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      <title>Film:Good Bye Lenin!</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/films/Good_Bye_Lenin/222967/default.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<table width='100%' style='font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><tr><td><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t45556tna6m.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' /></td>
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<strong>Title:</strong> Good Bye Lenin!<br/>
<strong>Year:</strong> 2003<br/>
<strong>Director:</strong> Wolfgang Becker<br/>
<strong>Plot:</strong> A dedicated young German boy pulls off an elaborate scheme to keep his mother in good health in this comedy drama from director Wolfgang Becker. Suffering a heart attack and falling into a coma after seeing her son arrested during a protest, Alex's (Daniel Brühl) socialist mother, Christiane (Katrin Sass), remains comatose through the fall of the Berlin wall and the German Democratic Republic. Knowing that the slightest shock could prove fatal upon his mother's awakening, Alex strives to keep the fall of the GDR a secret for as long as possible. Keeping their apartment firmly rooted in the past, Alex's scheme works for a while, but it's not long before his mother is feeling better and ready to get up and around again. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide<br/>
<strong>Times Tagged:</strong> 47<br/>
<strong>Number of Lists:</strong> 18<br/>
<strong>Number of blog posts:</strong> 2<br/>
<strong>Number of discussion threads:</strong> 3<br/>
<strong>SpoutRating:</strong> 3<br/>
</td></tr></table>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2009 20:23:02 GMT</pubDate><spout:Title>Good Bye Lenin!</spout:Title><spout:Year>2003</spout:Year><spout:Director>Wolfgang Becker</spout:Director><spout:Plot>A dedicated young German boy pulls off an elaborate scheme to keep his mother in good health in this comedy drama from director Wolfgang Becker. Suffering a heart attack and falling into a coma after seeing her son arrested during a protest, Alex's (Daniel Brühl) socialist mother, Christiane (Katrin Sass), remains comatose through the fall of the Berlin wall and the German Democratic Republic. Knowing that the slightest shock could prove fatal upon his mother's awakening, Alex strives to keep the fall of the GDR a secret for as long as possible. Keeping their apartment firmly rooted in the past, Alex's scheme works for a while, but it's not long before his mother is feeling better and ready to get up and around again. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide</spout:Plot><spout:TimesTagged>47</spout:TimesTagged><spout:taglevel>Tag Target (&gt;10)</spout:taglevel><spout:Numberoflists>18</spout:Numberoflists><spout:NumberOfBlogPosts>2</spout:NumberOfBlogPosts><spout:NumberOfDiscussionThreads>3</spout:NumberOfDiscussionThreads><spout:SpoutRating>3</spout:SpoutRating><spout:FilmCoverURL>http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t45556tna6m.jpg</spout:FilmCoverURL><spout:SpoutFilmDetailURL>http://www.spout.com/films/Good_Bye_Lenin/222967/default.aspx</spout:SpoutFilmDetailURL><spout:type>Film</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Re:Movies Spout Needs to Watch</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/Re_Movies_Spout_Needs_to_Watch/643/39671/1/ShowPost.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t45556tna6m.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/121669/default.aspx'>leeroy711</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/643/discussions.aspx'>Community Recommendations</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 1/19/2009 12:25:23 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> [quote user="JimBell"]   Good-bye, Lenin--Germany--slightly humorous but thoughtful examination of the major change in eastern Europe I'd say all of these should stretch the viewers but not so far that they instantly dislike them. They may be foreign but they are quite accessible.   [/quote] Very good call with Good-Bye, Lenin. It's a very touching story about the lengths a son will go to in order to please his ill mother. Daniel Bruhl is really good in it too.<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:25:23 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>leeroy711</spout:postby><spout:postto>Community Recommendations</spout:postto><spout:postdate>1/19/2009 12:25:23 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>[quote user="JimBell"]   Good-bye, Lenin--Germany--slightly humorous but thoughtful examination of the major change in eastern Europe I'd say all of these should stretch the viewers but not so far that they instantly dislike them. They may be foreign but they are quite accessible.   [/quote] Very good call with Good-Bye, Lenin. It's a very touching story about the lengths a son will go to in order to please his ill mother. Daniel Bruhl is really good in it too.</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: 10 Best Product Placements in Movies</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/10/7/35995.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t45556tna6m.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/9325/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog on spout.com</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 10/7/2008 11:01:06 AM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> 
Product placement in movies is now so overdone that we may not even notice it unless a particular film or TV show really hits us over the head with a blatant in-your-face product shot. Otherwise, seeing commercial goods everywhere merely seems like everyday life in capitalist America. Just look at any of the websites that tally up products spotlighted in mainstream movies and you’ll probably be surprised (though not shocked) at how many brands appear in each new release. Did you notice that Blades of Glory contains 38 separate products? Probably not. Many of those products couldn’t have gotten their money’s worth, because the movie doesn’t allow the audience to walk away recalling any one particular item.
At a time when TV’s Top Chef and 30 Rock show us how lame blatantly whorish and ironic product placement can get, and while moviegoers are being subjected to more subliminal, suggestive and unintentional advertisements (Speed Racer, Wall-E and Beverly Hills Chihuahua respectively have us thinking about McDonalds, Apple products and Taco Bell, though some of these associations are not necessarily the movie’s fault), it’s good to remember that not all product placement is superfluous or despicable. Some of it is actually funny, smart and beneficial to mankind.


