Adbuster TAKE TWO

SEXUALITY AND DEGRADATION OF WOMEN IN SPORTS

INSPRITATION FOR MY ADBUSTER

For my adbuster, I'vve chosen to do like a collage of women tennis players in skimpy outfits and maybe touching upon how they're degraded in their sport through the clothing they wear whether they choose to wear it or not. 

ADBUSTER

An adbuster is formally defined as  the practice of making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements in order to make a statement. When I think f making an adbuster a few ideas pop into my head. One of the ideas is to maybe play on the fat that women sports are not as watched and respected as male sport except for the female dominated sports like tennis and volleyball which men degrade as well because the otfits are skimpier. Men claim they only watch these "women sports" for the point of watching them in tiny outfits bouncing around. I'm not sure how i would expand on this concept into an adbuster but maybe I could place a photo of a naked women with soccer, football, and other sport balls covering her body. I'll most likely expand on this concept as I think of it further but I believe this could go a certain way which could make a statement.

Another idea for an adbuster would be about Lance Armstrong and his recent demise with the whole doping scandal. I believe I could make a great point in this adbuster not only about Lance Armstrong and his doping scandal, but the overall doping problem in professional sports. I could maybe get a picture of Lance on his bike but replace the bike parts with syringes and highlight the "Livestrong" Logo to showcase the hypocritical aspect of it. I can even expand on this idea and do a Jose Canseco one in which his bat is replaced with a syringe. 

I'm excited to expand on these ieas and can't wait to share with you all my final idea and product!

It's not crazy...It's sports.

Recently, I watched the ESPN commercial about an ordinary man who shares the name of a superstar and the disappointment of the people around him when they find out the truth. Below I've attached the video:

Honestly, I found this commercial actually very funny to watch and clever of the directors to utilize this concept because in reality many people have the names of stars and when they do go out everyone is disappointed to find out they are not who their names set them out to be. One thing I'm not sure about this commercial is what it's actually promoting and how the line "It's not crazy...It's sports" has to do with the concept of the commercial. Even though this is a great concept for a commercial, I feel as if it failed to promote ESPN and the tag line but it did succeed in generating a great viral video that does reach a younger audience such as myself!

I had the best morning ever.

That's a lie. I couldn't put into a few short words how miserable, depressing, and just down-right horrible my morning was. I should've known from the start that today was going to start off bad the instance I woke up in a pool of vomit that belonged to my ailing dog along with the constant buzzing of my alarm clock which was two, TWO, hours late...now how did that happen? First I was confused, then I was angry, and then...I just got up and did the only thing I could do; take a shower and throw on my work clothes. Oh, but the bad luck didn't stop there. I walked out only to notice a closet with only one piece of clothing hanging from the rack; a bright red cape with crystal piping. It was part of my Halloween costume in 08' and trust me for one second there I actually contemplated throwing it on and making my way down 5th avenue with not one care in the world. But no I decided to sneak into my roommates room and just snatch one of her outfits, I knew she wouldn't miss it. I was already 2 and a half hours late but my stomach reached the point in which it was basically eating itself; I was starving. As I walked to the fridge, I imagined grabbing my leftovers from the other night but once I opened the fridge both me and my stomach were dissappointed. Nothing but one slice of aged American cheese stuck to the bottom of the trays was left in my fridge. I stood in front of my fridge for a good minute until it really sunk in that I had absolutely no food to eat. So, I did a quick prayer and picked up the cheese and ate it like it was a five-star meal. Too bad I immediatley threw up once the cheese entered my mouth. Hey, you can't blame a girl for trying?

I was already two and a half hours late so I ran down the stares of my apartment complex and once I got down to the street I made an attempt to flag down a taxi. And it worked. This was the moment when I thought my luck was starting to "look up" as some might say; oh boy was I wrong. I told the taxi driver to "step on it" and he did. He was going a little too fast but that didn't stop this one beat up honda to cut us off and almost cause us to have an accident. My life didn't even flash before my eyes, the only thing on my mind was, "I'm defintly going to get fired." Ten minutes later I finally reached my desk at work only to see one red note in the middle of my stacks of work that read, "Come see me, ASAP -Trudy"I lugged my feet to my boss' door while I thought to myself, "I'm defintly getting fired" so I knocked on her door and twisted the doorknob with the little faith I had into thinking I was keeping my job. "You're fired." My toes weren't even in the door when I heard these two words...way to rip the bandaid right off Trudy. "Yeah I'm sorry we're having major cuts and your position didn't make it...On the bright side though, you can have the rest of my bagel!" She sat there smiling believing her own bullshit that I couldn't possibly be as mad right now because she offered me her bagel! Oh, how sweet of her seriously right after I'm told I'm fired I just love a good 2 hour old bagel...HALF a bagel I mean, it's not even a full bagel!! So I did what any normal person did and told her to shove that half bagel up hers while I proceeded to flip every piece of furniture in her office. Okay, I'm not the strongest person so I might of just kicked a few things since they were too heavy to flip and just screamed out random curse words because I couldn't think of anything witty to say to her. It was a train wreck.

