Blog 4:
The Internship
Some
times I get the urge to suddenly know the difference between a whale and a
lion. Where do I go to search said urge? Google. But I am not writing to inform
you of my curious search habits. (And by the way, I have never searched that)…
I would like to discuss product placement and the effect it has on the audience
in the movie The Internship, starring
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. In short, this movie portrays two old school,
middle-aged men looking for a job in a rapidly moving technological world, who
come up with the idea to apply for a Google internship.
To begin, while and after watching this
movie, the question came to mind, “Is this what it is really like at this
place?” And the answer is “Yes.” According to CNN.com, “Google's campus in Mountain View, California, is shown as
an idyllic place where employees blow off steam playing volleyball (true),
riding bikes (true) and enjoying delicious free food (also true). So yes, this
place really is legit and has free food… Time to apply! Nonetheless, these
truths, along with others, can make a direct hit to the ethos and logos aspect,
being both credible and in a sense logical to believe, as said by CNN above.
Regarding product placement, it is pretty
blatantly obvious what this movie is trying to promote… that you have to be
famous to work at Google. Psych. But, it is clearly promoting Google’s
workplace and the environment that it offers to its employees. So right off the
bat we see the word “Google” and automatically know what this movie is about.
It has been said that Google did not pay any money to be placed in this movie,
which is understandable, because according to Forbes.com, Google is worth “$268.44 billion dollars.” Even if they
did want to pay to have a movie made about them, I do not think it would make
that big of a dent in their savings account. So half of the product placement is
in itself, the Google Company, which plays a major factor in the minds of
internet users and what site they use to research information.
To sum up Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn’s
dilemma, they are accepted into the internship program at Google but are placed
in a group with the “misfits” to complete the internship challenges. At this
point in the movie, it kind of makes you feel bad for these guys knowing that
they are in a constant struggle to just get in the game or even an internship
for that matter. Hint, this is where your heart breaks and think, “Dang, this
is totally a scene that makes me think of what we are learning in class. You
know, that pathos stuff…” As said in Everything’s
An Argument, “You may sometimes want to use emotions to connect with
readers to assure them that you understand their experiences, or to use
President Bill Clinton’s famous line, “ feel their pain.”” Wam. Pathos.
As the movie progresses, this group of
“misfits” comes to a challenge that they must create an app on the iPhone.
While discussing and throwing ideas around, Vince Vaughn come up with an idea
that people can post pictures and share it with friends, AKA, Instagram. But
Vince does not know of said Instagram. So one of the members proceeds to
explain the concept of Instagram to Owen and Vince. So without even seeing the
actual Instagram app, I am guessing 99% of watchers of this movie know what
they are talking about. I would say that is very good product placement. Just
throwing it in there but making it clear they are specifically talking about
Instagram. It is likely that the owners of Instagram were trying to say that it
is still a popular app and it is widely used enough that no one could make an
app that matches its quality or could even keep up with the progress it has
made.
The Google Company and the Instagram
scene are two of the main product placements in this movie. Google is portrayed
in a sense that it is a fun and diverse place to work, which is true. And the
Instagram scene is to show Instagram’s popularity and use among many people of
the world. I think both of these scenarios were used well and that it did support
the movie. Which resulted in me laughing a lot and still using Google as my
primary search engine. And it kind of makes me want to apply for an internship…
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