Hey dw4284-1. Good luck on your assignment.
Personally, I don't mind when product placement or in this case, social networking sites are placed on films and TV. Most, if not all, film and TV are designed to mimic the real world, and adding real products and sites (as opposed to made-up or generic products) only makes the setting more real. The only time I would get upset is when they use it to promote whatever is being shown. Referencing is fine, but when you have characters saying "this is greatest thing ever" (such as Entourage and the tequila Avion), that's when it becomes annoying.
In this film, Funny People, you don't really have the characters promoting Myspace. The protagonist, George Simmons, is being paid by Myspace (in the context of the film) to entertain the employees at whatever kind of function they are holding. Thus the punchline "Fck Facebook" isn't really a shot at Facebook, because the characters, not the actors, have incentive to say that: the first being a joke, the second being paid. That's fine.
In Entourage, on the other hand, every single person who has had a drink of Avion, claims it to be the best drink they've ever had. In the context of the show, it's a relatively unknown drink, that the character Turtle, with the help from the "maker" of Avion, introduces it to the United States. It becomes so popular that there isn't enough manpower to fill the orders of this great tequila. That's when product placement becomes bad; when the only reason it's in the show or film in the first place is to promote how great it is.
To answer your last question, no, I don't think films need to include these social networking sites to keep up with modern times. If they are in the film, fine, but films can survive without them. It wouldn't be like cell phones, for instance, because almost everyone has a cell phone nowadays, whereas I myself know many who do not have a Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. I find social media sites comparable to video game systems. A lot of guys 18-24 have a PS3 or 360, but you rarely see that in films. Why? Because it doesn't necessarily contribute to the plot at all, nor should it.
Hope this helps (and that I'm not too late), and again good luck.
"Believe me. I tied my own shoes once. It is an overrated experience."
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Mat-37
14 years ago
It did contribute to the plot of this one film: the older comedian cannot come up with MySpace jokes cos he's older and slightly out of touch, hence giving the younger comedian his first assignment.
- A point in every direction is the same as no point at all.
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