Narcissism as Liberation

Morgan Finley
Liz Lackey
Ashley Bridges
Amy Arismendez





“Narcissism as Liberation” by Susan J. Douglas



Description of Topic: Throughout history women have been trying to liberate themselves from stereotypes as well as from social expectations. Douglas discusses in the article that through advertising, women in the 1980s were beginning to backtrack and with their liberation become narcissistic. Women were now stressed to be successful and focused yet young, fresh, and feminine. They were then thrust products which would help them fit their new mold and told, “You may be successful, but with this product you’ll look and feel even better”. Douglas points out how many of the different beauty campaigns are set up as well as gives examples such as L’Oreal’s “I’m Worth It” and Virginia Slim’s “You’ve come a long way, baby”.
Summary of Key Points: Douglas covers many different aspects of women’s liberation and how they are portrayed in advertisements. Advertising agencies learned a new technique for the “modern woman” of the 80s where both feminism and anti-feminism still resulted in the need for certain beauty products that no person could live without. Douglas also brings up the book The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch and how ad agencies started to use women’s self-love and began to focus on how women failed to measure up to others causing competition and the need for certain products and beauty habits.



Discussion Questions:
1. In 1980’s advertising began using woman’s wants against them, making woman feel as though in order to be “feminine”, they had to buy certain products and that they would be successful if they purchased certain products. So woman, do you feel that this is still happening or have woman become more aware of this tactic? Now men, do you feel as though you are targeted through certain commercials to look or buy certain products to be successful?
2. Through advertising, do you think that companies need to associate their product with celebrities to sell the product or could the product be as successful if sold by the average consumer?
3. Why do we let advertisers frame our mindset or attitude of how we should look and why? Is there a solution to this problem?

A blog from Nick and Noel:

The hit series Heroes has been widely successful. The series is based on a series of graphic novels penned by Jeph Loeb and directed by Greg Beeman. The story of Heroes cynosure is completely crafted around the utilization of its rich development of characters. By watching the first season, one can become enraptured by the plentiful comic-book-like characters that (nearly all) have special superhero abilities—much like the X-Men; in fact, it would not be unreasonable to argue that Heroes is the live action convention to the various X-Men animated series. In our personal experience we viewed the first season and now find ourselves revisiting the series in the third season; however, our grasp of the characters seems to have diminished slightly (almost to the point of being confused). Character roles (not abilities) seem to have mutated over the seasons.

The filming style shifts from one plot segment to another seamlessly; for example, one scene featuring an incapacitated character laying down face up cuts directly to another setting where an entirely different character who is laying down slowly gets up; the effect is quite striking. Such stylistic devices mentioned are evident in most episodes. The name of the episode watched is titled Duel (episode number 47)—a duel between the wills of the good characters. “Sylar” (Zachary Quinto), the chief antagonist sets up a dire situation in which family and friends have to make life and death decisions, not only for themselves, but also (and perhaps more importantly) for their loved ones.

Even if one particular character is not appealing to large portions of the audience there are more than enough characters to compensate for one character’s shortcomings. There are multiple “heroes” and several semi to full-fledged villains. The title of the series further substantiates the notion that there are multiple Heroes. Moreover, a hero in the context of the series is not constrained to the typical notion of a hero; here, the special abilities of the characters signify a larger than life reality—not heroism; however, the show suggests if they have an ability they are heroes, for example: Nathan Petrelli has an ability and is a hero regardless if he is good, bad, or evil (given the season). The characters are not story board characters—they run the gamut of good, bad and evil, and it is this depth of character swaying that makes the show intriguing.

While there is a central theme to the series—kill (or avoid) Syler, protect the cheerleader, save the word, find absolution, etc, the episodes are often designed to stretch over multiple episodes. Typically, the good heroes combine their efforts to overcome the situation. When the equilibrium is reestablished, the episode concludes, but new complications always arise which in turn introduce the conflict of subsequent episodes. There are multiple overarching conflicts that are necessary for the series to survive. Having multiple conflicts that span over several episodes helps to facilitate in the retention of viewership. It is somewhat dubious to consider the show as an A-B plot. There exists a series of A-B plots in every episode; not to mention the under the umbrella of the enduring conflicts that span over a season and in some cases that have endured through the entire show (i.e., Syler).

