I’ve been watching The Biggest Loser a lot this season. The very fact that this show exists, is hugely popular, and runs new “seasons” twice from September to May reflects the growing American concern with food, fitness and our waistlines. What’s interesting, though, is the way in which even a show like this, with such supposedly altruistic concerns, has fallen victim to the lure of product placement and cross-product advertising. It is now a regular feature of The Biggest Loser; contestants and trainers alike can be seen, every week, preparing foods or using products that bear recognizable brand names. The Biggest Loser has become a vehicle for the advertising of “health” products!
In the episode that aired this past Tuesday night, contestants were seen looking through their kitchen for snack foods to take to the gym with them. They proceeded to make a yogurt smoothie made by Yoplait; in one convenient freezer bag, consumers can get frozen fruit and yogurt. The product is then placed in a blender with some milk, blended, and voila – “homemade” smoothie. As the show’s contestants were conveniently discussing the advise their trainer, Bob, has given them about preparing their own snacks with which to travel to the gym, Bob happens to walk into their kitchen to ask what they are preparing. The contestants show him the Yoplait package (the Yoplait name is focused on by the camera several times so home viewers can recognize the name brand), and Bob proceeds to read the package labels, giving the product his stamp of healthy approval. Is this entertainment – part of the story of The Biggest Loser – or is this sneaky advertising? Does the fact that these contestants have made a Yoplait smoothie have any bearing on their eventual outcome in the contest that is The Biggest Loser? Probably not. But Yoplait does. They’ve managed to get viewers to watch a commercial without even realizing it. Nice work.
I saw the movie Mrs. Doubtfire again over the weekend. I think I have seen this movie 756 times. That’s just an estimate. But it is still funny, relatable and easy to watch. Robin Williams does a fantastic job as an older woman / man getting a divorce. My favorite scene is when his brother and brother’s boyfriend are creating his new “look” to become Mrs. Doubtfire. Robin Williams is a master impressionist, and he does several impressions of people – Barbara Streisand, a crass Cuban woman, an old Jewish woman, etc. The film does a good job of showing what a family going through divorce can look like. The kids are affected by the divorce as well, and Robin Williams’ character just wants to be able to spend more time with them on a regular basis. No one knows that he is dressing up as Mrs. Doubtfire except his two oldest kids, who find out in a funny scene during which one of them discovers that Mrs. Doubtfire can pee standing up. But by the end of the film, his identity as Mrs. Doubtfire is discovered through a funny restaurant scene and through several necessary costume changes gone awry. However, even though his “crime” is discovered, his ex-wife comes to her senses in the end, saying that despite their problems, everything was better when Mrs. Doubtfire was around. Robin Williams’ character gets to see his kids every day after school in the end, making for a happy ending for everyone. This film is worth seeing 756 times.
ReplyDeleteThis week I watched an episode of Seinfeld, my favorite show. Ever. I saw the episode called “The Boyfriend” in which Jerry meets Keith Hernandez, becomes friends with him, and questions whether their friendship is moving too quickly. There are a lot funny scenes in this episode. For example, Jerry worries about what to wear on his first outing with Keith Hernandez, asking Elaine if the red patterned shirt he’s chosen is too busy. Elaine has to remind Jerry that he’s going out with another guy – not on a date. Later in the episode, Jerry worries about how to properly end his evening with Keith Hernandez. Should he shake his hand? Should he act aloof? Keith Hernandez asks Jerry to go see a movie later that week, and Jerry quickly answers yes, worrying in his head that he may have seemed too eager. Again, Jerry treats his new friendship with Hernandez as if it were a new relationship with a woman. Thus the title of the episode – Keith Hernandez as Jerry’s new “boyfriend.”
ReplyDeleteIn the same episode, Kramer and Newman tell the tale of a day when they believe that Keith Hernandez spit on them after a Yankees game. Jerry recreates the story for Elaine to attempt to prove that Hernandez could not possibly have committed the spitting crime. In an analysis of the spitting that parodies the film JFK and its analysis of the “magic bullet” that killed him, Jerry moves through the spitting “crime” step by step to prove that one wad of spit – one loogie – could never do what Kramer and Newman claim it could. By the end of his argument, Jerry declares that wad of spit to have been “one magic loogie,” again mocking JFK. This is what Seinfeld does best – mock our lives, such as our dating norms and our current films – in order to show us our own ridiculousness.