Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Consumerism! The Musical (or - Blog Post #1)
What kinds of strategies does this video use to make its argument? What sorts of genres does it draw on in the music and dancing? How does it use satire to make a point? What audience do you think this video is intended for? If you look at the video on youtube, you can also see how the producers of the video present it (in the caption) - what does this tell you about their intentions for the video? Is the video successful? How has it been received?
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23 comments:
This video could not be anymore obvious in the message it is trying to portray. It is clear that the whole point of the video is to show how our society just gives free money away to people with bad credit, and these people just keep spending and spending somebody else's money and in reality they don't own anything. Also, in the beginning of the video, there was a hint towards the slick and malignant attitude towards other people in general, when the man lied to the other costumer that his car was on fire, just to get ahead in line. Also, it made a reference to how disrespectful people who work as cashiers can be, as I have had that experience in real life. The video is probably targeted towards young people.
On the surface, this video looks like a happy representation of the way people live and buy stuffs in today society; however, when you go deeper into the video, it isn't hard to sense the sarcastic tone embedded in it. When the guy repeats the lyrics "It's a wonderful life" over and over again, it seems that the guy is not really having a wonderful life but simply seeking aknowledgements from others. At the same time, the video questions on how the society today perceives and evaluates the quality of life- does crazily swiping credit cards in exchange for luxurious clothings make a wonderful life? Basically the video uses a sarcastic tone to present the meterialistic nature of today's society.
I immediately thought of Glee when I started watching this musical. I think that is how the producers were able to capture the audience, which was clearly young adults. This musical mimicked what society already coined as popular. I also made a connection with the beginning when the guy was ordering his coffee. That is something we hear all too often in society as people order their complicated drinks from Starbucks every morning, myself included. This got my attention. By making a connection with the target audience of young adults, the video was successful in making the audience really think about consumerism. The things that are mentioned in the song are all too real for newly independent college students, especially with the line: "spent $700 but forgot to pay rent." This is reality for many people. I think since the musical context made a more light of the situation, it was easier to understand and really think about how consumerism is a problem in America.
This video portrays life as wonderful, but in reality, it is full of sarcasm. In today's society, it is easy to carelessly spend money for unnecessary things. For example, the guy in the video claims he doesn't have money, but he is seen buying a huge cup of coffee rather than making a cup of coffee at home, which would be much cheaper. There are many people today who are like this guy. While they can barely pay for food or rent, they see nothing wrong with purchasing an expensive cup of coffee. This video mocks the people in society who believe they can spend money and rely on the government to give them money when needed. I believe this video is intended for young adults. Growing up in a society of consumerism has distorted young adults views on money. I believe this video uses satire to try to convey a message to young adults about the problems in a consumerist society.
This video is clearly intended for an audience of the age 16-25ish because of how the video starts. Not only does it bring Starbucks into the mix right off the bat, but throughout the video it shows stores such as Limited Too (for younger girls), JC Penney and even GameStop. By showing common stores in a mall where some people spend a lot of their free time, is just a subtle way of hinting that one day consumerism can take over our lives and we could end up like him. The top commenter on YouTube says "Notice how at the end of the video it's dark, he’s alone, depressed, and has nothing left. That's how it is in the real world. You eventually run out of money to feed your addiction and lose everything, including the “friends” you tried to buy." This statement is exactly how I perceived the ending. We sometimes spend all this money to make ourselves look better to our friends, when in reality we are just throwing away our money instead of trying to save it or learn how to spend it correctly so we do not end up alone and broke.
Reiterating what the others have said, this clearly is a satirical representation of American consumerist society. We believe that more products and objects of value mean more value to our lives. It seems as though the singer must convince himself of what a wonderful life he has by repeating "What a wonderful life" over and over again. I also believe that the clip tried to hint at the "buy now, pay later" obsession that consumers seem to have. He puts a down payment of one dime down for a $1000 loan, just because he can. Another thing that really stood out was the brightness of the lighting and costumes up until the end of the musical. It seems like all of the bright and shiny products he buys reflect on the brightness of his life; however, at the end it all goes dark and the tone of the music completely shifts to a softer and more somber sound. The whole idea of presenting consumerism as a musical where everyone is dancing and singing is how the video creates satire. I think that this video is definitely intended for all Americans who consume as a sort of realization as to what our country has become. The way the caption of the video says "celebration" of the world we live in almost sounds satirical in itself because we shouldn't be celebrating this type of lifestyle where everything is taken for granted.
