Extra Credit Blog

I had never used a blog before attending RTF 305. I found that the blog helped me to better understand the concepts discussed in the book and in class. I didn’t find any problems with the blogs technically, but I did sometimes have a hard time understanding specifically what the blog prompts were asking for. I was able to overcome these problems by referring back to the book and to my lecture notes in order to understand what exactly the concepts being asked to discuss were. I liked the prompts that asked us to refer to a specific movie, TV show or advertisement of our own choice. I felt like this allowed me to apply the concepts to things that interested me. I don’t know if I would recommend using blogs in future courses simply because I found them somewhat tedious and difficult to understand. I think that while they did help me in some aspects of understanding the course they also constrained me in others. In changing the blogging experience I would suggest making the prompts more specific and providing greater feedback as to what could be changed in order to improve future blogs.

Yes, you can use my blog in a paper or report.

Japan and America: Most Extreme Challenge- Globalization

Globalization is an increased connection and fusion among people, ideas, cultures and communities. It describes the constant exchange of ideas and materials that come together to create a world in which everyone’s cultures are continually shared.

Hybridization is the relation of ideas from one area of part of the world to another. Glocalization is when an idea that is successful in one place is adopted in another. Hybridization is an increasing phenomenon along with increasing media connectivity among countries and cultures.

One example of hybridization and glocalization is the show Most Extreme Challenge. It is an American show on Spike TV that is a re-edit of the Japanese game show “Takeshi's Castle.” This television show presented the Japanese idea of a comedy television show with an American mix to it. It became dubbed in English and a new storyline was created. The idea of the show which was very highly successful in Japan from 1986-1989 and played in America from 2003-2007. The show displays glocalization and hybridization because it takes a successful game show idea from Japan and re-develops it into an American show. Ideas are also transmitted from Japanese  culture to American culture such as the comedic relief received from watching everyday people try and accomplish ridiculous and completely useless tasks that usually result in painful and humorous disaster.

Old Spice: Smell like a Man, Man.

Recent advertisements that have struck me are the Old Spice ads. There are quite a few reasons why the Old Spice ads strike me. First of all, the man in the commercials is physically attractive with a deep voice. He immediately strikes you as confident and interesting. He speaks directly at you, and keeps you constantly engaged the whole commercial. While the commercial is for men’s body wash, the commercial is primarily aimed at women, trying to persuade them to buy Old Spice body wash for their boyfriends or husbands. The commercial is also visually engaging as it jumps from one set to the other. It seems almost absurdist and while it doesn’t even make much sense it appeals to a simplistic approach of simply telling women that while they can’t make their man look like the man in the commercial, they can make their man smell like him. I think that one reason that this commercial is so successful is that unlike many recent commercials it doesn’t attempt to make a bunch of ridiculous claims to the audience. It tells you that “anything is possible when your man smells like old spice and not a lady.” While this claim is completely ridiculous, it is just ridiculous enough that you know that this is not the actual argument the ad is trying to make. Simply enough the ad just tells you that if you want your man to smell good, you should buy him Old Spice body wash.

OLD SPICE COMMERCIAL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

One appeal that Professor Straubhaar talked about was the appeal of how advertising displays an escape from ordinary life. Advertising that takes people out of their element makes them believe that the product being advertised will take them to a new and exciting place. While the appeal is not often this simple and is usually not as successful as intended, it often at the very least catches peoples eyes. People are often expecting mundane advertisements that simply show the product advertised in the atmosphere in which it would be used. However, commercials that are able to convincing display their product in a way that makes the consumer believe they have “escaped” ordinary life are often successful.

The Old Spice commercials provide changing scenery multiple times in the commercial to more fantastical places each time the scene changes. The commercials display the “Old Spice Man” moving from a bathroom to a boat and then finally to the back of a horse on a beach. The commercial is very simple and shows very interesting transitions from one scene to the other, never actually changing scenes but just shifting the “Old Spice Man” without actually cutting. The ad, along with other Old Spice ads creates a kind of fantasy world along with a fantasy man that you wish you could escape to. While the ad makes no claims that your man will look like the man in the commercial nor will where you magically shift to the place shown, it simply tells you the closest you will get to the surreal universe displayed is by smelling like it. While this may sound absurd it is actually quite addicting and convincing. I watched the commercial quite a few times and never actually grew tired of seeing it. It is funny and it’s blatantly sarcastic attempts to brainwash you make you feel like you can watch it at ease without pressure.

