The Great Assumption of the “Star System”

This particular chapter of the book only reiterated something that I already long recognized about the entertainment industry’s assessment of successful projects. The movie industry in particular has always operated under the assumption that having a well-established star in a project will spell automatic success. Movie producers believe that a film project carries less financial risk if there is a marketable “star” to bring in revenue. As is seen time and time again, there are always exceptions to this star system of assessing success in the entertainment industry.

Take for instance this year’s supposed guaranteed blockbuster Green Lantern (2011) starring Seth Rogen. From a producer’s standpoint, this film should have easily garnered profits immense enough to cover the total cost of production (nearly $325 million in marketing and production cost).  Surely the producer believed that by having a comedic star such as Seth Rogen, who has written a number of huge hits from Pineapple Express to Superbad, that their remake of a once very popular comic book would be a blockbuster success. Unfortunately for the movie’s producers, the film failed to bring in nearly enough to cover the outrageous production costs despite producing nearly $220 million in gross revenue. What seemed to have gone wrong?

The makers of Green Lantern made a couple of huge assumptions that cost them nearly $105 million dollars. The first of which being that thought that they were guaranteed a huge revenue from remaking a once immensely popular comic book, following in the footsteps of the makers of blockbuster comic book remakes such as the Spiderman and Batman series’. The book describes this as “Art Imitating Art,” and greatly stresses the point that success if not guaranteed by following this model as seen with previous box office blunders such as Land of the Lost and Sahara. As with these projects, prior success does no always translate into hit as people’s interests and wants change greatly over generations. The second assumption that made this film fail so miserably was the producer’s investment in Seth Rogen. Although his previous films have developed cult following, it was quite easy for Seth Rogen fans to see right through the premise of this film. I know this because I was one of those fans. I loved all of the movies Seth Rogen has written and starred in, yet I knew from the moment I saw the Green Lantern trailer that this role was not going to be right for him. Rogen plays the loveable idiot that everyone can relate to, as opposed to the legendary superhero that our parents loved. In this way the producers of the Green Lantern were destined for below-average success.

 

Zach Stroup Blog #2

Zach Stroup

9/21/11

MFJS

Blog #2

BLOG #2

            The film that I decided to write my ideological analysis about is white men can’t jump. It is about a white basketball player who hustles an African-American player and eventually they work together and hustle everybody they can. Their strategy is to have the African-American player (Sidney Dean) talk a bunch of trash and have the white player (Billy Hoyle) sitting on the bench looking like a “nerd”. Sidney says to the other players that they can pick any one guy to play against them for a sum of money. Of course everybody picked Billy because he had the stereotype of a goofy basketball player, but in all reality he was the best player on the court. They pull these antics for a few games, but eventually get caught hustling by a few other teams.

I believe that this movie attracted audiences because basketball is a sport most people enjoy. People have heard the term “white men can’t jump” so it intrigues them to watch it. The audience for this movie is most likely males who like basketball.

The ideological analysis for this movie is the expectation that Billy Hoyle cannot play basketball to save his life. It is a social norm in the sports world that if you see a white goofy basketball player he is not going to be very good. The players that were getting hustled by Billy and Sidney were stereotyping the goofy white guy and expecting that he is going to be terrible.

I decided to choose this film because I play basketball a lot and know how often people stereotype the goofy white guy. It is a social norm to do so and in this movie they exploit it in a comedic way. This is one of my favorite movies because I know how realistic the situation is.

Zach Stroup Blog #1

While I was reading the first few pages of the assigned article I couldn’t believe how such a movement transformed into one of the biggest success stories of all time. The ipod as everybody knows is an unbelievable asset. To get Duke University signed up with the apple company was a brilliant decision. Who would use an ipod more than college student? And then when they decided to have individual classes make apps specifically for that class, you realize why it became such a huge success.

My story that goes along with the first chapter was my student-organized trip to China. I traveled with forty students and four adults and had the opportunity to interact with Chinese students for two weeks. When I first arrived there I couldn’t fathom how much of a different culture they were living in. Everything they did was different then the life I lived. Especially school, at an early age they are given the choice of what they want to do whether it is a chef, ping-pong player, or ballerina. When I got a chance to know some kids, I realized that they are not becoming a chef or ballerina because they have to, they are doing it because they want to. I think that goes along with the argument on page 85 that if kids are studying for a purpose and they have a payoff they try a lot harder.

This learning experience helped me realize the quality of the work they do. But again I feel like part of it is because that is what they want to do. If I had the opportunity to stick to one thing my whole life and I wanted to be successful in it I believe I could, just like anybody else. Another thing I noticed when I watched them perform a regular everyday class was how well they communicated with each other and helped each other out. They realized that to perform to the best of your ability you had to give and take feedback with no animosity towards the other person.

My trip to China was probably the best thing that has ever happened to me. I had a chance to interact with citizens of another country and I learned a great deal doing it. Communication was key to my trip because without it I wouldn’t of been able to learn the things that I did.

Blog 1..it didnt work last time

My freshman year of high school I thought I could take on anything.  I was starting out school with lots of homework, lots of practices and no time at all for a social life.  During my freshman year, it wasn’t the books that taught me the most, it was my team.  Being on a high school swim team was the most fun I’ve ever had and it taught me values that I will keep for life.

While others went to school and had a social life I thought that I would have no time for that on a team, it would
just be hard work.  I was ready for the challenge of swimming hard and helping my team to win but I never thought I
would learn so much from them.  Thought-out my freshman year I learned what I meant to have people rely on you and to have
others peoples backs. Whenever I would jump up on the block I experienced what it felt like to have people who will love me no matter how good or bad I swam.  I learned how to manage my time and juggle my swimming with my homework and try to fit in a little social
life.  My teammates encouraged me to do my best at the pool and in the classroom.
Through those interactions I found out who I could trust and who would not be there for me.  I had to ask myself
every day, do I watch TV after practice or should I get my homework done for tomorrow?  I carried on those lessons
till now.  I know how to manage my time and I how to work hard to achieve something for not only myself but for other people.  I use these skills everyday whether I’m doing a group project in class or helping out a friend.  I know that I have developed good values
through this experience.  In the real world I will be ready to work with a team and I will know what hard work
means.  Nothing that I could have ever learned in class could have been better than what I learned from the people
around me that year.

Blog 1..it didnt work last time