I think that pretty much everyone is on the same page that this video is clearly a satire about the outrageousness of American consumerism. The video starts off with a very common thing among young people these days, ordering drinks at Starbucks. I feel that the reason that this is the first scene in the video is to get the viewers attention. It is something that a lot of people can relate to and are willing to laugh at themselves about. The video then starts to show the idea that Americans often demand outrageous things, or always want the biggest or best they can get, even if it is ridiculous. The main strategy that this video uses to get its point across is satire. To me, there are a few layers to this satire. Yes, the words that they are saying are satirical but I think the fact that it is done in the form of a musical is also a strategy. It seems like just the fact that they do a musical makes fun of American consumerism without even listening to the words, That might be a stretch but its just an idea. In my opinion, the producers of this video accomplished pretty much what they set out to do.
This video uses satire to explain the problem of consumerism in America. It is showing that so many Americans today don't care about spending a lot of money if it will get them a material item that seems cool or interesting; they will just swipe their credit card and move on to the next thing they want to buy. This video is very sarcastic. As the man is buying things that he obviously can't afford he is singing "It's a Wonderful Life" this is saying that many Americans keep buying things they can't afford and don't realize why it's a problem as long as they have the things they want.The music and dancing is similar to Glee (mentioned above) and therefore appeals to a younger audience of teens and young adults.
When watching this video, it is clear to see that the strategy used here is satire. Even though the man is singing about how wonderful his life is in a slightly humorous way, he really doesn't mean it. His life is actually filled of buying things that he really can't afford. This video points out how ridiculous the consumerism is in America. Having the new and best house, car, TV, and etc. are pressured upon us in society. These things tend to be extremely expensive though. But making a really little down payment, with periodic payments to follow allows us to think we can afford them, which is a problem! What people need to realize is that the pressure to buy materialistic things to impress friends, impress family, or impress whoever isn't really worth it. What's worth it is actually saving your money and spending it wisely.
Incorporated in the video, I believe that there was some ballroom dancing with music that could have been from a musical. I also believe that this video is directed towards a younger audience. Younger people, I think, tend to pay less attention to the money they're spending and lack the knowledge of knowing how to manage it properly. Therefore, this video is for them.
The satire in the video is trying to portray consumerism in America today. The video uses a sarcastic, humorous approach to attract the audience. The video is set up as a musical to relate to movies such as High School Musical. Due to this, I believe the video is targeting a younger audience. The point of the video is that people are spending more money then they actually have. Credit cards give people the false idea there is an unlimited supply of money. The more money people spend, the more in debt they are. One person’s misuse of credit can affect many others. The “wonderful life” statement is sarcastic because the misuse of credit can ruin the quality of life.
This video points out a huge problem in the United States today. There are a lot of people that spend more money than they make and run up huge debts that are nearly impossible to pay off. In today’s times, once your credit is shot, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to make payments and ultimately buy cars, houses, and many other things later in life. The author uses sarcasm throughout the entire video and pokes fun at how our society believes that it can have anything that it wants and how we believe that there’s always money to pay for it when really there isn’t. I think that the video definitely gets its point across to the audience and it would probably have a very sobering effect on a great deal of people and expose their problems.
This video uses a lot of sarcasm to get through their argument. The musical allows for sarcasm to be portrayed and over exaggerated throughout the entire song. Satire allows for people to see how they are acting themselves but also see how ridiculous they are being with their money. This man is living a wonderful life according to him since he buys expensive things but fails to pay his own rent. He doesn’t realize the money he is throwing away for these obnoxious things when it could be saved for real needs. The needs versus wants are not distinguished and all are needs for him. It is difficult to see how people can waste money for unreasonable items when they need to just take their of themselves. The video can be directed at a younger generation just getting involved with their big jobs. This video needs to show people to be reasonable with their money since it isn’t infinitely available.
There is Quote I wanna share, Life is too important to be taken seriously- Oscar Wilde. This video is targeting age range from 21-31 maybe more a little bit, try to convince people to enjoy and spend money even if they can't afford with a simple credit card swipe not worrying about the consequences, like stay in debt forever. The intention of this video is to make people cheer up and to open their eyes about the beauty of life, Live Life to the Max and don't worry about the consequences as if it will taken care of magically. You only live once. It reminds me with the mortgage crisis a few years ago when all people were buying houses like crazy and they were responsible of the major credit problem in the unites states.
The guy was so sarcastic about life and with personal interaction with people around him especially to the cashier guy and customer who was waiting line to get his coffee.