The forces of good in this episode include Ando (James Kyson Lee), Matt (Greg Grunberg) who can read minds, and Daphne who has super speed. In this episode, Ando injects a serum which causes his touch to amplify the abilities of others. As a consequence of Ando’s new ability (he had never had a power before), Daphne gains the ability to move back in time (much like Hiro). The three continue their quest to save Hiro. Eventually, Hiro, the dysfunctional time traveler who is trapped in the past is rescued and brought back to the present time by the coordinated efforts of Ando and Daphne. Elsewhere, the cheerleader, Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) who has the special ability of “rapid cellular regeneration” (rapid healing), Claire’s father, Noah (one of the few central characters that does not posses a power), Claire’s mother who has the ability to create fire out of her hands, and Angela Petrelli (no abilities), portrayed by Cristine Rose are pitted against Syler in a game of survival. For those that watch Heroes they most likely already know that she is actually the mother of Nathan and Peter Petrelli; however, in this episode up until now we were lead to think that she was Syler’s mother as well (which of course, is not true). Claire incapacitates Slyer and al the good guys escape except Claire’s mother as Slyer injected her with adrenalin which caused her powers to explode (literally); however, it is unclear if she died or not in this episode. In yet another location, Nathan Petrelli (has the ability of flight) and in this episode Peter acquires the flight ability as well by taking the serum that he was initially trying to destroy. Tracy Strauss, portrayed by Ali Larter, has the ability to freeze and was fired by Nathan. In the end of this segment the serum is destroyed and a few minor characters are killed off and the season finale ends. As you can see the plethora of characters can be slightly disorientating for the average viewer.

The Biggest Loser - Extreme Product Placement!

2.The Biggest Loser is one of the top TV shows integrating product placement into their episodes. There are so many products, some simply in the background and some are actually used by the "real life" characters. For example, this episode in particular is a football challenge featuring Jerry Rice and Steve Young, so naturally their is NFL logos all in the background. In addition, when the host presents them with their prize, a trip, she holds up an "Expedia" card. They made the episode about football because it's during Thanksgiving, and we watch football during Thanksgiving,so it was obviously convenient. Specifically, later they all join in for a "healthy" Thanksgiving dinner, and there we get a straight close up shot of Jenni-O Turkey. Later, we have all the contestants wearing their favorite football team jersey, a gift from Rocco the famous chef.
3.Products are so easily integrated in the show because it's a contest and throughout the show contestants win lots of prizes, giving companies an easy and great way to advertise their product, such as Expedia. In addition, it's mainly about losing weight, which is a big health issue in America, so lot's of food products are easily integrated. The ages vary from 20's to late 50's, but the success of the show has developed from getting real overweight people a free opportunity to lose weight and change their lives;their gender or age has no barring on the success of the show.
4. I enjoy the show and am a regular viewer, however the constant product integration does distract me from the simple pleasure of watching the show and seeing how much the contestants have changed. In between commercials there's healthy tips, which I like, but when it comes to "Bob" doing an advertisement on "Extra Sugar Free Gum" as a way to stop cravings, it takes the joy out of watching it. It becomes too dramatic for me and unrealistic, because part of the reason I watch is because they're real people.

Product Integration In Arrested Development

Burger King is referenced a few times throughout this episode of Arrested Development. This scene, however, takes place inside the restaurant and is established by a shot of the outside of the building. The characters say the name Burger King many times in the scene. You can see the advertisements in the restaurant in the background and the BK logo on the cups and fries. The characters discuss the restaurant and how they offer free refills on any drink. The integration is quite prominent, especially at the end of the scene when Tobias says "Its a wonderful restaurant," followed by the narrator's comment "It sure is."

Burger King was integrated into the show because the show needed some extra cash. That's pretty much the only reason. It wasn't because the show was so popular that Burger King would benefit from being associated with it. I suppose it's possible that they might benefit because the show had a typically young audience, but mainly just because Arrested Development needed more money.

