Hollywood Reflected

Hollywood is a business—it has many departments, workers, rules and guidelines whose products make up our grand system of entertainment. If a movie won’t turn a profit for the Hollywood corporation, they won’t support it until it conforms to the business in a way that assures a hit. This means that in order for a film to be processed, it must conform to the Hollywood principles to gain enough support for production. Sometimes original endings are altered to fit the Hollywood standards. Especially when adapting a book or screenplay into a blockbuster film. Hollywood standards manipulating scripts that go somewhat against the grain prevents our society from other cultural experiences or seeing things in another light.
Hollywood’s manipulation can even ruin a movie. It sometimes produces a film with an ending that doesn’t quite fit the rest of the plot or detracts from its message. This is seen in many movies of today. For instance, I remember a couple years back when I saw Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher in the movie The Guardian. I remember how surprised I had been that I liked the film. It caught my attention in all the right ways and gave me new expectations for Kutcher’s acting abilities. I was completely and unexpectedly sutured into the film right up until the ending. The ‘motto’ (if you will) for the story had always been “never leave a man behind”. It was stated several times throughout the storyline of the film but in order to create the Hollywood standard happy ending, the film concluded with a captain going down with his sinking ship refusing to be saved and the rescuers leaving him behind. This one man was left behind for the film to gain an overall happy conclusion allowing the rescuers to save others. This completely took me out of the film and effected me so much that I still remember today how completely ‘off’ the ending was in regard to the whole film’s message. Many films of today have uneasy conclusions similar to this that don’t seem to reside with the rest of this film because of Hollywood’s profit-driven standards.
So why do we as viewers continue to support the Hollywood hierarchy that produces awkward endings? Literary theorist Northrop Frye once said “happy endings do not impress us as true but as desirable, and they are brought about by manipulation”. We as audience members have been so manipulated into expecting the happy endings that we are pushed away even if an unhappy ending is better suited for a particular film. These ‘forced happy endings’ replace what may be the better resolution. Sometimes (especially in award seasons) endings are even manipulated just because it would better fit another genre and therefore have better opportunities for award nominations. The constructs of Hollywood ultimately manipulate original scripts and ideas to what is more profitable for the business.
The manipulation of stories to fit standards and to make them more marketable to the public is not a new concept… Hollywood is just a master of it. This trend goes back centuries ago. People would alter endings of stories to keep the tales living long and to spread the stories across the world. The Brothers Grimm were evidently aware of this, for whenever they came across a fairy tale with an unhappy ending; they changed it to a happy one. For instance, Little Red Riding Hood was first concluded with the grandmother and Little Red being eaten by the wolf, but in later editions of the tale, a woodsman would save Little Red and her grandmother would be locked in the closet instead of eaten. The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) knew that editing the conclusions of these tales would make them more accepted throughout the world and therefore more profitable for themselves. The concept of the ideal happy ending was therefore conceptualized long ago but Hollywood’s manipulating influence has gone so far that endings just don’t always sit right with the plot of the film. The Hollywood hierarchy is preventing us as audience members from being exposed to a variety of films that may expand our knowledge, culture, values, likes, and ideals.

MySpace, Facebook, and the Uses and Gratification Model

For our second scholarly article critique, we studies the article “Explaining why young adults use Myspace and Facebook through Uses and Gratifications theory” by Mark Urista, Qingwen Dong, and Kenneth Day. The article explored what made Social Networking Sites (SNS) so appealing to young adults. SNS allow individuals to have an active role in the socialization process as well as a hand in creating their own identity through a convenient medium of communicating with others. The researches set out to find out how members of these SNS use the sites to fulfill their wants and needs and thus give us a better understanding of why young adults are appearing so addicted to these SNS. The researchers conducted their study by separating 50 students into small focus groups and having them discuss their views of MySpace and/or Facebook (since all participants had accounts). The article proved 5 ways in which people use Social Networking Sites to fulfill their needs: efficient communication, convenient communication, curiosity of others, popularity, and relationship forming/ reinforcement.
This article was very interesting and easy to relate to as a fellow college student. I enjoyed reading and learning but wish that the researchers would have found more in their study because I feel that there is still SO SO much more we can learn from Social Networking Sites!

Dexter.