Movie: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Product: Reese’s Pieces
In case you don’t believe the part about product placement being beneficial to mankind, just imagine what could have happened if E.T. had featured either of Steven Spielberg’s first choices in candy placement, M&Ms or Hershey’s Kisses, rather than Reese’s Pieces. Would the delicious peanut butter candies still exist today? Okay, they might, but they certainly wouldn’t have become so popular so fast. Don’t forget that advertising is not simply about a greedy corporation marketing a product for profitable gain; it’s also about alerting us to wonderful new products that we otherwise might not have noticed. And isn’t your choice of sundae mix-ins better thanks to millions of moviegoers noticing the existence of Reese’s Pieces?

Movie: Back to the Future
Product: DeLorean DMC-12
On the opposite side of the spectrum from Reese’s Pieces, the DeLorean DMC-12 (popularly referred to as simply the DeLorean), is possibly the least necessary product ever to be placed prominently in a film. Maybe if it were actually a time machine it would be a must-have and the DeLorean Motor Company could have been back in business despite having gone bust a few years prior to the release of Back to the Future. Instead, the DeLorean is just a cool car, yet one that highly appeals to huge BTTF fans. And of the 6,500 DMC-12s still in existence, it’s likely that a large percentage are possessed by people who’ve installed a mock Flux Capacitor and own a vanity license plate that says something like “MCFLY” or “88 MPH” or “OUTATIME”. Get ready to see more tributes to the movie, too, since a car manufacturer in Houston has begun making new DMC-12s in limited production.

Movie: The Wizard
Product: Nintendo
A year after Mac and Me seemed to indicate that really, really prominent and shameless product placement was possibly a bad idea, The Wizard came out and provided the opposing argument. Then and now people have looked at the film’s promotion of Nintendo’s latest and much-anticipated blockbuster video game (and the the system’s “so bad” Power Glove controller) as one of the low moments in product placement, but for anyone who cared about video games in 1989, the chance to even get a glimpse of Super Mario Bros. 3 was worth the price of admission for an otherwise lame kiddie version of Rain Man.

Movie: Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
Product: White Castle
Like The Wizard’s promotion of Nintendo products, the employment of the White Castle fast food brand in Harold and Kumar is about reminding an audience about something it already likes and desires. But unlike The Wizard, Harold and Kumar doesn’t make the sponsorship seem like such a cheap grab for cash. Sure, the stoner comedy could have used any fast food place, real or made up, but for anyone who has devoured a whole Crave Case with one other friend at four in the morning, the specifically branded joke is all the more appreciated.