The product integration didn't distract at all from my viewing pleasure; if anything, it added to it. It is placed in the show in such an obvious and intentional way that it adds to the comedy of the show. When Carl Weathers is talking about setting a scene in Burger King in exchange for some money, Tobias replies "as long as you don't draw attention to it". It definitely stands out as product integration, but because it was done in a way that is characteristic of the show, it works well and adds humor.

Extra Credit Blog

Lindsey Rogowicz



In this commercial, the feature Volkswagen is trying to promote is obvious, it's safety. The ad does not TELL you audibly to purchase the car because of it's safety rating, however at the end of the commercial it shows the statistic of saftey rating on the car by showing the 4 star crash safety rating. The commercial itself is a great attention grabber because it begins by two friends just talking when the truck pulls out in front of them suprising both them and us as viewers.

For soft sell, I detected that it's doing two things. Jetta's in my eyes, have always been labeled as more of a girl car. Here, it shows to boys driving it and looking very relaxed and comfortable. This shows that the car is both safe, and comfortable to take a drive with anyone because you are both safe.

I think the ad relies way more on hard sell, because it's not necessarily promoting a certain lifestyle, but showing how accidents can occur w/out it even being our faults. In this ad it shows how we sometimes aren't paying attention and therefore can get ourselves into messes and this commercial shows how the safe VW Jetta can help drivers do so.

Product Integration in Spiderman 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hOk80p8K2w

In this scene from Spiderman 2, Peter Parker is learning how to use and control his web like powers. As he begins to practice, it just so happens that the Dr Pepper can is one of the focal points of his target practice. The audience is focused on the can for a little longer than a second as we see Peter Parker practice his newly developed skills.

It was definitely a smart move for Dr Pepper to choose to be integrated into this film. The Spiderman franchise was a huge box office success that captivated audiences everywhere. There are many positve associations that the integration would have on a brand. Peter Parker's character definitely did not hurt the integration as a young, attractive actor.

I don't believe the integration detracts from the pleasure of watching this film. In fact, I really did not even notice it until I went out intentionally looking for product integration. It is slipped into the film in such a way that the audience is not distracted from the moment. There is a realistic factor to the product placement in this scene. Peter Parker is an average teenage guy, who probably drinks soda.

I AM LEDGEND...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzfv1mCh8Rs


....and I drive a mustang!


The movie I AM LEDGEND, starring Will Smith, begins with a fairly long scene of him driving through the deserted New York city in a bright red Ford Mustang, racing stripes and all. The company nor the name of the vehicle are ever mentioned but it is a very recognisable product and no introduction is necessary. I'm pretty sure later on in the movie he also drives a Ford truck, but its recognition isn't as prominent as the roaring red Mustang that opens the movie.


In doing some research for product placement, I found that quite a few of Will Smiths movies are saturated with product placement. Men in Black I and II are probably the most memorable with the Mountain Dew scene, and other brands such as Victoria's Secret, Burger King and Sprint. Independence Day has a scene where they try to shoot a Coke can and the name is mentioned. Bad Boys II has a scene where a large Miller Genuine Draft truck drives by, as well as the use of quite a few different vehicles in its exciting car chase scene. And finally I.Robot begins its movie with Will Smith using a certain stereo brand, wearing converse sneakers (and mentioning their name in case you didn't catch it) and driving and a specific car. Obviously Will Smith sells products. I know I want to buy a new Mustang with hideous racing stripes after watching I AM LEDGEND.

Over all I think the product placement in most of his movies are done fairly well and actually do add to the believability of the movie. There's nothing worse than watching a moving and seeing a can the say "Beer" on the side of it. In particular I think the scene with the red Mustang might have been a little over the top, and I guess I just expect Will Smith to be driving a better car than what spoiled sixteen year old boys and girls get. It might have been bright red color, or the racing stripes that threw me off, but I'm certain that was done for contact between the dark, gloomy background. Maybe had the car not looked brand new I might have believed it more.

But over all Will Smith must be doing something right and I sure hes making tons of money on top of the money he already get for his movies. Smart if you ask me.


-Alyse Hutchins