COMMERCIALISM VERSUS CREATIVE JUICES…

COMMERCIALISM VERSUS CREATIVE JUICES…

   Let’s talk about hyper-commercialism as one of the changes in media landscape.

   As sir Beav pointed out in his last lecture, hyper-commercialism is the combination of the media content and advertising messages. It can also mean as an aggressive advertising or using every space available as a medium for advertisement.

    But in the local filmdom, there is also a kind of hyper-commercialism which is now the usual practice in mainstream movies and indie films which is, of course, being tolerated by the producers ( more product appearance means the continuous ringing of the producer’s cash machine), but most of the time, it is not in line with the creative juices of the director and the scriptwriter. 

    Most of the movie goers notice this kind of advertising scheme and this is the ultimate example of hyper-commercialism in the local film industry.

    Take this movie for example.

     In one of the scenes of a Kris Aquino movie, have you noticed the location held at Goldilocks resto while she’s pulling all the mamons and ensaymadas for pasalubong? And the height of this kind of hyper-commercialism is the “Goldilocks pasalubong” magic words which were relentlessly inserted in her dialogue, thus, ruining the supposed-to-be melodramatic, tear jerking scene.

     Remember, Krissy is an endorser of the said resto.

     How about a Sharon Cuneta film when she served a glass of Nido to her kid in one of the scenes while discussing the importance of drinking milk before going to sleep?

     Yap, what the Megastar was saying in her dialogue may be true but the movie is not about the importance of milk. Remember, moviegoers are watching movies primarily to be entertained and not to be informed.

     Now, do you really think that these kinds of scenes are part of the movie? Nope, they are not.

     I remember when I had the chance to interview the critically acclaimed director Joel Lamangan about this matter and he was indeed saddened by this particular kind of advertising.

    For one, it is very tough to argue with the producer against inserting this kind of advertisement even if it is not in the script because this is one way of getting back the financier’s investment while messing up the creativity of the director but usually, it is the producer who usually wins the argument against the creative side.

     According to Direk Joel, considering the continuous slump in the movie industry, they have no choice but to compromise with the producer and the advertiser even if it is against their will. Direk Joel reasoned out that they also need to understand the need of the producer to earn and the need to produce more films to bring back the glory days of the local cinema.

     Now the question is, until when are we going to tolerate hyper-commercialism in the movies at the expense of the ingenuity and the inventiveness of the production side?