Movie: Wayne’s World
Products: Pizza Hut; Doritos; Reebok; Nuprin; Pepsi
Tina Fey may seem like the smartest SNL vet ever, but each time 30 Rock does the ironic product placement shtick, a number of Mike Myers and Dana Carvey loyalists likely shout at their screen, “Sheah, right! As if that’s not a 15-year-old gag.” And Fey isn’t the only one guilty of recycling the joke, although occasionally movies like Talladega Nights and Josie and the Pussycats can get away with it, because it’s kind of a necessary gag when satirizing things like NASCAR and pop music. Even the reflexive use of product placement in Fight Club somewhat descends from the Wayne’s World scene.

Movie: Best in Show
Products: Starbucks; Apple; J. Crew; L.L. Bean
Product placement doesn’t always have to be about favorably advertising a brand. It can also be about making fun of a brand, or making fun of a certain kind of person that brand is geared toward. In the mockumentary Best in Show, Starbucks is made fun of for having so many locations, while Apple is merely employed in the joke. Catalog clothing companies J. Crew and L.L. Bean are also simultaneously the butt of a joke and the means with which Christopher Guest makes fun of two of his film’s characters.

Movie: Good Bye Lenin!
Product: Coca-Cola
Product placement can also be about employing a product that serves as an idea. Coca-Cola is a brand that has been featured in tons of films as more a symbol of capitalism and the West than of soda pop (see my old post on Coca-Cola in cinema here), and in this German comedy, a giant Coca-Cola billboard serves to represent the westernization going on outside the window of the room of an oblivious woman being duped to believe the Berlin Wall never fell.

Movie: One, Two, Three
Product: Pepsi
The Coca-Cola placement in Good Bye Lenin! recalls Billy Wilder’s film One, Two, Three, which also deals with the division of East and West Berlin and also employs the iconic brand for the same kind of symbolic representation of capitalism. In Wilder’s film, though, the product is much more prominent, as the plot revolves around a Coca-Cola executive (played by James Cagney). Yet after so much mention of Coke, especially with the association of overbearing consumerism and cultural imperialism, you’re more likely to come away from the film wanting a bottle of Pepsi, instead. Of course, it also helps that the final shot in the film is of Cagney holding a bottle of Coca-Cola’s main competitor.

Movie: Breathless (À bout de souffle)

If you’re surprised that there was product placement as long ago as 1961, when One, Two, Three was released, let’s go back even further to 1960, and to another country, France. Jean-Luc Godard’s breakthrough and groundbreaking film probably wasn’t meant to increase sales of the New York Herald Tribune, but what male viewer could resist purchasing a subscription after watching and hearing Jean Seberg peddle the newspaper at the beginning of the film? Perhaps now the film even still inspires young men to subscribe to New York magazine, as a substitute for its now unavailable ancestor.
Oh, and just so you know, product placement can be found many, many decades earlier than the 1960s.

Movie: Minority Report
Products: Lexus; Guiness; American Express; and others
The product placement in Minority Report is considered an example of overkill, but that’s also the point. The film is set in a not-so-far-off future in which ads are everywhere, and most of them are personalized to address the consumer directly by name. It’s one of many futurist ideas in the film meant to exaggerate the present while predicting the direction technology is going. Already people receive personalized spam and internet ads, and advances in personalized marketing are growing closer and closer to what exists as a joke/prophesy in Spielberg’s film. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:01:06 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>SpoutBlog</spout:postby><spout:postto>SpoutBlog on spout.com</spout:postto><spout:postdate>10/7/2008 11:01:06 AM</spout:postdate><spout:body>
Product placement in movies is now so overdone that we may not even notice it unless a particular film or TV show really hits us over the head with a blatant in-your-face product shot. Otherwise, seeing commercial goods everywhere merely seems like everyday life in capitalist America. Just look at any of the websites that tally up products spotlighted in mainstream movies and you’ll probably be surprised (though not shocked) at how many brands appear in each new release. Did you notice that Blades of Glory contains 38 separate products? Probably not. Many of those products couldn’t have gotten their money’s worth, because the movie doesn’t allow the audience to walk away recalling any one particular item.
At a time when TV’s Top Chef and 30 Rock show us how lame blatantly whorish and ironic product placement can get, and while moviegoers are being subjected to more subliminal, suggestive and unintentional advertisements (Speed Racer, Wall-E and Beverly Hills Chihuahua respectively have us thinking about McDonalds, Apple products and Taco Bell, though some of these associations are not necessarily the movie’s fault), it’s good to remember that not all product placement is superfluous or despicable. Some of it is actually funny, smart and beneficial to mankind.