Remember the Titans

The general gist of the sports film Remember the Titans (based on a true story) is that it chronicles the story of a newly appointed African-America coach and his high school team on their first season as a racially integrated unit. I've labeled this film as my favorite sports film because of how it is inspirational, deals with race, and generally pulled my heartstrings and led me to cry every other scene. I'm a sucker for movies who make me cry.

Remember the Titans is a true underdog story that follows the general hollywood cinema formula for making a good movie that the majority of Americans will watch. This formula usually comprises of the use of underdogs, racial and sex role conflicts, love, inspirational, and the list goes on. Basically, Hollywoods formula to making a blockbuster is using anything that allows the viewer to escape into a false reality that may or may not be better then the reality they're in now. That is why I believe Remember The Titans was so successful in the box office because it has all the aspects of a typical Hollywood movie that average American eats up. 

Slumdog Millionaire

Whenever someone asks me what my all-time favorite movie is, Slumdog Millionaire is always the first movie that comes to mind. I can easily remember the first time I watched this movie. It wasn't in the movie theaters, or in my living room on my TV, I watched it on my 10-inch wide screen Dell laptop through the use of online streaming. (Okay, it may or may not have been completely legal at the time...) You see even though I was watching it on my laptop I still wanted the whole effect of being in a movie theater, so I turned off the lights in my room, sat next to a large bucket of freshly popped popcorn and cranked the volume on my laptop to the loudest it could go. It was then when I was drawn in by the initial scene of an Indian man as a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Then from there it cut to his life as a child living in the slums and the obstacles he reached along the way which, as a result, led him to be on a contestant on the famous show, only to be one question away from becoming the epitome of a Rags to Riches story.

I guess it's true; Everyone loves a Rags to Riches story. it doesn't matter if every movie that uses this archetype basically follows the same storyline is fairly predictable, everyone still pays money to go and see it. Doesn't matter if it's the same story, we keep on going back to the movie theatre to experience the same feeling of watching this certain type of movie. It makes us feel good and escape from our present day issues. This is why movies continues to produce revenue because the average people across America need a place to escape and fall into a false reality in which they wish was their actual lives. Not only does this movie include a Rags to Riches story, it includes a "forbidden love" storyline in which the main character, Jamal Malik, from the beginning (since he was a young boy to be specific) was chasing after the love of his life, Latika, but at every point in his life in which he finds her something is preventing him from being with her. Of course, in the end, like any other movie, he gets the girl, the money, and the "Dream". And it is for this Slumdog Millionaire is my favorite movie. I'm a sucker for happy endings and I did cry at the end of this movie not only because I was happy but I was sad it ended. For some reason, in those two hours I thought I was apart their lives but as a stranger looking on from a distance. Once it was over It was back to reality and I didn't necessarily enjoy that feeling. This is why whenever a similar type of movie comes out I go see it because I want to experience the same feeling i felt throughout watching Slumdog Millionaire.

Trigger.

It was in the fall of 2010 when I first dug my brand new spikes into my high school's freshly coated, red track. Man, was I excited. No, I was more than excited, I was ecstatic. I enjoyed the thought of being on a team as well as being apart of something bigger and better than me. You could say I fell in love with the idea of Track as a sport right then and there; this is where it all began, where my love for playing one sport turned into pure hate.

I'm a competitor and a damn good one at that. In any sport or game I participate in, I throw in my 110%, and nothing less. I make sure to win and if I fail to do that I pick myself up and make sure I win the next time. For some reason though, during my time as a varsity track player, I lost my will to win and my determination to leave my competitors in the dust while I cross that finish line without breaking a sweat. I simply lost it. Now whenever I feel the late night breeze of fall I get flashbacks to my time on the track right before a race. It's crazy how one thing could trigger your senses and take you back in time to a major event in your life. Yet, in my case, it takes me back to a certain time frame. Once I feel a cool, slightly damp breeze brush against my skin, I feel as if I'm on my high school's track with my black and gold uniform on, my hair tightly pulled back into a ponytail and my shiny silver spikes on my feet. Even though it's not  real, I still feel the same anxiety of the race run through my body and somehow I look up to see my team in the bleachers watching me with looks of hope, happiness, and sometimes boredom. How is it that even in my flashbacks I still feel the same amount of pressure and disgust I felt when I actually played the game? I wish the weather didn't trigger me back into this memory.  I didn't enjoy being the lead hurdler in my track team, nor didn't I enjoy listening to my competitors spit smack to me as I ran to the finish line.

It's funny though how I dispise this memory so much whereas one of my good friends, who was a fellow hurdler, cherishes these dreams. I remember her before our races literally screaming with enjoyment and excitement to get in the game while I was in the back dreading my participation in the race. My friend took this sport seriously and developed a true love for it while I was looking for my way out. And I'm glad I did, because I rather cheer for her in the bleachers then be right beside her expressing complete dread.