Genre-Bending and Metafiction

Supernatural: Hollywood Babylon

I chose to do this episode of Supernatural because it shows the main characters on a horror movie set that starts off being like all other horror movies. The Winchesters than help the writers make the movie more original. Also I chose to this episode because it is one of my favourites from the show.

Plot Summary: Dean and Sam go to Hollywood to investigate a haunted studio where the lead actress Tara Benchley of a horror movie saw a member of the crew dead and a ghost. Sam researches and finds that four people have died along the last eighty years and the ghost could be any of them. The Winchester brothers are mistaken as PAs and discover that the event was actually a marketing strategy to promote the film. But when the producer Brad Redding first and another executive later die in the set, they discover that a revengeful screenwriter is really summoning fiends in the shooting.

This episode would be a meta fictional episode because it shows scenes of how every single horror movie goes. The horror movie has the preppy girl, the jock, the nerd, the funny person, and the virgin who are in every single horror movie. The preppy girl ends up dying first and so on and so forth. But this makes fun of this genre because Sam and Dean Winchester end up making remarks to other horror films as well as they say it is horrible several times. Also they end up having to fight ghosts in the studio, so the writers make the rest of the film to follow what they did on the set of the movie.

References:

Dean Winchester think he saw Matt Damon. Sam Winchester denies this, because the mentioned person is sweeping the floor, to which Dean replies that probably he is doing research for a new role. This is a reference to Damon's role in Good Will Hunting(1997).

When Dean mentions that he wanted to come to California for "swimming pools, movie stars" (lines from the theme song to The Beverly Hillbillies (1962)), Sam replies that it is not swimming pool weather, as it is "practically Canadian". This is in reference to the fact that Supernatural is not filmed in Los Angeles, but in Vancouver, Canada.

In the trailer for 'Hell Hazers 2' there are several scenes from previous Supernatural episodes. The shot of the knife being dipped in blood (27:00) is from "Bloodlust". The shot of the coffin lid with the lining torn and symbols carved on it (27:06) is from "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things". When announced that it is from the producers of 'Cornfield Massacare' (27:10) that shot is from "Scarecrow". When 'Monster Truck' is announced (27:12) that shot is from "Route 666".

When Dean tells Tara she was great in 'Boogeyman', she says it was a horrible script. The Script to Boogeyman (2005) was written by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke (who is the creator of the show).

When a take is stopped because of the argument of salt against ghosts, a shotgun is suggested and then rejected as making less sense than salt. The main character, Ash, of The Evil Dead (1981) fights against the dead-come-back-from-hell with a shotgun and a chainsaw.

Viral Videos

               

Internet memes are an underrated form of entertainment that demonstrate the creativity of our culture and, through the democratic nature of sites like YouTube, return control of our entertainment  back to us.

Internet memes in my opinion are extremely over looked when it comes to modern day entertainment. They are usually pretty creative or they are sweet simple and cute. They can also be funny which is what most teens and adults watch. Streaming sites like YouTube also let you pick what you want to watch whenever you want to watch it. They also allow you to see what is going on around the world almost as soon as it happens. Also viral video stars can become just as famous as any actor now a days because of their videos that have become popular due to the amount of viewings they get. The three videos that I am going to talk about are What Does the Fox Say, Charlie Bit My Finger, and Star Wars Kid. The reason I picked these videos is because in my opinion they are all very viral videos that almost everyone will know about. They were also redone in many different creative ways.

The first viral video that I will be talking about is the What Does the Fox Say video. This video was made by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis. This video was the number one video of 2013 earning 454 million views in just over a month. This video has been extensively covered and adapted by others. It has also been used on TV several times. Like it was used on the seventh season of dancing with the stars and it was also done by the Glee cast for one of their episodes. Also with the release date of this video being around Halloween time, costume stores noticed the sales of fox costumes had risen by almost 40% all because this video was seen by almost everybody. And it was just announced that this song will appear on the video game Just Dance 2015. Altogether this video shows how todays pop culture can be  easily entertained and how a simple and creative video can become number one very quickly.

 

The second viral video that I will be talking about is the Charlie Bit My Finger video. This video is of these two brothers (Harry and Charlie) who are sitting on a chair and Harry sticks his finger in Charlie's mouth and gets bitten. This video was uploaded in 2007 and as of April 2014 it is the fourth most watched video on YouTube with approximately 730 million views. As of 2012 the video has made the family  £300,000 (US $500,000), which they plan to use for the boys future education. Also just recently their was a "Charlie Bit Me" app made for Apple and Android devices. This video has been so successful that  people were selling unlicensed merchandise without the families permission. This video has also been redone a whole bunch of times just like the What Does The Fox Say video, including a remake done by Chris and Liam Hemsworth. In conclusion this video shows that Internet memes can be a very good source of entertainment because it can be simple, cute and funny all at the same time. 

