Response Essay # 3 Rough Draft - No Country for Old Men

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

           Entertainment's general appeal to society is the brief opportunity to escape from the mundane reality of life. Television programs, films, and even video games offer depictions of compelling lives under fictional circumstances drastically different or incredibly similar to those of viewers. Rooted in all mediums of entertainment are values, sometimes apparent and sometimes subtle. These values are intended to parallel those presented within society. The majority are merely based on common sense. However, there are occasional instances within entertainment, primarily in film, in which values society purposefully avoids acknowledging are directly addressed. In cases such as these, a contradiction is established between society's publicized values and the realistic values existent within said society. Murder, for instance, is deemed immoral by society, yet murder is committed every day within society. Society, therefore, inherently fosters the growth of its pollutants. The recognition and display of this process in the art form of film makes for a captivating stimulus from an emotional, mental, and political context. The 2007 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel No Country for Old Men exemplifies the contradictions that arise from unfiltered and honest depictions of modern day society.

           The film No Country for Old Men, directed and written for the screen by Joel and Ethan Coen, follows a Texan hunter's perilous flight from a sadistic assassin after discovering an immense amount of money left in the aftermath of a fatal drug transaction in the middle of the desert. The film features actors such as Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson, and Kelly Macdonald. Reliant on high suspense and realistic violence, most would generally assume the film's primary audience would consist of adult males. This is not to say, however, it is not favored by differing audiences. Aside from the fast-paced action and gruesome violence, the film presents a compelling story along with distinct characters.

           Society teaches that avarice is negative. Greed, therefore, a characteristic seemingly innate to human beings, is a quality one should actively combat. This popular culture value is renounced by society yet embodied by its leaders. In the film No Country for Old Men, the protagonist, Llewelyn Moss (Brolin), stumbles upon a horrific scene in the middle of the desert. After discovering several corpses, Llewelyn tracks the single man who had escaped only to find him deceased under a tree with a briefcase containing two million dollars. While he clearly comprehends that the money within the briefcase was used to purchase illegal drugs and caused the deaths of several men, he still takes it with him, without any apparent remorse or guilt. Greed is evident within this action. Llewelyn does not report the deaths to local authorities nor does he offer aid to a dehydrated man begging him for water. He places the value of the money above human lives as well as the law. Society would condemn Llewelyn's decision to steal the money, but in reality, the majority of people placed in his position would have done the same. In this way, the film offers insight into the reality of human nature as opposed to societal nature.

Advertisements' Manipulation of Consumers

 

           Modern day society depends heavily on mass media for information, trends, and creative stimuli. We make ourselves vulnerable to each and every facet the media offers, specifically the internet and television. Over time, advertisers and marketers have strengthened and enhanced their manipulative tactics against consumers, while the majority of consumers have simultaneously become oblivious and even more susceptible. The development of the internet's inner workings has yielded new programming methods, such as cookies, beneficial to marketers in that they enable internet tracking of consumers. This tracking is conducted in order to personalize advertisements to consumers in order to increase the likelihood of them purchasing the advertised products. In actuality, major corporations, such as Target, track consumers in order to specify which of the store's products are relevant to consumers and thus more likely to be purchased. In conjunction with the media, marketers possess the ability to make consumers believe they need to purchase certain products. 

          For instance, a person could see a target commercial for Taylor Swift's new album. Interested in the artist, this person browses websites related to Taylor Swift. Target can then specifically offer a discount on the album or other products associated with this celebrity directly to the consumer. Unfortunately, advertisements are not always designed to be pleasant in nature. There are a plethora of advertisements that function directly off of the inhibitions and emotions of consumers. The style of marketing involved with playing off of consumers' insecurities typically depict a certain looking person consuming or using the advertised product or service. This actor or actress depicted in the advertisement usually possesses the aesthetic society deems “attractive.” However, the majority of consumers do not possess the same aesthetic and automatically believe they should, thus making them believe that purchasing the product will help them to attain this particular aesthetic. There is also the form of advertisement that exploits consumers emotions in order to bolster the appeal of the product or service. In any case, advertisements will generally stop at nothing to get their product purchased.

Advertisement

          I originally decided to show a television advertisement for Guinness Beer in class that I saw this past week, which heavily functioned on emotion. In the commercial, several men in wheelchairs are shown playing basketball, during which, one of the players falls over. After the game, every player stands up from the wheelchair except for one, who is revealed to be actually disabled. The commercial then shows all the players drinking Guinness Beer together. While this entire scenario bears no relevance whatsoever to the actual product, it connotes friendship, loyalty, and dedication. In fact, the narrator even says these actual words and then goes on to say, "The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character." Therefore, the commercial generally sells the lifestyle of being a good, moral person. By drinking Guinness Beer, you're then being a good person. I instantly felt emotionally sympathetic to this commercial even though I'm not even of legal age to purchase the product. As such, I consider this to be quite a successful advertisement. Throughout the commercial, a heartfelt piano ballad provides an almost fragile undertone to the context of the advertisement, easily capturing viewer' attention as well as their emotion. Furthermore, this advertisement strives to demonstrate that all are equal, no matter the circumstance, thus attributing this quality to Guinness Beer itself. An advertisement that is capable of accessing a viewer's emotion so proficiently is certainly likely to increase sales of the product featured within the advertisement. Even in the case that viewers are too young to purchase the product, this advertisement still establishes Guinness as an ethical and respectable brand.

Here is a link to the commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwndLOKQTDs