Media Meditation # 1

The Marlboro Man's Midnight Run

After a recent viewing of the film Midnight Run starring Robert De Niro I noticed a few funny things. The foremost being the blatant use of product placement. Throughout the film De Niro’s character, Jack Walsh, is buying and chain smoking Marlboro Reds. The amount of time that these cigarettes spend in the film, they should have received casting credits.

The movie’s protagonist is a bounty hunter trying to get the bond on an accountant who ripped off a famous mobster. This obviously entails intense and slightly comedic fight/chase scenes and De Niro shows exactly how badass he really is. While constantly massaging the reptilian and limbic parts of the brain with these cool fight scenes De Niro calms down with a Marlboro Cigarette.

The placement hit’s a high note when the two are in a coffee shop De Niro cracks a new pack while his companion complains about not having money for food. De Niro flaunts his pack and says something along the lines of “I need these cigarettes, you have whatever your going to have, I’ll have these.”


Around 2:17

This shows that Phillip Morris probably had something to do with the funding for this film. Although chain smoking cowboy killers obviously builds up Jack Walsh’s rugged, loner persona that this film tries so hard to convey it also serves as a constant advertisement. It uses many techniques of persuasion (perhaps unintentionally) such as strength, beautiful people and the quintessential Diversion. Showing the prestigious actor being a tough bounty hunter living on cigarettes and coffee. If I didn’t already smoke reds, this movie would seriously make me think about my brand of choice.

A Littile Introduction....

Hello, I am Joe Brown, and I am a freshman at Champlain College up here in Burlington, Vermont. I am currently undecided as to my major but I'm in the division of mass communications and creative media, so I have some direction.

I grew up in Holliston, Massachusetts which is about 40 minutes west of Boston. It was a nice small suburban community, however, it was just not for me. I needed to experience more of life. Coming to Burlington was a natural step, moving from the feeling of constriction and isolation that goes with living in a small town. It's great to be in a far more stimulating environment both intellectually and emotionally.

I have many hobbies including reading, writing, but the foremost of my passions is music. I love music, rock, folk, funk, blues, hip hop, alternative and jazz (for which this blog is named).

The Beatles are probably, hands down, my favorite band. I don't care about any guitar virtuoso or crazy drummers, they just wrote way more great songs than any other band.

After studying media's relationship with society many key concepts have begun to change my perspective on the ever growing mass media. One of the most interesting things I've learned is the idea of Web 2.0. How the internet is rapidly growing, changing and evolving as the society that comprises it does.



Another topic the book briefly discusses is the idea of higher culture and sophistication of media. How some forms of media are more intellectually stimulating (higher culture) then others. If one was to look at the Sound of Fury versus the Real World, the difference is clear.

The book discusses conglomerates, and big business' grip on most forms of media which is strange concept. As media evolves and grows the economical investment in media does too, it's a strange symbiotic relationship.

Also, the book proposes a critical process for analyzing media. The first step is simply describing and observing central themes and ideas. Next one analyzes the data look for trends and patterns. This is followed by interpreting the data, what does it mean. Then, one would evaluate, make an educated judgment on it. The final step is engaging the media, this entails writing a letter, email or blog.

By using the four tool sets, my ability to critique and evaluate different forms of media has been increasing. By understanding the trends, techniques of persuasion and principals of media it's broken down to its intended message. The idea of cultural shifts that have only recently occurred are quite interesting because they mirror the development of media. The most valuable use is questioning the media's techniques of persuasion, which part of the brain they are appealing to. I find this important to avoid manipulation.

One thing I hope to learn during this course is how much of an economic crutch is the abundant forms of mass media. As it grows as a business there is much more economic stake in it, and this is a scary thought, how much is dependent on technology.