 

 



The final viral video that I will be talking about is Star Wars Kid. This video is of a 15 year old boy who is pretending that a golf ball retriever is a lightsaber. This video was created November 3, 2002. By November 27, 2006, the video had been viewed over 900 million times. Several fans loved the video and felt that they could related to it. One group of Star Wars enthusiasts even said  "That's why his video become so popular: It was funny and awkward but ultimately we connected to him. That made us feel more comfortable with our own awkwardness and dreams of being a Jedi." This video too has had several remakes and spoofs made of it. Some of them adding sound effects and light effects to the video to make it more interesting. This video has also been redone in different ways for TV shows like The Venture Bros, American Dad, South Park, and Family Guy. Altogether this video shows how other individuals can be very creative in remaking the original video.

Altogether internet memes are completely over looked as forms of entertainment. They allow us to be creative and with websites like YouTube we can watch whatever types of videos we want whenever we want to watch them. They also allow us to see what other people do for fun and what people have sometimes messed up on in life. Also the pop culture off today shows that everybody loves to laugh at people whether it be a happy video, a sad one or a funny one. And I think that these three videos have brought a lot of joy to people so far.



                                                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Movie Trailer Analysis

The Conjuring (2013)

Directed By: James Wan

Construction of Reality:
Is this a realistic view of the world? Is it supposed to be?
For the most part this movie is a realistic view of the world because it is based on a true story and talks about things that have happened to people of the world even though it is extremely Hollywooded up. The story is based off of a real investigation that two paranormal investigators did in the 1970's and basically what was happening to this family was they moved into a new house and started to notice paranormal things happening around the house. So they called Ed and Lorraine Warren who came in and discovered that the family had a demon/ witch thing trying to takeover and kill the family. This movie in my opinion is not supposed to be a realistic view of the world because what you see in the movie is made scarier than it actually was and also some of the scarier parts they talk about didn't actually happen in the real story, but other than those few things it is a pretty accurate view of what actually happened. And apparently even the real Lorraine Warren and Andrea Perron said that the movie is accurate to the real story of what happened to the Perrons during the 10 years they lived in the farm house.
Here is The REAL STORY

Why would reality be portrayed in this way for this movie? Does it fit the movies meaning/the genres fan base/the pop culture of today?
I think that reality would be portrayed this way because it is trying to show the fear that this family went through well they were dealing with the demonic entity that was haunting the house and surrounding property. Even if this meant making it look scarier and more frightening then in actually was. Yes it fits the movies' meaning because that family wouldn't have that issue if they had done research on the house before buying it. Yes this movie fits the genres fan base because in my opinion it is one of the scariest horror films that I have seen in a while. Also it tries to sort of break the codes and conventions  of most horror films without breaking the main ones that are needed to make a horror film a good horror film.

Codes and Conventions:
What stereotypes or symbols of the genre does the movie display? These can be in the trailer of movie itself.

• Dark/Shadowy Lighting
• Isolated Location
• Female Victim                                                           
• Scary Music
• Big/Bold Lettering
• Whispers, Noises

Creeds and Values:

What value statements is the movie expressing?

One of the value statements of this movie would probably be that you shouldn't piss off the paranormal because the paranormal can always fight back in ways you can't even think of. This is proven throughout the movie whenever the demonic entity does something to the family, either physically or mentally harming the family. I think that the reason this is one of values is because when the family moves into the house they are disturbing and awakening the demonic presence that is in the house. Another value would be that you should always do research on a house before you buy it because you may never know what dark secrets are hidden about it. This is proven throughout the movie because after the investigators get called in, the family starts to learn that a lot of horrible things have happened in the house, which is causing the hauntings.

What lifestyle choices are portrayed?
One lifestyle choice would be that the family in this movie was looking for a chance to start over and have a new life. The family was so excited because they found the perfect home for their 7 person family at a cheap price, but their was a reason for the cheap price that nobody knew about. This proves lifestyle choices because the family was willing to do anything to stay in that house and start a new life even after all of the horrible things that happened while they were in that house.

How are different groups portrayed in the movie? 

There really aren't any different groups in this movie because it is only really about one families issues and how they are fixed, but you could also say that the girls in this movie are more vulnerable to the hauntings than the boys are.

Commercial:

Is this trailer an effective way to sell the movie? Why or why not?
Yes because the trailer doesn't give away too many of the scary parts and it also doesn't give away too much of the plot. Also the trailer doesn't give a false plot like some movie trailers do. I personally love the trailer to this movie because it shows just enough content to make the movie look interesting and like it is going to be a good horror film.

