“Hey Adam…”
Natalie Portman’s voice cascades into my ear drums, battering my auditory senses without mercy. As much as I love Pandora, the online personalized radio website, I am resentful that it lets commercials attack me in between a track from the Braveheart soundtrack and the Star Wars theme (courtesy of James Horner and John Williams).
They don’t even play a variety of commercials! It’s the same one every time; No Strings Attached starring Ashton Kutcher and yes, Natalie Portman, release date January 21st, 2011. I suppose my misery will end once the 21st pulls up, but I think after hearing the same annoying clip more times than I can count, I have a right to be irritated.
Why these ads? Why pay a free online radio website to broadcast 30 seconds over and over to promote a product? I suppose, theoretically, doing so will convince me and most others that we want to spend $10.50 to go see Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman fool around. This is the company’s argument; that two visually appealing people who have a moderate amount of talent can make a movie that deserves my attention and therefore my money.
If you’ve seen the preview, you’ll notice that Ashton and Natalie both look delicious, as movie stars should. However, the dialogue sounds a bit cheesy and forced. The plot isn’t anything new; it’s a love story. Obviously no one put a exorbitant amount of effort in attempting to attract movie goers who prefer an intricate plot with intelligent dialogue. Even if the movie doesn’t have those qualities, I’m sure they could find a way to fool us into thinking it. My conclusion is that the movie relies on the promise of a visually stimulating experience without provoking too much thought. They also probably expect to make a profit, which means they expect a large number of people to see this film. I don’t know if that’s disgusting or really sad.
My theory as to their promotional effects on the public is this: that because they have repeatedly mashed this movie into my brain a thousand times, I feel obligated to see it. If I don’t, I will always wonder if that movie was any good, if No Strings Attached starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman was worth all the trouble of me having to hear about it 40 times a day. That’s where I’ll be Friday night, if this influenza hasn’t killed me.
The way you wrote this made me laugh I enjoyed it! And it's quite obvious that the movie hit its goal, and paying the money on the site to have its ad up was worth it, because hey you are going to see the movie even though you found the ad annoying!
ReplyDeleteI hope you feel better and that the movie isn't too bad. I agree, though, it sounds like a cookie-cutter chick flick that relies on the star power of its main actors and actresses. Hopefully it's funny at least!
ReplyDeleteI agree completely! I hat those ads that interrupt Norah Jones and Franky Sinatra on my Pandora.
ReplyDeleteI loved your line about...'Obviously nobody put an exorbitant amount of effort in attempting to attract movie goers who prefer an intricate plot with intelligent dialogue.' That made me laugh out loud. And I also agree with you on that point.
I love the way you presented the rhetoric about the two different types of ads for the movie. It amused me how you started off saying how it was already bad since they interrupted your music again with the same ad... maybe they were hoping repetition would work... anyway, great job! ... Btw, I also hate those ads on Pandora...
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