The Three Act Strucuture: Signs

The three act structure which according to Dr. Ramirez-Berg was derived from Classical Dramatic Structure is the basis of many modern films. Director M. Knight Shyamalan gives a perfect example of this structure in his 2002 movie Signs.

                The first act of signs is a bit longer than the traditional thirty minutes because it spends extensive time introducing the characters and what they have at stake. The protagonist Graham Hess lives with his brother Merrill and his two children Morgan and Bo. After suffering the death of his wife in the previous year Graham has abandoned his job as a reverend and no longer believes in God or in miracles. After mysterious crop circles appear in the family’s farm and rumors of aliens begin to arise in the town Morgan and Bo are convinced that aliens are plotting an invasion. Graham fails to believe in anything but his rationality and will not see all of the signs that lead to this invasion. The first act of the introduction reaches the first plot point when Graham is forced to accept the fact that the aliens are indeed going to invade. Graham receives a call from the man who hit and killed his wife asking for help and rushes to his house. He is told that inside an alien is locked in the pantry but he is very skeptical. It is not until after extreme tension and buildup that Graham looks under the pantry door and is faced with the fact that he has been denying. After seeing the alien and having it reach towards him Graham rushes out of the house and is now faced with the question of what to do next now that he has undeniable proof that the aliens are coming.

The second act involves the complication in which the family prepares for the alien invasion and questions what to do to survive. This act involves Graham to question God and confront the horrible tragedy of his wife’s death. The second plot point towards the end of act two occurs after boarding up the house when the family sits down to dinner for their final meal before the aliens come later that night. Each family member has their favorite meal sitting in front of them as the melancholy mood is set by the camera slowly circling around the table. The children ask Graham if they can say Grace before eating and he breaks down and says “I'm not wasting one more minute of my life on prayer.” The whole family starts crying as they break down and realize what they are going to face in the hours to come. The act ends with the characters questioning life meaning and the existence of God. The question leads into the ways in which the characters act in the third act.

In the final act of Signs, Shyamalan has the aliens invade the Hess house in the middle of the night. It is at this point that the climax occurs, but more specifically it is the moment in which all of the characters are standing in the living room watching as one of the aliens sprays poison gas into Morgan’s (Graham’s son) nose. The climax unravels as the family realizes how all of the little things that go on in their lives have led up to this moment in which they have a choice to either believe or not believe. They kill the alien and rush Morgan to the front yard. The movie ends with all of the characters laying on the front lawn, praying to God for Morgan to survive. He is revived purely by the fact that the gas did not get into his lungs because of the horrible asthma he suffers. Faith is restored to the characters and they have escaped the alien attacks. The three act structure is displayed perfectly in this film as the protagonist is faced with a worldly dilemma that causes him to face the moral dilemma he has been avoiding. The film allows you to first understand the characters and their problems, then watch as they attempt to resolve the problems and ends with the characters resolving the problem.

Three Act Show- Sex and the City

I believe the most important characteristic of the sitcom is the three act structure. This strategy has been carried through old shows such as I Love Lucy to shows like All in the Family and finally to even the most modern shows, such as Modern Family. The three act structure allows viewers to know what they are getting before they watch a television show. It also allows new viewers to begin to watch a television show without having much previous knowledge of previous episodes. The structure also makes writing sitcoms relatively easy, allowing writers to have a general structure that is repeated every episode. The first act of a sitcom generally introduces the problem that is posed during the episode. Once the problem is in place a series of events unfold that attempt to resolve the problem, making up the second act. The third act is when the problem posed at the beginning of the episode is resolved and generally ends the show in a relatively happy and fulfilled manner. Characters in sitcoms usually retain the same values and personalities in every episode, allowing them to fulfill their part in the show such as the hero, the sidekick, or the creator of the problem.

