commercial got banned. It is funny to me that in this day and age that someone would produce a commercial with such a racist view.

Here is the first picture of what comes up when I type terrorist into google:

People wonder why Americans see Muslims as terrorist. This commercial only affirms the stereotypes that any middle eastern person is a terrorist, but as long as you are an American driving a VW Polo you will be safe from the terrorists.

Sources:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6rBrJhWAfk&feature=player_embedded
nicedeb.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/terrorist.jpg

To “shake” or not to “shake” that is the question

theremustbesomethinginthewater — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:40:58 +0000

So that’s what they’re calling it nowadays…”shaking” it.

When I see this video one thing comes to mind. Who the hell thought this was a good idea? This is the most overtly sexual product I have ever seen on TV after full on sex toys. This is a product supposed to be used to promote health and wellness, and while their intentions are good, I get lost in the sexual innuendo caused by the commercial.

Whether or not this is intended to be sexual is not as important as how it has to appeal to homosexual men. There are extremely well fit men without shirts on, glistening from sweat because of their shake weights. This is something that is supposed to be a masculine product, and it is feminized by the homosexual innuendos we see from the “shaking” of the weight.

I will leave you with this. Here is a spoof that comments on how homosexual the commercial actually is:

Sources:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQjBDqEj2WU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7xrr8XQ_-Y

Racism in Disney?! No…

theremustbesomethinginthewater — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:53:38 +0000

Family is always a great example of commentary on everything from immigration to abortion. This is a perfect example of what they do best, taking something common and turning it on its head. They are commenting on the world of Disney, which is frequently described as adult themed and racist.

This video shows the epitome of how people picture Disney. With classic 2D animation, and singing, its a perfect picture of what we think when we see a Disney cartoon. The only problem is that it takes a turn for the worse.

For years we have heard the rumors, and probably have all witnessed racism in the world of Disney. Even their title character Mickey Mouse is based off of racial stereotypes. In the show everything seems light and pleasant until Mort walks in with his Star of David around his neck, then everything takes a turn for the worse.

The animation becomes dark and all the characters have crazed looks on their faces. Mort is then grabbed and off screen we believe he is killed because of the blood that splatters everywhere. We then hear Stewie say “Oh yeah, this is the Disney universe I forgot”.

But why is this acceptable in our culture, especially since Disney is directed towards our youth. Is it because it has been so engrained in our culture that we just accept it now? I believe that the reason it is acceptable is because Disney attempts to shadow their racism through characters we can relate to and these characters tend to be likable. Even though there is racism throughout Disney films, they seem to be making an effort to be as politically correct as possible, but even so, you can’t forget the past.

Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSTeQrf-B-o

New Generation = New Opportunities

theremustbesomethinginthewater — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:34:25 +0000

This is a response to Gavins’s Blog.

The death of Billy Mays was a shocking event that coincided with lots of other celebrity deaths, including Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. I also had the question, who is going to fill the shoes of Billy Mays, but with new generations come new opportunities.

As we see time and time again, as soon as one person retires or is no longer in a certain profession, there is always someone to fill their shoes. The ShamWow guy is a perfect example of someone who is probably going to fill in for Billy Mays. If you look to other popular mediums this is also true.

Take for example in hockey, the new Wayne Gretzky is Sidney Crosby and the new Michael Jordan is LeBron James. They are able to take the spot of the most well known and best sports players and become the new face of a sport.

With new generations comes new heroes and we always look for someone to fill that void that we have when we lose an important person. Billy Mays passes the torch to Vince (ShamWow Guy), Michael Jordan passes the torch to LeBron James and Wayne Gretzky passes the torch to Sidney Crosby. This is the way of life, but make no mistake there will always be someone to fill the shoes of those we have lost.

Sources:

youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysgY46W4Dao

youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMHoG5EXEdg

Laramie Project: 10 Years Later

theremustbesomethinginthewater — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:19:02 +0000

This is a trailer for the new Laramie Project:10 Years Later

This video is that is as important now, as it was 10 years ago. The Laramie Project, for those who don’t know is a play about the brutal beating and death of homosexual college student Matthew Shepard. The members of the Tectonic Theater groups went to Laramie, Wyoming and interviewed members of the town. They pieced all of these interviews together to learn about how hate crimes involving sexuality effected the community.

On October 12, 2009, the 11th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death and there was a reading in over 120 places around the world of this show. It was read, not only to commemorate his death, but to talk about what has happened the last 10 years and what progress has been made about hate crimes. Ohio University was able to put on this show, and it was very moving and culturally important.

Popular culture usually deals with what is happening in the present, and not in the past. It is the popular aspects of culture, dealing with the now. So, why is this 10 Years Later project important? At the time of Matthews death, October 12th, 2008, this was a huge news story that swept the nation. It was something that the older generation had to deal with and it has become engrained in their heads.

In 2009, I honestly have little to no recollection of this event, but by putting on this show, I was able to see an important event in the past, presented in the present. Hopefully by doing this show, we are able to learn about what happened in the past and change our future. Not all of pop culture is Youtube videos made to make you laugh, some aspects of pop culture are used to learn, and Laramie Project: 10 Years Later is a perfect example.

Sources:

Word of Mouth

theremustbesomethinginthewater — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:05:23 +0000

This is a response to Erin’s Blog.

I also wonder why certain videos become popular for no apparent reason. I believe that the idea of the meme, is an important aspect when it comes to popularity. In my MDIA 204 class we are taught that one of the most important ways of advertising, that can either make or break the popularity of something, is word of mouth. Looking at the trends in films, we are able to see just how important word of mouth is.

Take for example, the movie Paranormal Acitivity. According to boxofficemojo.com It has been out since 2007, and last week jumped from 20th place to number 4. It change +1,384.4% from last week, and one of the main reasons was because of the word of mouth. I have seen countless posts on Facebook, and the more I see, the more it makes me want to watch the movie, more so than a trailer for the film.

I believe the same aspect works for Youtube videos. Usually through email, or just from another friend telling me, I have seen every one of the videos you have posted. They become a meme, becoming more and more popular the more people who know about it. One thing to take a look at is the fact that now, the number two video is this…

127,381,924 views

It’s funny to see the popularity of a video and how it is affected by word of mouth.

Sources:

youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ25-glGRzI

http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2009&wknd=41&p=.htm