Movie: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Product: Reese’s Pieces
In case you don’t believe the part about product placement being beneficial to mankind, just imagine what could have happened if E.T. had featured either of Steven Spielberg’s first choices in candy placement, M&amp;Ms or Hershey’s Kisses, rather than Reese’s Pieces. Would the delicious peanut butter candies still exist today? Okay, they might, but they certainly wouldn’t have become so popular so fast. Don’t forget that advertising is not simply about a greedy corporation marketing a product for profitable gain; it’s also about alerting us to wonderful new products that we otherwise might not have noticed. And isn’t your choice of sundae mix-ins better thanks to millions of moviegoers noticing the existence of Reese’s Pieces?

Movie: Back to the Future
Product: DeLorean DMC-12
On the opposite side of the spectrum from Reese’s Pieces, the DeLorean DMC-12 (popularly referred to as simply the DeLorean), is possibly the least necessary product ever to be placed prominently in a film. Maybe if it were actually a time machine it would be a must-have and the DeLorean Motor Company could have been back in business despite having gone bust a few years prior to the release of Back to the Future. Instead, the DeLorean is just a cool car, yet one that highly appeals to huge BTTF fans. And of the 6,500 DMC-12s still in existence, it’s likely that a large percentage are possessed by people who’ve installed a mock Flux Capacitor and own a vanity license plate that says something like “MCFLY” or “88 MPH” or “OUTATIME”. Get ready to see more tributes to the movie, too, since a car manufacturer in Houston has begun making new DMC-12s in limited production.

Movie: The Wizard
Product: Nintendo
A year after Mac and Me seemed to indicate that really, really prominent and shameless product placement was possibly a bad idea, The Wizard came out and provided the opposing argument. Then and now people have looked at the film’s promotion of Nintendo’s latest and much-anticipated blockbuster video game (and the the system’s “so bad” Power Glove controller) as one of the low moments in product placement, but for anyone who cared about video games in 1989, the chance to even get a glimpse of Super Mario Bros. 3 was worth the price of admission for an otherwise lame kiddie version of Rain Man.

Movie: Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
Product: White Castle
Like The Wizard’s promotion of Nintendo products, the employment of the White Castle fast food brand in Harold and Kumar is about reminding an audience about something it already likes and desires. But unlike The Wizard, Harold and Kumar doesn’t make the sponsorship seem like such a cheap grab for cash. Sure, the stoner comedy could have used any fast food place, real or made up, but for anyone who has devoured a whole Crave Case with one other friend at four in the morning, the specifically branded joke is all the more appreciated.

Movie: Wayne’s World
Products: Pizza Hut; Doritos; Reebok; Nuprin; Pepsi
Tina Fey may seem like the smartest SNL vet ever, but each time 30 Rock does the ironic product placement shtick, a number of Mike Myers and Dana Carvey loyalists likely shout at their screen, “Sheah, right! As if that’s not a 15-year-old gag.” And Fey isn’t the only one guilty of recycling the joke, although occasionally movies like Talladega Nights and Josie and the Pussycats can get away with it, because it’s kind of a necessary gag when satirizing things like NASCAR and pop music. Even the reflexive use of product placement in Fight Club somewhat descends from the Wayne’s World scene.

Movie: Best in Show
Products: Starbucks; Apple; J. Crew; L.L. Bean
Product placement doesn’t always have to be about favorably advertising a brand. It can also be about making fun of a brand, or making fun of a certain kind of person that brand is geared toward. In the mockumentary Best in Show, Starbucks is made fun of for having so many locations, while Apple is merely employed in the joke. Catalog clothing companies J. Crew and L.L. Bean are also simultaneously the butt of a joke and the means with which Christopher Guest makes fun of two of his film’s characters.