Who is the target audience? Does the movie appeal to that audience?
I think that the target audience is teens and adults because both teens and adults love to have a little bit of a scare and get their adrenaline going for a little bit. I think that this movie appeals to this audience because if you look at the ratings for this movie it is rated a 7.5/10 on IMDb which is pretty good considering most horror movies only get a rating of anywhere between 5 and 6.8 out of 10. Also this movie had a budget of $20 million and made over half of that just on opening weekend in the USA. It then went onto making about $137 million in the USA and about $300 million worldwide. The film also broke box office records after bringing in a total of $41 million at the box office during its opening weekend. It stands as the third highest grossing weekend for an R-rated horror film behind Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) and Hannibal (2001).

Does the trailer fit the movie?
Yes the trailer does fit the movie. The trailer fits the movie because in the trailer it talks about how the family is getting haunted by this demonic presence and the trailer shows some of the best scenes from the movie.

Finally, in a few sentences explain whether or not you think this is a good movie overall. Explain your opinion.
I think this is a good movie because it is a fun movie to watch when it is dark outside and you are with your friends. It is also a good movie because for the most part it has pretty good acting ability and has a very suspenseful plot, which in my opinion makes any movie good. Also throughout the movie the Annabelle doll keeps being brought up which shows that their could be a movie made about her story and how she was created and this actually makes me excited because it gives me another movie to watch when I am with friends.



Task #1

Question # 1:
I believe that media is _____important in my life.
I believe that media is not that important in my life because I don't really like to follow the trends that are going around. Also I never really have enough time to watch TV or be on the internet because I am never home to be affected by the media. As well I don't have cable or satellite so when I do watch TV I don't see commercials or see what companies are selling as 'cool'.

Question #2:
What types of media do you feel most passionate about?
I feel most passionate about books, movies and music. I feel passionate about books because I am literally in love with reading. Whenever I have free time I am usually reading and the first place I visit when I go to the mall is the bookstore because I am always looking for new books to read and build up my collection with. I feel passionate about movies because movies are one of the only things that are in my house to watch. At this moment I have over 1000 movies on my hard drive and I have watched almost all of them. Also I am in love with how movies are made and I love to learn about cool things that happened during the filming of these movies. As well I love to compare books to the movie adaptations of them. Like I will always go and see the movie the night that it comes out. Finally I feel passionate about music because music is everywhere. Music probably influences me the most because when I here a new song all I can think about is whether or not I can make a dance to it. Also if my dance teacher makes a dance to a song I like, I will remember the dance whenever I hear the song. As well music helps me concentrate when I am working and it helps me calm down before I fall asleep.

Question #3:
What are your thoughts on modern pop culture? I think that modern pop culture is a joke. I mean like sure some of the stuff is cool and people think that it is cool, but after a while all of it just becomes to much. Take for instance the One Direction craze. All you see everywhere is 1D stuff and not everyone is obsessed with this bad. To be honest I think that not as many people like this band as much as we think. Which also means that companies are only trying to supply things for those people who like 1D when other people may want things more easily available for the bands that they like.

Do you like some of the new technology that is helping us communicate in different ways? Personally I love the new technology that is out there for us to communicate because I have lots of family that is over seas just like other people and all of the things like Facebook and Instagram make it easier for me to stay in touch with them and see what is new in their lives on a daily basis. Also cellphones are another thing that I think helps us out as a whole because they make it easier to keep track and get a hold of you no matter where you are. Plus they make it easier to find out the latest news right when it happens.

What elements of pop culture do you dislike? What I dislike about pop culture is how everyone is trying to follow the trends just to seem cool. I think that people should just be how they want to be. I also hate how the media is always pushing the exact same things down your throat until you buy them or start doing that stuff. They will usually continue to force these trends until a new trend has come up then they force that on you and the cycle just continues to keep going and I don't think that it will ever end.

What do you use media for? I usually use the media to help me find new movies and books that are coming out because that is what I like to do and it helps me pick new things to read or watch. I also use it for some entertainment because some of the stuff I find funny. Like on Youtube I mainly watch talent videos and dance videos because I love to see the different types of talent that are out there.

Question #4:
Pick one form of media that you have a strong, passionate connection to? I have a strong, passionate connection to books. I love reading because I love to create how the story would look in my mind and I love to make them into my own little movies where no one else knows what they look like. I like to read books that are dystopias because I like to see how the author sees the future to be and how they make the stories their own with little twists that no body knows will happen. Like one of my most favourite books has to be either the Hunger Games trilogy or the Divergent trilogy because they have probably the most original plots I have ever read. Now I know you are probably thinking that these are the most cliché favourite books, but I do have to say they are cliché because they are amazing books and you can tell this from just how many copies it has sold worldwide. Books are such an important part of my life because it is one of the few things that I can connect to and love to do. Like a lot of people say they don't like to read and I think that it is such a disappointment because I feel that they are missing a lot when they say "oh well I'll just go see the movie." I think that people who say that are just abusing the authors work because it was the author who came up with the idea first and it is their ideas that are being put onto the screen, so I just think that it is rude when people don't read the books. Plus most movies end up missing a lot of stuff from the books which also makes me mad because they have that source right there that they can use.