This video is a satire on the money oriented society and people’s insatiable desire. This video is also telling the truth of how people act in exaggeration way (music, dancing, lyrics). People get money and spend them to satisfy their desire but they always want more than they could have. The wonderful thing in the money oriented society is that there will always be someone who is willing to lend money to people. Then people are indebted and being the slave of money, working for repaying their debt. The satire in this video is people only see the how wonderful of their live are with their debt but never thinking about how are they going to repay it. The audience would be every single person who spends their money to fulfill their desire. The director is sharing his feeling of consumerism with audience. Since 89% people gave positive feedback, I consider most audience agrees with the director and it is a successful video.
This video approaches consumerism in a sarcastic and ironic fashion. This video represents an unfortunate, but very real, way of life for many Americans. The lead singer is willing to spend an outrageous amounts of money on frivolous items, that appear to be on "sale" or have a low down payments. By the time it comes to paying for his necessities, such as rent, he has no money. The music has a peppy, happy feeling, which lures the audience into thinking that the lead character must be happy. However, as shown by the darkness and emptiness at the end of the video, his life is void of anything of true value, or happiness. Looking through the comments only reinforces that this video is no exaggerations many people, including the producer, admitted to living this way.
The argument of the video was to show how ridiculous the handling of money is in our world. The scene where he says something along the lines of I need a thousand dollars. Here's a dime, it's my down payment illustrates this conclusion. Our economy was built around creating money by giving loans to people, much like this man, who simply could not pay the money back. It is important to note that in retrospect, this lending to unqualified individuals led to the Great Recession.
The music in the video is very much Broadway. It is loud, fast, and extravagant. The style of music is a metaphor for the life of stereotypical modern consumer. The video certainly gets its point across, cleverly using satire to poke fun at the very serious issue of sub prime lending.
This video's intended audience are all American consumers. It makes fun of how Americans spend their money and how we want more money and objects just to satisfy our wants. It shows how greedy we are with our money the video portrays this with satire by using loud and flashy music and actions. If the video changed any viewers mind on their spending habits then the video was successful. The video made me think twice about my spending habits, therefore, the video was successful.
This video was using satire to get its point across that consumerism in America has gone too far. The director used the upbeat tempo and flashy show tune to show how easily people can get sucked into buying items that they cannot afford. It also shows how glamorous and appealing consumerism can be. This video is satirizing how people think they need the best of the best and how they think it is okay to max out their credit cards in order to do so. This video is showing the problem that the younger generations have with over spending to buy items they want instead of buying stuff that they actually need.
The video has constantly reminding us what we are doing all the time; buying stuff that we don’t need. There is a quote from the movie “Fight Club” which describes the massage from the video very well and the quote is "The things you own end up owning you”. It is very true we are buying lots of stuff, and that damages us because it makes us waste our life working for the money so we can go wasting them, and our freedom. If we keep doing what we are doing in the end we will be alone, depressed, and has nothing left; just like the guy in the video. That's how it is in the real world. We will eventually run out of money to feed our addiction and lose everything, including our loved ones.
I agree with what Christina said earlier: this video displays the view on money and possessions that many people in society have, and the fact that these people do not appreciate things that they have or could afford; they just want more. And as Kirby said, the video uses a genre of music and dance similar to that of Glee so that it can capture the attention of young audiences.
It tries to prove its point by showing the absolutely extreme cases of consumerism that most likely will never really happen, which to viewers seems ridiculous while watching it, but it helps depict what people are slowly gravitating towards because consumerism is allowed to continue growing. According to the caption for the video on Youtube, the producers are not trying to do anything drastic with the video, such as turn us into anti-consumerism activists; more simply, it was made to encourage us to think more thoroughly before we spend.
The video is not "David After the Dentist"-successful (hence only 270k views), but it has reached a decent amount of viewers. It was received pretty well by the viewers; this is apparent because it has nearly ten times as many "likes" as "dislikes", and because most of the comments about the video are positive.
I think it's pretty obvious that this video is using satire/comedy to get their point across. It's using satire through over emphasizing how young adults use their credit cards to buy anything they want. They're trying to show the trouble most young adults are in, thinking that they have all the money they would ever need and forget they have to pay it all back on interest. When it comes to the bills afterwards, they then realize how much debt they're in and have no clue where to go from there. I found it interesting how they used such a satirical way to get such an important point across, and I hope that people take the video seriously enough to understand the point.
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