Why This Topic Appealed to Me and How I Analysed it:
I originally had my mind set on another idea before I stumbled upon Superbowl Car Commercials. When I found this web site that had the Top Ten Superbowl commercials of 2012, I immediately became interested. I always found that car commercials were relatively the same. They had the same filming/camera techniques, and same voice over, mostly technical components. What I found the most interesting about this topic, is how passively I watch commercials. As I watched these commercials, I found them funny, entertaining, and typical. But then as I decided to analyse them for my project I found so many cultural perspectives reinforced by these commercials and I was surprised. I could not believe how clever commercials were in promoting "the American Dream".
We discussed the "American Dream" in class and it fit perfectly into the advertised commercials at the Superbowl. The" American Dream" promotes achievement in ones goals, typically leading to someone who has succeeded in attaining an upper-middle class family with wealth and material luxuries. In a way, as I analyse my project from the outside, car commercials are also quite stereotypical in where it is shown, predominantly to a white middle-class male watching this sporting event, and also in the way it is shown, the visuals of the car commercials as analysed in my three chosen perspectives (e.g. white upper-middle class with desired material luxuries as described in the "American/Hollywood Dream"). As you can see, these car commercials have an impact on society, presumably consumerism, but also the "behind the scenes" subconscious implications of stereotypes and cultural values.
This is how I relate my topic to our class, Visual Culture. For us, the "American Dream" is so common, it has become a visual trope. We need not think of what it is, we just take it as face value. Consequently, when a car commercial, such as these examples, comes on television we don't need to think about the visual. There is no conscious process that we make, in fact there is no processing at all, we make immediate reactions. That being said, it gives the media and advertisements, such as car commercials, a dominant power over us. It sells us that "this is the way things are" and "this is the way things should be". By buying into their "mind control" it makes us ignorant of reality. We must take visuals, and not always analyze them in depth, but we can no longer take them for face value. The visual holds a kind of control over you if you don't question it. So I'd like to question the "American Dream" displayed in these car commercials and ask; why is this the desired lifestyle?
We discussed the "American Dream" in class and it fit perfectly into the advertised commercials at the Superbowl. The" American Dream" promotes achievement in ones goals, typically leading to someone who has succeeded in attaining an upper-middle class family with wealth and material luxuries. In a way, as I analyse my project from the outside, car commercials are also quite stereotypical in where it is shown, predominantly to a white middle-class male watching this sporting event, and also in the way it is shown, the visuals of the car commercials as analysed in my three chosen perspectives (e.g. white upper-middle class with desired material luxuries as described in the "American/Hollywood Dream"). As you can see, these car commercials have an impact on society, presumably consumerism, but also the "behind the scenes" subconscious implications of stereotypes and cultural values.
This is how I relate my topic to our class, Visual Culture. For us, the "American Dream" is so common, it has become a visual trope. We need not think of what it is, we just take it as face value. Consequently, when a car commercial, such as these examples, comes on television we don't need to think about the visual. There is no conscious process that we make, in fact there is no processing at all, we make immediate reactions. That being said, it gives the media and advertisements, such as car commercials, a dominant power over us. It sells us that "this is the way things are" and "this is the way things should be". By buying into their "mind control" it makes us ignorant of reality. We must take visuals, and not always analyze them in depth, but we can no longer take them for face value. The visual holds a kind of control over you if you don't question it. So I'd like to question the "American Dream" displayed in these car commercials and ask; why is this the desired lifestyle?
Process:
What I did as a process was start with the Historical perspective, Technical perspective and Cultural perspective. It is best if you read these pages first, and then go on to the analysis of each individual commercial. I found that the perspectives all contributed well to my idea, and therefore I only used these three and went in depth with them. When looking for background information of the "American Dream" in advertising, I found a lot of sources which applied perfectly, and further developed my idea. (Links and works cited can be found in my like box to the right of the page). I found technical difficult to find support for, so I basically went off my own knowledge of car commercials with some reference. For cultural perspective I found most of my ideas through my course in Anthropology, I applied the cultural aspects I learned and it related well. When I moved on to analyzing the commercials themselves, I found this the most difficult part. There is so much visual images that I could have gone more in depth, but I didn't want to cram all the information in. I think if I were to do this again I would probably only choose one commercial to analyze as I have an abundance of information in my perspectives. However I do think that having a few commercials together really shows how they are all similar. Lastly I wrote my personal perspective on what I thought my project was about and what it meant.