Movie: Good Bye Lenin!
Product: Coca-Cola
Product placement can also be about employing a product that serves as an idea. Coca-Cola is a brand that has been featured in tons of films as more a symbol of capitalism and the West than of soda pop (see my old post on Coca-Cola in cinema here), and in this German comedy, a giant Coca-Cola billboard serves to represent the westernization going on outside the window of the room of an oblivious woman being duped to believe the Berlin Wall never fell.

Movie: One, Two, Three
Product: Pepsi
The Coca-Cola placement in Good Bye Lenin! recalls Billy Wilder’s film One, Two, Three, which also deals with the division of East and West Berlin and also employs the iconic brand for the same kind of symbolic representation of capitalism. In Wilder’s film, though, the product is much more prominent, as the plot revolves around a Coca-Cola executive (played by James Cagney). Yet after so much mention of Coke, especially with the association of overbearing consumerism and cultural imperialism, you’re more likely to come away from the film wanting a bottle of Pepsi, instead. Of course, it also helps that the final shot in the film is of Cagney holding a bottle of Coca-Cola’s main competitor.

Movie: Breathless (À bout de souffle)

If you’re surprised that there was product placement as long ago as 1961, when One, Two, Three was released, let’s go back even further to 1960, and to another country, France. Jean-Luc Godard’s breakthrough and groundbreaking film probably wasn’t meant to increase sales of the New York Herald Tribune, but what male viewer could resist purchasing a subscription after watching and hearing Jean Seberg peddle the newspaper at the beginning of the film? Perhaps now the film even still inspires young men to subscribe to New York magazine, as a substitute for its now unavailable ancestor.
Oh, and just so you know, product placement can be found many, many decades earlier than the 1960s.

