rigorousintuition.ca

I went and saw <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Talladega Nights</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> this evening. It wasn't all that fantastic, but there was an extremely interesting bit near the end of the movie. I'll try not to spoil the movie, but if you like complete surprises you may want to stop reading. Anyway, Ricky Bobby's (Will Ferrell's character) ex-race team owner had invited both Halliburton and DynCorp Execs to come to the press box to see his race team win the race in hopes of (and I'm paraphrasing here) "getting some big money invested in their race team." I just thought it was quite odd that a reference to two government contractors would be made in a movie about Nascar, then again the movie bled with "American Patriotism." <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=franklincaseadmin>FranklinCase Admin</A> at: 8/7/06 12:57 am<br></i>

Hmmm ...<br>Hollywood meets Wall Street Corporate-Logo Name Brand recognition promo-merchandizing now branching-out to include NEW services, such as Special Interest stealth-advertising PR, Public Issue image-laundering, SocioPolitical-economic theme-engineering, ideological-infotainment product placement, pop-culture Intellectual Property management and conceptual ID showcasing.<br><br>Cross-linking a business/corporation with a wildly popular culture sport and throwing in a large measure of faux-patriotic jingoism to bootstrap feelgood PR and boucoup goodwill.<br><br>Geez -- whatta typically sneaky gambit -- a real tricky-dick/slick-willie variation on bottom-deck dealing -- sort-of a cross between insider-trading and going long on junk-bonds.<br>Starman <p></p><i></i>

Did you know that Tom cruise and Nicole Kidman met on the set of a Nascar movie. She was playing a brain surgeon or astrophysist or something (I haven't seen days of thunder). <p></p><i></i>

Re: Starman's comments-<br>Precisely.<br><br>Mostly, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>selling social-Darwinist power-mongering as a desirable social norm to sustain militarism and consumerism.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>(I've been offline for a week. Good to see this here.) <p></p><i></i>

I saw it last night...<br><br>To be honest, even though it did make me chuckle, that movie contained just about everything that is wrong with America and Hollywood. Although they were essentially making fun of Nascar and red-blooded patriotism (and everything else), a general attitude is enforced. <br><br>And as Franklin said, it is not very good (I don't expect much from Hollywood's crap 2-hour films anyways). In fact it's a terrible movie, but the only thing that keeps it going is the constant jokes. Speaking of that Halliburton part, the person from that company said, "Yeah, we're doing pretty good." <p></p><i></i>

Not having seen it yet (probably this weekend), my initial guess would be that it's a commentary on corporate involvement in racing. Big money has been a mixed blessing to auto racing. NASCAR, more than any other sanctioning body, has been consistently willing to sell their soul for more money.<br><br>There was a time when racing sponsors were almost all auto-related. It was car dealerships, automotive products, and the like. It didn't take much money to go racing in those days - it was a hobby more than a business. Bill France (the head of NASCAR) deliberately set out to attract big money to the sport in the late 70s, and he's more than succeeded. In the process, the sport has become a self-referencing parody. It's still fun to go to the track (I was at Indianapolis last weekend) but it has less to do with racing and more to do with advertising and image every year.<br><br>-Sepka the Space Weasel <p></p><i></i>

Will wait for the DVD....but still, due to ceaseless promotion, I feel oddly compelled to consume 'Wonder' Bread......<br><br>"Help me, Jesus! Help me, Tom Cruise! Tom Cruise, use your witchcraft to get the fire off me! ..." ~ Ricky Bobby<br><br>I know how you feel, RB....<br><br>~C <p></p><i></i>