“Happy Gilmore” = Tiger Woods

“Happy Gilmore” is a movie that parallels the career and uprising of Tiger Woods because of each of their respective place in history. It is a subjective movie that poses an inflicted subject position. On one hand, anything that grows the game is a positive, this principle coincides with, ‘all press is good press.’ On the other hand, some may see the unusual crowds and their commonplace demeanor as disrespecting the game.

 

The unusual style of Happy Gilmore and sometimes crude behavior is an allusion to Tiger Woods ethnicity and crude behavior (as seen above). Prior to Tiger Woods’ rise in the golf world, most country clubs, I would suspect mostly white, might view an African-American on the course as obtrusive. But we must never forget that, without Tiger, the game of golf would not be as recognized and diverse as it is currently today.

When you have a new type of golfer who is successful, the crowd following for this golfer encompasses the image and style of that golfer. Happy was crude and so were his fans but, the tie between he and Tiger was their unrelenting drive towards a goal and overcoming adversity. Happy’s goal was to raise money to save his grandmother’s house, something noble, and Tigers goal was to break down more racial barriers and bring diversity to the game of golf. Both, Happy and Tiger, faced adversity during their rise to the top.

 

“Happy Gilmore” is a light-hearted interpretation of the early career of Tiger Woods due to their relevance historically. Whether fictitious, or not the crowds that came to see each of these players grew the game of golf exponentially and that is the point. Incorporating and overcoming diversity only progresses or evolves any respective field, you so choose to apply this principle to.

“Lethal Weapon”: A Saxy Soundtrack

The slow blow of a saxophone equals, rhetoric in the ‘Lethal Weapon’ soundtrack conveying the mood of Danny Glover’s character, a retirement age cop named , Roger Murtaugh (I don’t know how to spell his nickname). This creates an oppositional view of the way old dogs, classically, can’t be taught new tricks. In this case psychotic tricks, brought on by the  up-tempo new school cop named Riggs, portrayed by Mel Gibson.

The characters have very different theme music. On one hand, the classical saxophone, when played in correlation to the line “I’m too old for this shit,” creates one mood Roger’s character and on the other hand, Riggs’ character has a bluesy electric guitar playing…which depresses me fiercely (the suicide with gun scene is super eerie). Personally  I think Metallica would have been an appropriate choice to introduce the character of Riggs.

There’s a drinking game that correlates with the ‘Lethal Weapon’ movie series. The game is simple, everytime Roger says, “I’m too old for this shit,” you are supposed to take a shot. This line, followed by the  music in the soundtrack help reinforce the classic mentality of a cop who is approaching retirement age.

The slow saxophone symbolizes Roger’s charater. He is older, therefore he doesn’t move around the way he used to and this is portrayed with a slow rolling mood of the saxy sax. Riggs’ character theme music contrasts Roger’s theme music drastically. The old school police officer, who has been around the block, handles his day to day tasks alot differently than a new upbeat cop.

Had the music surrounding Roger been more upbeat the text of the character would not have translated as well. The soundtrack from ‘Lethal Weapon’ offers oppositional texts within its soundtrack. The slow saxy sax translates understanding of Danny Glover’s character Roger.

The Most Interesting Advertisement

The text in ‘the most interesting man in the world’s’ advertisement by Dos XX, conveys sex appeal in a first persona perspective, in a way that the reader is supposed to agree/ relate with the most interesting man. The narrative of the advertisement aligns the character to be pro Dos XX, but against beer. “I may not always drink beer, but when I do it’s Dos XX” (quote from most interesting man in the world advertisement).

The title of ‘most interesting man in the world’ is sexy, but wouldn’t have as much meaning without the surrounding images of beautiful classy women, the refined sound of the violin, and the soothing deep voice all combine to transcend the ideal character. By relating the smooth sexy appeal of the character to the beer and the alignment occurs in which the reader/ viewer automatically converges the two as desirable. This makes it damn near impossible to resist the charm and respected opinion this character aligns with Dos XX beer.

We as readers agree with the character of the commercials and aspire to be him, because of the way he defies every force on earth. It’s funny, the actual verbiage is clever and the overall feel of the commercial campaign makes you feel important. He is the rock-star of all things impossible, much like Chuck Norris. But, let us not get ahead of ourselves; here is a funny quote from http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/chuck-norris-top-50-facts, “When Alexander Bell invented the telephone he had 3 missed calls from Chuck Norris.”

The most interesting man is also perceived as refined by the way the advertisement aligns and opposes the character’s view on beer. It is the current perception that the upper class consume wine and liquor primarily, but rarely drink beer. Therefore, this advertisement appeals to the more refined consumer validating Dos XX beer as the preferred beer of the upper-class. Twist top beers are for everyone else.

It’s obvious that the most interesting man campaign is the most successful campaign Dos XX has launched because of its longevity and continued relevance. The reasons are clear: everything about their character is sexy, he defies all known combative forces with ease, and he accomplishes it all with a level of refinement, surpassed by no one…but don’t tell Chuck Norris I said that. Charles Bronson is cool too.