Movie: Minority Report
Products: Lexus; Guiness; American Express; and others
The product placement in Minority Report is considered an example of overkill, but that’s also the point. The film is set in a not-so-far-off future in which ads are everywhere, and most of them are personalized to address the consumer directly by name. It’s one of many futurist ideas in the film meant to exaggerate the present while predicting the direction technology is going. Already people receive personalized spam and internet ads, and advances in personalized marketing are growing closer and closer to what exists as a joke/prophesy in Spielberg’s film. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Re:Cause &amp; Effect</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/groups/Movie_Games/Re_Cause_Effect/598/33823/1/ShowPost.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t45556tna6m.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/121669/default.aspx'>leeroy711</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/groups/Movie_Games/598/discussions.aspx'>Movie Games</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 8/10/2008 4:51:12 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> [quote user="unclefestering"] [quote user="leeroy711"] The Russian Navy refuses to fire on the Battleship Potemkin. Lenin uses the Battleship Potemkin story to fuel the October revolution of 1917 which puts power in the hands of the Bolsheviks. They form the Soviet Union, which Stalin takes control over. After WWII, the USSR takes over East Germany. The communist state of East Germany (later declared sovereign by USSR) creates the Stasi (secret police of East Germany) dissenters of the State and the Socialist Unity Party were questioned, jailed and/or beaten until the accusers heard what the wanted to hear such as in the film, The Lives Of Others.   Allright so, you could have probably fit about 2 or 3 movies in between those two but I would say this was a pretty good example of cause and effect. [/quote] I would prefer to see the upside of cause and effect in this situation: The Lives of Others shows the enormous overhead that the East German government has to deal with in order keep its citizens under constant control bankrupts the country and forces the government to fall and gives its people true, capitalist freedoms, although some perfer to dream of a perfect socialist society in Good Bye, Lenin!. [/quote]   I thought of including that one too. I loved Good Bye Lenin!. We could just make an entire cause &amp; effect time line starting with Battleship Potemkin and  Strike and ending with Good Bye, Lenin!. That way I could fit all sorts of my favorite movies like The Tunnel in there.<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:51:12 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>leeroy711</spout:postby><spout:postto>Movie Games</spout:postto><spout:postdate>8/10/2008 4:51:12 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>[quote user="unclefestering"] [quote user="leeroy711"] The Russian Navy refuses to fire on the Battleship Potemkin. Lenin uses the Battleship Potemkin story to fuel the October revolution of 1917 which puts power in the hands of the Bolsheviks. They form the Soviet Union, which Stalin takes control over. After WWII, the USSR takes over East Germany. The communist state of East Germany (later declared sovereign by USSR) creates the Stasi (secret police of East Germany) dissenters of the State and the Socialist Unity Party were questioned, jailed and/or beaten until the accusers heard what the wanted to hear such as in the film, The Lives Of Others.   Allright so, you could have probably fit about 2 or 3 movies in between those two but I would say this was a pretty good example of cause and effect. [/quote] I would prefer to see the upside of cause and effect in this situation: The Lives of Others shows the enormous overhead that the East German government has to deal with in order keep its citizens under constant control bankrupts the country and forces the government to fall and gives its people true, capitalist freedoms, although some perfer to dream of a perfect socialist society in Good Bye, Lenin!. [/quote]   I thought of including that one too. I loved Good Bye Lenin!. We could just make an entire cause &amp;amp; effect time line starting with Battleship Potemkin and  Strike and ending with Good Bye, Lenin!. That way I could fit all sorts of my favorite movies like The Tunnel in there.</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Re:Cause &amp; Effect</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/groups/Movie_Games/Re_Cause_Effect/598/33820/1/ShowPost.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t45556tna6m.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/130209/default.aspx'>unclefestering</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/groups/Movie_Games/598/discussions.aspx'>Movie Games</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 8/10/2008 2:30:17 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> [quote user="leeroy711"] The Russian Navy refuses to fire on the Battleship Potemkin. Lenin uses the Battleship Potemkin story to fuel the October revolution of 1917 which puts power in the hands of the Bolsheviks. They form the Soviet Union, which Stalin takes control over. After WWII, the USSR takes over East Germany. The communist state of East Germany (later declared sovereign by USSR) creates the Stasi (secret police of East Germany) dissenters of the State and the Socialist Unity Party were questioned, jailed and/or beaten until the accusers heard what the wanted to hear such as in the film, The Lives Of Others.   Allright so, you could have probably fit about 2 or 3 movies in between those two but I would say this was a pretty good example of cause and effect. [/quote] I would prefer to see the upside of cause and effect in this situation: The Lives of Others shows the enormous overhead that the East German government has to deal with in order keep its citizens under constant control bankrupts the country and forces the government to fall and gives its people true, capitalist freedoms, although some perfer to dream of a perfect socialist society in Good Bye, Lenin!.<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:30:17 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>unclefestering</spout:postby><spout:postto>Movie Games</spout:postto><spout:postdate>8/10/2008 2:30:17 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>[quote user="leeroy711"] The Russian Navy refuses to fire on the Battleship Potemkin. Lenin uses the Battleship Potemkin story to fuel the October revolution of 1917 which puts power in the hands of the Bolsheviks. They form the Soviet Union, which Stalin takes control over. After WWII, the USSR takes over East Germany. The communist state of East Germany (later declared sovereign by USSR) creates the Stasi (secret police of East Germany) dissenters of the State and the Socialist Unity Party were questioned, jailed and/or beaten until the accusers heard what the wanted to hear such as in the film, The Lives Of Others.   Allright so, you could have probably fit about 2 or 3 movies in between those two but I would say this was a pretty good example of cause and effect. [/quote] I would prefer to see the upside of cause and effect in this situation: The Lives of Others shows the enormous overhead that the East German government has to deal with in order keep its citizens under constant control bankrupts the country and forces the government to fall and gives its people true, capitalist freedoms, although some perfer to dream of a perfect socialist society in Good Bye, Lenin!.</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Coca-Cola Cinema</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/3/27/26663.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t45556tna6m.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/9325/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog on spout.com</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 3/27/2008 5:00:28 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> 


