· Is this product based upon another
media product (like a book, TV show or movie)? (no, it's an original
work)
· Who are the chief creators of this product? (written & directed by
John Hughes; stars Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Judd
Nelson and Molly Ringwald)
· What do you expect from the creators, given their previous work? (Hughes,
Hall and Ringwald all worked together on Sixteen Candles, a comedy geared
toward teenagers; Estevez was in The Outsiders and Tex, two rather serious
films geared toward young viewers; I would expect that this film would
combine the funny and serious strengths of the people involved, and that it
would be geared toward teenagers & relatively young viewers.)
Analyze the
elements - What stands out about this product?
The fourth stage of the MAB involves
identifying the most striking or noticeable components of the overall
presentation and analyzing the impact that they have on you the consumer. Be
sure to give specific examples of the items you discuss.
· Describe the most memorable image(s) or moment(s) of the product. What is
it about those images or moments that made them so striking? (One really
effective scene is near the end when they all explain why they had to go to
detention; all of the things they describe are things that real high school
students go through at some point, like peer pressure, perfectionism and the
way that cliques isolate students from each other.)
· Can you identify any consistent patterns among such images or moments?
(There are lots of examples of humorous scenes followed by very serious
scenes, or funny scenes that become very serious (like when Bender describes
what it's like at his house, first poking fun at Brian's happy home before
describing the frightening abuse in his own home); there are also lots of
scenes in which you watch the characters interacting while you listen to a
popular song (like "Don't You Forget About Me?" by Simple Minds);
those scenes are like music videos, which were really popular when this movie
was made.)
· Are there any elements of the product that you find surprising, or is
there anything you expected to see that wasn't included? (I expected more
funny moments and more stereotypes, but was surprised to see that teenagers
were presented as pretty complex people; the humor throughout the movie was
also very realistic and pretty sophisticated, not silly, gross or dirty like
in other movies about high school.)
So what? - Does the
product work for you?
In this last stage, you evaluate how
effectively the product conveys (or fails to convey) its intended impact. Is
the product successful and how does it affect your attitudes, beliefs or
behaviors?
· Is your overall impression of this product positive or negative? (very
positive!)
· How do the elements you identified in the previous stage affect your
response to this product? (I really like the fact that the characters were
much deeper than their stereotypes and that realistic things happened to
them; I'm glad that there wasn't a lot of toilet humor, and even though I
didn't agree with the drug use, it was a realistic part of teenage life and
it wasn't treated in a dumb way like in Half-Baked; the music video
atmosphere in some scenes was quite effective and kept me interested.)
· How do you think this product
might affect the people who watch it or the makers of other media products?
(I know that I will think twice before labeling someone a geek or a dumb
jock; I would predict that because this movie was successful at the box office,
other movies that take a serious view of teenage life will come out, maybe
even starring some of the actors from this movie; of course, there will
probably be a lot of movies that try to copy this idea but fail miserably;
I'll bet more movies will include music video-like scenes to appeal to
teenagers.)
from Sean
Cavazos-Kottke/Language Arts, Gifted/Talented Specialist/Tomball High
School