Dexter is a television series on Showtime going on its 4th season. Recently I have been introduced to the show have already completed the first season. The show is about a 'normal' man who works (along with his foster sister) in the police force. Dexter is a blood spatter analyst and his foster sister, Deb, is a cop on the way to making detective. The police department is filled with many interesting characters.
The twist of the story is that no one knows who Dexter really is. Secretly, Dexter is a serial killer who lives by a code to wash the streets clean of scum that infests life. He only kills once he has enough evidence that the offender is really a 'bad person'. This code he lives by allows him to feed his internal beast for killing by channeling it into a beneficial, productive way.
This program captures the viewers attention and gives lots of entertainment. My personal reaction to the series so far is the fact that the views becomes personally attached and invested into the show. Dexter is 'the good guy' but also the killer. The show lets you feel like you can catch onto the twists and turns and solve problems with Dexter as well as surprising you constantly to keep you involved with these cases. This show has been very fun to observe and I will continue to watch at least another season!
Dexter.

The Media Searchlight

It has come to my attention that many of our concerns in the world today may not be as big as they seem, but that they are often exaggerated by the media. The media picks problems, issues, events, etc and magnifies them based on audience reaction. Take the H1N1 (or Swine Flu) virus for example-- it is nothing more than another simple flu that has surfaced yet, the media has celebrities with face masks coming off planes from Mexico and emphasizes the symptoms to the public to build our concern and fear over this new virus.

This is just one example of how the media can bring certain things to our attention and magnify the importance of these things in our day-to-day lives. If the media acts as such a powerful searchlight to highten our awareness of some events, just imagine what it can do to lead us to ignore other events by simply not bringing them to our attention and not taking the time to inform us of such events. I think it the media has a truely awesome power over the things we know, percieve, and are informed/aware of and that it is very important for us to be aware of this power so that it does not completely control us some day.

TaySwift Vs. Kanye

On Sunday September 13th, 2009, MTV presented their highly anticipated annual Video Music Awards (VMAs). The stars assembled and awards were won, with everyone rooting for their favorite artists. Typically on the nights of these types of award ceremonies, there is a little bit of internet buzz with people commenting on the show. That night, however, there was an interruption in the show.

Announcing the winner for Best Female Video were Taylor Lautner (Twilight: New Moon) and Shakira (latin singer). The nominations for this category included Kelly Clarkson, Beyonce, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and P!nk. The winner was announced: Taylor Swift wins for her video "You Belong With Me"!

• Taylor Swift began as a Country Music singer and is slowly emerging into the pool of pop music and making a BIG splash! The 19 year-old's hits include "Tim McGraw", "White Horse", "Fearless", "Our Song", and many more. She has guest starred on a handfull of TV shows including CSI and SNL. She is currently on tour for her second album Fearless (coming to the Target Center in 2 weeks! I'll be there!).

Upon giving her acceptance speech, (graciously thanking producers, family, and fans) Kanye West sneaks onto the stage taking the mic away from Taylor's hands and proceeded to tell the shocked crowd that Beyonce deserved to win the award for her video "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it)". Kanye stated "You're video was great and all, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. Of all time."

• Beyonce is the wife of Jay-Z (whom Kanye refers to as his mentor).

The audience reacted by booing and reacted similarly when he was mentioned throughout the evening. The stars at the performance as well as fans watching the show at home were equally astonished and put-off by Kanye's actions. [View video of the conflict here]



The night went on and ended on a happy note when Beyonce's "Single Ladies" won the award for Best Video and she asked Taylor to come join her on stage so that she could have her moment and finish her speech.

What happened next is what shocked me the most though: Upon seconds of seeing Kanye's actions, I immediately went to my Facebook. Within seconds there were hundreds of posts on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. and many texts were sent. People Tweeted and posted statuses referring to the night such as the fallowing:

• "Like school in the summertime -- no class."
• "Sorry y'all but we're just a little bit protective of Taylor Swift around here!! Hey Kanye.. By around here, I mean the world!! Moron...."
• "Taylor Swift won me as a fan for life for her grace, as did Beyonce...humility and a humble spirit go a long way in this life and the next."
• "My heart goes out to Taylor Swift. She is a sweet and talented girl and deserved her moment. She should know we all love her."
• "Kanye when're you gonna figure out you're NOT the "voice of our generation?" No one thinks you're as awesome as you're convinced you are."
• "Kanye West should be banned from all music events. How disrespectful!"
• "THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR. REALLY MATURE. TAYLOR SWIFT OBVIOUSLY DESERVED THAT LIGHT, AND YOU ROBBED HER OF THAT. CONGRATS. THE LADIES OF THE NIGHT TRULY HANDLED THE SITUATION WITH GRACE THOUGH."

Even online quizzes were created with title like "When in your life will Kanye interrupt you?" and even our President Obama had something to say about Kanye's actions [View video of Obama's comment here]. The incident led me to think about how quickly we can now communicate with many, many people all at once now. The saying "news travels fast" really comes to mind.

Just something to think about next time you sign on to Facebook...