The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Morgan Spurlock…..man what an engaging narration style and documentary topic he has created here. The main element of the documentary that got my thoughts all twisted up was the muti-tiered structure it had. It had the effect of two mirrors placed directly across from each other, containing elements within elements within elements within….you get the point. So he is making a documentary with the goal of examining and analyzing product placement and product marketing within film, by making a film doing just that. Because he is doing exactly what he is examining, he is receiving funding from these companies to do just that. Because he is receiving funding from these companies, and because they are advertising within his documentary analyzing just that, he is subject to specifications and contracts obligating him to introduce their topics a certain number of times, in certain ways etc…the genius is that this is exactly what he’s examining, yet his very own documentary is purposefully bound by the contracts  he has agreed to.

At this point I’m not sure which way is up and I have no clue what’s going on, but I know that I like it, he has my full attention, and I sure wouldn’t mind a nice cold bottle of Pom Wonderful. I will say, and with the purpose of demonstrating the power of advertising, after class I did in fact go to lower and purchase a Pom 100% pomegranate juice drink (a little bitter, but overall delicious).

The ingenuity with which this documentary was made astounds me. Its such an interesting topic to address, and has incredible depth while examining a very relevant topic to modern capitalism.

One thought on “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”

  1. I completely agree that it was a genius idea not only for Spurlock, but for the companies that got involved as well. Before watching his documentary I never knew how obvious and significant product placement can be in a major motion picture. Granted the product placement is extremely overboard in the documentary, even though it is on purpose, it definitely gets the point across and the product name out there. For example, before watching the documentary I had never heard of Pom before, and by constantly seeing it and hearing him rave about it I wanted to go out and buy Pom, showing the power of product placement. Like you said, I completely agree that the ingenuity of this documentary is incredible and it gets the point across both effectively and in a captivating manner.

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