The Bling Ring

I just finished watching Sophia Coppola's "The Bling Ring".

The premise of this movie is based of a real story about a group of teens who broke into celebrity mansions and stole over 3 million dollars worth of designer clothes, accessories, and even some furniture.

Overall, I thought this movie was pretty good. Despite Emma Watson's terrible american accent, I thought it was really well acted and executed. It was more entertaining than educational, unless I was researching the contents of Paris Hilton's closet.

Due to the content, the movie did have a lot of product placement. The main characters were drowning in Chanel, Versace, Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton, Dolce and Gabbana, Bulgari jewellery, anything you could imagine. Usually I would find this amount of product placement gratuitous, but it worked so well with the story that I didn't even mind. To see these teens freak out over a Chanel bag at Paris Hilton's house was not only amusing but also aided to the development of these fame-crazy characters. There were also many cross-promotions with celebrities such as Lindsey Lohan,
Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson, and of course Paris Hilton. At one point Emma Watson even held up a shoe and said, "Wow, I didn't know Paris had her own shoe line!" I'll admit that was a bit excessive.
It also included a few stereotypes. The only gay guy was of course obscenely into fashion and occasionally cross dressing. All of the girls were vapid and only cared about how they looked. Again, I didn't feel like it was so obvious as to take away from the movie, but it was prominent enough to mention.

I think this movie was effective. It can appeal to a variety of audiences, especially teens. I think everyone wants to live that celebrity lifestyle. In the movie the main character Marc says that he feels like he isn't handsome, not good-looking enough to be on the red carpet or to live a fabulous lifestyle. He commented that having those beautiful things made them feel important, like they were part of that lifestyle. I think, although vapid, a lot of people (especially teens) can relate to these values. Everyone envies stars and their fabulous lives in some way or another. It's important for movie to make these connections with audiences. I think a good movie is one that anyone can watch and see a part of themselves.

Out of all the units we've studied, movies are the form of media I'd want to spend more time with. Every time I watch a movie I am transported into another place. I can be in Middle Earth, or on the day of Don Corleone's daughter's wedding, or even a spaceship headed to the end of the universe. This is a beautiful and amazing thing to me, to be able to be entranced with something at the push of a "play" button. While, like many forms of media, movies can be rampant with product placement, ads, and stereotypes, the magic isn't lost within them, and sometimes they can be used to enhance the experience. If I'm going to be advertised to, why not have it be on a fictional billboard in the background that gets blown up by Batman in some attempt to save Gotham? That seems like a better option to me. As long as you remain critical of when you're being advertised to, I see no harm in sitting back and enjoying a good ol' fashioned movie. There's nothing wrong with entertainment for the sake of entertainment.