Colorado Balloon Scare = Publicity Stunt?

I know a couple people wrote blogs about the situation that took place yesterday, in which a six year old Colorado boy was believed to have been inside a homemade flotation device that was accidentally released from its tether. However, I was watching the news late last night and saw that after the boy was found to have been hiding in the attic, the family appeared on Larry King Live via satellite and when the boy was asked why he didn’t come out of hiding when he heard his parents calling his name, his parents repeated the question, and he replied “you had said that we did this for a show”. This understandably left people wondering, was there really cause for concern, or was the whole thing a publicity stunt? I guess the family has been on the reality show Wife Swap in the past showing off their storm chasing skills, and the children have some kind of rap video on YouTube, so was the family looking for attention or were they genuinely worried, thinking their son was floating away in a flying saucer type contraption? Hmmm...

Here is a link to an article about the whole situation:
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20091015/US.Boy.in.Balloon/

This is a link to video from Larry King Live, with the family's response:
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b149261_was_balloon_boys_whirlwind_day_all_show.html

Any thoughts?

Jon & Kate + Law & Order?

So I just heard something about an upcoming episode of Law & Order that is supposed to be inspired by Jon and Kate Gosselin, about a young mother who has multiple children and a reality show about her family. In the episode, the mother is murdered and the prime suspect becomes the father of the children. Now, I can understand that Jon and Kate have been in the headlines constantly, and there have been countless spoofs done on their situation, but does this particular situation seem a little inappropriate? I know that its just a work of fiction, but with all of the negative things being said about the Gosselins in the media, and the fact that there are young children involved, who have most likely already been exposed to some of the unpleasant things being said about the family, does this kind of portrayal seem to be a little bit insensitive? What do you guys think?

This Film is Not Yet Rated...

This weeks’ screening of This Film is Not Yet Rated was really eye-opening, to say the least. I knew what the MPAA was and what the purpose of movie ratings was, but I did not realize how secretive the whole process of establishing film ratings was, or how inconsistent movie rating seemed to be. I can understand that the MPAA wants to keep their raters from being put under pressure from outside influences, but at the same time, it only seems fair that filmmakers should have the right to know what types of people are determining the audiences that will be allowed to see their films. I don’t understand why something like movie rating needs to be kept under such close watch, to the point where it takes a private investigator to simply to know the name of a rater or even if the people responsible for designating movie ratings are the least bit qualified to do so. It was also interesting to see how biased some of the decisions made by the MPAA ratings board seemed to be and how uncooperative the appeals board was when filmmakers dared to challenge the ratings boards’ decisions.

I have never really been the type that pays much attention to MPAA ratings when trying to decide which movies to watch. Needless to say, this film has not made me any more likely to take ratings into consideration when forming opinions about films or making decisions about what to watch. I don’t necessarily think that being the “average American parent” is really enough to qualify someone as capable of determining what audiences can see certain films. Shouldn’t something like this be left to those who understand the motion picture industry best and can make the most well informed, unbiased decisions? Anyway… what did everyone else think of the film?

O'Reilly Defends Fox News...

So, I had come across a headline yesterday about the communications director for the White House calling out Fox News and saying that the network is essentially an extension of the Republican party. Knowing what I know now about the network because of the screening of Outfoxed earlier in the semester, this particular headline caught my attention. I did a little digging and found a segment from The O’Reilly Factor in which Bill O’Reilly confronts the allegations and defends the networks style of news coverage, claiming that hard news journalists at Fox News always provide fair opportunities for the Obama administration and that O’Reilly himself has both liberal and conservative viewers, therefore, his show must be fair. He says that his interview with Barack Obama before the 2008 election was Obama’s most difficult, therefore made him look better and claims that the woman making the claims against Fox News is influenced by other networks, such as NBC and CNN, which he believes acted somewhat biased toward Obama during the election.

Fox News = Fair? Hmmm... I'm not sure I believe that. If anyone wants to watch the clip, here is the link: http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/. Select "Talking Points 10/12" from the featured videos menu.

Any thoughts?

Ideologies & Why We Fight...

Last week’s reading on ideologies and power was something that I personally found to be pretty interesting because the influences behind media being presented to the public is something that I have been thinking a lot about ever since the screening of Outfoxed earlier in the semester. It can sometimes be difficult to discern what information is to be trusted and what information is biased or misleading in some way. How do we know that the things we have been taught or that are passed along to us by newspapers, magazines, television, etc. are in fact true? We really don’t.

Take this week’s screening for example. I think I mentioned this in one of my discussion board posts last week as well, but in Why We Fight, one of the points mentioned was the belief, as presented in the media, that there was some kind of connection between the war in Iraq and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We heard the story of a retired NYPD officer who lost his son on September 11th, and based on what he had heard in the news and from the government, believed that the Iraq War was a part of bringing the terrorists who took his son’s life to justice. To honor him, he asked for his son’s name to be written on one of the bombs dropped in Iraq, only to hear the President clearly state later on that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks. Hearing this man’s story of his honorable intentions in remembering his son and how the thing that was supposed to be a loving tribute became a part of a seemingly pointless war was a heartbreaking example of how the powers behind the information we receive can be inaccurate or in some cases, completely misleading.

Representation & Maria, Full of Grace...

I have to say that I actually really enjoyed Maria, Full of Grace. I did not realize that the film was in some way about drug trafficking beforehand, but I thought that the film was very well done. In terms of the theme for the week, representation, this film seemed to be a great choice. In my opinion, this movie in particular seemed to present a very realistic portrayal of a young girl doing whatever it takes to support her family and figure out what she wants in life, even if that means taking a few unfavorable detours along the way. Obviously this film didn’t really make life in Colombia look like a walk in the park, but it did feel like an honest account of some of the hardships and some of the complicated, sometimes immoral decisions that one may face in trying to better themselves against insurmountable odds. I think that this type of story is one that a lot of people can relate to, I mean obviously not the whole drug mule thing, but as far as trying to find oneself and making tough transitions in life.

What did you guys think about this film in terms of representation?

Genre, Ringu & The Ring...

Okay, so despite good intentions with the second round of blogging, I seem to have somehow fallen behind again, so I am going to pick up where I left off, with one of the topics covered in class a couple of weeks ago.

So, getting into the discussion and subsequent response paper on genre for this class was something that I thought was actually pretty interesting. The readings and the writing assignment got me thinking more about the genres I prefer and why, which is something that I honestly had never given much consideration to before. One of my favorite film genres is horror, and I have seen The Ring and The Ring Two a few times before, so I was kind of excited to see the film that inspired them and see what similarities and differences there were. What I found most surprising about Ringu was that it was almost identical to its American counterpart. With most of the film remakes that I have seen, there are obviously many elements that are similar to the original, but there usually seem to be plenty of clear distinctions between the two. It seemed like the only significant difference in Ringu was the ESP factor, but I actually think the fact that the two films were so much alike made them more interesting to compare.

What did everyone else think about the similarities (and slight differences) between the two films?