Project 1- Grease Lightning

Thesis:

A fast car that is like “greased lightning” will get you women.

Triune Brain:

The part of the brain that this music video targets is the limbic region. It is a music video, so of course the part of the brain that processes images and sound would be the most utilized. Males and females watching the video may also feel emotionally involved or attached to the young people singing as well. The video also can spark some flow within the reptilian brain. The video is about sex and males finding females, so that could attribute to the mating part of this brain.

3 Shifts/trends:

                  The first major shift to be noted is the technological shift. When I first saw this movie, it was on a VHS tape and I was a young girl. Now I can type it into YouTube and watch it anytime I want. Almost any scene from any movie can be found somewhere on the internet now-a-days.
                  The second shift is more subtle, it is an economic shift within the music video itself. These young buys are working in a school garage fixing up a car and a small budget, and halfway through the video they begin to dream of a fancy car that has all the best parts. This would be an economic shift because the young men would then look like they were higher class and also have more resources for their car.
                  The third shift was a discursive shift. Everything that was stated in the music video could be part of a conversation, and that is how the music video started. The men were all just sitting around talking about how crappy the car was, and then Danny decides to lift their spirits and show them what the car in front of them has to offer. These shifts make the video all the more powerful.

5 Facts:

                  Five facts from this video are as follows: 1. Fast cars will get you respect, 2. Any car has the potential to be a great car, 3. Cars get you women, 4. If everyone works together and have a positive outlook, then many things can be accomplished, and 5. Men of this age always had access to a comb and cigarettes.

3 Principles:

                  The three principles used in this video are value messages, emotional transfer, and reality construction. The value messages are that a nice car can get people hookups with the opposite sex, and it can help them move up in society.  Emotional transfer is that all these guys are singing about this great car and it just makes the viewer happy and wants to sing along or help rebuild the car with them. It really gets the viewer involved. The last principle is reality construction. This video is so much like everyday life and it shows the tradeoffs of working hard, a great car, and the tradeoffs of slacking, a crappy car and no dates. This is relatable for any generation as long as cars are involved in their lives.

5 Persuasive Techniques:

                  The first persuasive technique is the use of “maybe”. Danny has a big view of what this car COULD look like and wants the boys to see his view. He knows that just maybe, if they had a few things here and there, the car could be great.
                  The second persuasive technique is plain folks. These boys in this video are just average high school boys with limited money, and parents that are not that involved. This appeals to the plain audience and makes them side with the actors in the movie.
                  The third technique used was beautiful people. While these men economically are plain, their looks excel. The two main singers, Kenickie and Danny are both very attractive men, therefore making women want to listen to them to be able to get with them and men want to listen so they can be like them.
                  The next technique was group dynamics. First Danny is the only one who knows the car can be something great, then after a big of singing and convincing, the other men see what he sees and they all want to work together to make this car into a sex machine.
                  The last major technique used was the bandwagon technique. Every other kid in this era was driving around nice cars and racing at thunder road so these boys wanted one too. And honestly even today once a boy hits high school he even wants one of those nice fast cars. The bandwagon comes with every generation and for most males it happens to involve cars.

3 SEPRITE themes/relation to readings:

                  In relation to the public of drivers, these kids were just experiencing the freedom that happened after all that was discussed in the book. These boys had free access to roads, limited surveillance, and fast cars. One thing I did notice though, was that there were few women drivers and no drivers of color, so this movie certainly wasn’t focused on the topic of sex or race. Just the actions of having sex and racing cars. It was purely about whites males and their cars, but also the love story between Danny and Sandy (Social structures)

                  Today we have built are society around cars and is it difficult for people to travel without the use of a vehicle, in this sense we have built our lives based on always needing a car. This movie illustrates that the car is the gateway to access to many excluded things, like in American Graffiti. For this movie the car grants access to the fair, shop class, and thunder road, while in American Graffiti it was to drive-ins, social spots, and paradise road. Cars are keys to accessing different environments we have built for ourselves. (Environments)

                  Relating to Carjacked, is technology. Lutz discusses how cars have become more and more advanced over the years, and in this video, the car becomes advanced within one dream, and then in reality by the end of the movie. It proves how far technology can take us, and how even back then people dreamed of more advancement with cars. (Technology)