This morning I was watching Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three (see, readers, I do know movies before 1990), and it made me wonder if Coca-Cola is the most cinematic commercial product in the history of film. Not the most prominent in film, necessarily (in terms of either direct product placement or more casual indirect appearance,) but at least the most significant to film. After all, Coca-Cola did own a movie studio (Columbia Pictures) for the greater part of a decade (the 1980s).
In addition to One, Two, Three, which is about a Coca-Cola executive in West Berlin, the soft drink figures specifically in and fundamentally to the plots of The Gods Must Be Crazy, Good Bye Lenin! and, obviously, The Coca-Cola Kid. But primarily, such direct incorporations of the brand are more about their connection to the U.S. and capitalism than they are to the actual product of soda. Even when Superman throws a bad guy at a giant Coca-Cola billboard in Superman II, the brand comes with a connotation of Americanism that overshadows any intent to market a beverage. And certainly the title in Godard’s Masculin, Feminin that says “The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola” means Coca-Cola in its non-product definition of being a metaphor for capitalist America. And is the joke in Dr. Strangelove (in the video above) that the head of Coca-Cola is analogous to the President of the United States?
 (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:00:28 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>SpoutBlog</spout:postby><spout:postto>SpoutBlog on spout.com</spout:postto><spout:postdate>3/27/2008 5:00:28 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>


This morning I was watching Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three (see, readers, I do know movies before 1990), and it made me wonder if Coca-Cola is the most cinematic commercial product in the history of film. Not the most prominent in film, necessarily (in terms of either direct product placement or more casual indirect appearance,) but at least the most significant to film. After all, Coca-Cola did own a movie studio (Columbia Pictures) for the greater part of a decade (the 1980s).
In addition to One, Two, Three, which is about a Coca-Cola executive in West Berlin, the soft drink figures specifically in and fundamentally to the plots of The Gods Must Be Crazy, Good Bye Lenin! and, obviously, The Coca-Cola Kid. But primarily, such direct incorporations of the brand are more about their connection to the U.S. and capitalism than they are to the actual product of soda. Even when Superman throws a bad guy at a giant Coca-Cola billboard in Superman II, the brand comes with a connotation of Americanism that overshadows any intent to market a beverage. And certainly the title in Godard’s Masculin, Feminin that says “The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola” means Coca-Cola in its non-product definition of being a metaphor for capitalist America. And is the joke in Dr. Strangelove (in the video above) that the head of Coca-Cola is analogous to the President of the United States?
 (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:funny</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/funny/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/funny/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>funny</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 609</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 316</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 942</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:10:58 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>609</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>316</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>942</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:family</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/family/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/family/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>family</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 6289</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 227</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 1140</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:51:34 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>6289</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>227</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>1140</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:Loved-It</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Loved-It/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/Loved-It/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>Loved-It</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 509</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 179</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 921</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:56:35 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>509</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>179</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>921</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:death</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/death/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/death/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>death</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 4306</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 140</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 526</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:27:13 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>4306</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>140</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>526</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:Quirky</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Quirky/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/Quirky/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>Quirky</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 131</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 110</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 249</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:54:25 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>131</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>110</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>249</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:deception</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/deception/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/deception/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>deception</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 1090</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 55</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 123</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:18:11 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>1090</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>55</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>123</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:mother</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/mother/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/mother/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>mother</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 2522</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 53</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 152</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:51:56 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>2522</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>53</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>152</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:son</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/son/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/son/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>son</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 2321</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 40</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 111</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:48:06 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>2321</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>40</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>111</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:germany</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/germany/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/germany/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>germany</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 873</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 31</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 53</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:51:44 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>873</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>31</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>53</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:foreign</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/foreign/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/foreign/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>foreign</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 491</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 30</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 421</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:41:30 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>491</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>30</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>421</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:political</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/political/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/political/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>political</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 51</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 29</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 65</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:21:55 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>51</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>29</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>65</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:awkward-moments</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/awkward-moments/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/awkward-moments/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>awkward-moments</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 46</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 28</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 80</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:29:18 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>46</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>28</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>80</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:perfectly-quirky</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/perfectly-quirky/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/perfectly-quirky/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>perfectly-quirky</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 28</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 27</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 70</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 14 Oct 2007 13:37:43 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>28</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>27</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>70</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:communism</title>
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<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 467</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 22</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 34</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:02:59 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>467</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>22</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>34</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:heartbreak</title>
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<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 90</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 22</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 34</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:30:40 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>90</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>22</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>34</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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