 

                One show that I believe functions in this manner is Sex and the City. The show clearly defines the sitcom genre in several ways. First of all, Carrie Bradshaw (Sara Jessica Parker) begins each thirty minute episode posing a question that she will attempt to answer in the article she writes for the paper. The question is generally something about relationships and is usually a result of a recent experience she has had. After posing the question while busily typing on her laptop towards the beginning of the episode, the second act begins when Carrie goes out on the town with her three girlfriends. After a series of encounters throughout the episode Carrie finally comes to some conclusion about the question posed at the beginning: this is the third act. The episode ends with her voice over while she once again sits in her upscale Manhattan apartment typing away on her laptop. Sex and the City functions in the sitcom genre by being episodic but also has somewhat of a character arc over each season of the show as each of the characters discovers what they really want out of life.

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the director Michael Gondry uses a wide variety of high angle shots to low angle shots in order to display the shifting power throughout the film between the two main characters Clementine and Joel.

In one scene, a high angle long shot is used to express the impending sadness of the lover’s situation and the vulnerability of Clementine and Joel. In this scene, they are laying in the middle of a frozen lake, enjoyed what would be one of the final memories they are able to hold on to before their memories are erased. The shot is taken from this high angle to display how helpless Joel is to the erasing of his memory, and how even when he tries to keep the memory, it is slowly fading away, just as the shot fades away.

The next shot is taken at eye level and is a medium shot. It depicts Joel and Clementine sitting in a movie theater, Joel clearly skeptical of Clementine. The eye level shot allows us to be making direct eye contact with Clementine, but still notice Joel’s sideways glare into her face. The shot is also taken from the view of a movie theater screen, an angle we are not used to seeing. It also centers Clementine and Joel so we know who the focus of the scene is, even though they are in the middle of a crowded movie theater.

The last shot is a close up of Joel’s face as he lies in bed discussing the meaning of life with Clementine. This is a very intense scene in the movie, and the close up shot allows us to see the intensity strewn across Joel’s face. The eye-level angle makes Joel seem relatable, and we are able to put ourselves in Clementine’s position as she explains herself and sees Joel listening with careful intent as they lay under the covers.



Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Dir. Michael Gondry. Universal, 2004. DVD.

Family Dramas: "Modern Family" vs. "All in the Family"

“All in the family” was a popular family sitcom in the 1960’s. While it’s focuses and motives may be different from modern family dramas, it still has creates a channel for discussions of values, beliefs and ideals just as modern shows do. One family based show that I watch is “Modern Family.” “Modern Family” includes many of the same topics that “All in the Family” did. One topic that was displayed very differently in both “Modern Family” and “All in the Family” is homosexuality. On “All in the Family,” the idea of homosexuality is tabooed, but displayed in such a way that opens it up to discussion and questioning. People in the 1960’s had not accepted that being gay was not a choice, and say homosexuality as something to be hidden and frowned upon. While homosexuality is also discussed in “Modern Family,” it is done so in a very different way. The son on the show is openly homosexual and has a happy family with his partner and his newly adopted daughter. Unlike on “All in the Family,” homosexuality is not frowned upon but rather displayed in such a way that reflects the values of our time. It is becoming much more common and accepted for homosexual couples to live together happily and even start families. “All in the Family” is the same as “Modern Family” because it gives a medium of discussion for topics such as homosexuality. It is different because the way that it presents the topic is a reflection of the values of the time period the show is set in. Issues that “All in the Family” dealt with include the lack for understanding of homosexuality. In modern times, the majority of people understand that homosexuality is not something to fear. However, in the show the father is disgusted by the idea of homosexuality, and even seems to fear it as a disease. In “Modern Family,” the issues discussed about homosexuality is not exactly the nature of the orientation itself, but rather the dynamics of a homosexuality family once it is established. On “Modern Family,” the homosexual couple often struggle with roles of parenting and household responsibilities. While both shows discuss one of the same topics, the understanding is much different.

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