SPIELBERG: The Ultimate Slimeball?
JoeEkaitis
When the original "Jurassic Park" was released, our boy Stevie made a VERY
big deal about the fact that he wouldn't let his youngest children see the
film. Oddly, though, "Jurassic Park" merchandise was on the shelves in an
an abundance that rivalled the product tie-ins over at the House of Mouse.
So, if you took YOUR kids to see HIS movie, YOU were a worse parent than
Steven Spielberg.
Now we have "The Lost World: Jurassic Park", and once more the nominee for
Most Hypocritical Motion Picture Producer in All of Hollywood is (the
envelope, please) Steven Spielberg!
"TLW:JP" merchandise this time includes TWO, count 'em,TWO cereals from
General Mills along with the countless toys and other action figures. And
EVERY commercial for this stuff (which air during children's TV shows)
carries a little footnote at the bottom of the screen:
"Parents: please use discretion in making film choices for young
children."
In other words, child-rearing expert Spielberg wants you to empty your
checking account, charge your MasterCard/VISA/American Express/Discover
Card to the limit and otherwise impoverish yourself by plugging "TLW:JP"
stuff on the very TV shows your kids watch. Oh, and should you cave in to
your little darlins' incessant begging to actually SEE the film, it's not
HIS fault if you can't get them to sleep that night. Hey, you moron, he
warned you!
I have a better idea, Steve. How about, if the movie has a rating that
precludes viewing by young children (say PG-13 for excessive violence and
gore), then just DON'T merchandise it to children? If children shouldn't
see the movie, WHY, for Gods sake (well, for GREED'S sake) should they
play with toys and get their sugar rush from cereal based on a movie whose
main color scheme is dinosaur olive drab and human blood red? Why not
have a press conference and say "This is NOT a film for children, so
Amblin Entertainment has decided NOT to license it for any product that
will be marketed directly to young children. We feel it would be greedy,
irresponsible and NOT in their best interests."
Sorry. I keep forgetting WHO we're talking about. Never mind.
Joe Ekaitis
/\/\ JoeEk...@aol.com
/ .. \ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JoeEkaitis/fantasy.htm
Mikey
but he's out directing another movie? there's other forces that want to
market your name and your movie to make tons of money. Spielberg is just
a director. once you start working for large corporations, they will do
things beyond your control. your hands will be tied, i.e. see what
Disney did to Robin Williams about the Alladin affair.
RISKERBOY
We must think and wonder if Spielberg asked for the rights of making toys.
Maybe he wasn't thinking about it so the Studio thought it would be
alright if they had it in their power. Or-- Spielberg does tend to lean
his magic to kids. Give them the toys and let them create their own
adventures. I know Spielberg would have died to have those kind of toys
when he was that age.
Gene Siskel
I think you're forgetting that a lot of this merchandising has more to do
with the studio's best interests, not spielberg. Granted, he's making
money off this and it does seem hypocritical but I'm sure there are some
outside forces that have influenced him to make this decision. If you
owned a studio and one of your movies had the potential to make a killing
on lunch box and t-shirt sales, wouldn't you try to make a fast buck, too?
Donovan Boden
Boy, what a spaz.
Doc3rdkind
JoeEkaitis
Mikey wrote:
<<Spielberg is just
a director. once you start working for large corporations, they will do
things beyond your control. your hands will be tied, i.e. see what
Disney did to Robin Williams about the Alladin affair.>>
Spielberg runs the company. Robin Williams does not.
JoeEkaitis
IJFan wrote:
<<I don't see you bitching about the Aliens, Terminator, Robocop, or
Predator toys. ALL OF THOSE FILMS ARE RATED R>>
I stand corrected. They're all slimeballs. :)
IJfan
I don't see you bitching about the Aliens, Terminator, Robocop, or
Predator toys. ALL OF THOSE FILMS ARE RATED R. Parents should decide
what their best interest is for their kids, NOT YOU. Some kids can handle
movies like Jurrassic Park whille others can not. So does that mean that
ALL KIDS CAN'T HAVE THE TOYS BECAUSE SOME OF THEM CAN'T HANDLE IT!!??.
IJFAN
Doc3rdkind
joeek...@aol.com (JoeEkaitis) wrote:
<<IJFan wrote:
<<I don't see you bitching about the Aliens, Terminator, Robocop, or
Predator toys. ALL OF THOSE FILMS ARE RATED R>>
I stand corrected. They're all slimeballs. :)>>
and youve done what with your life? oh, thats right. nothing.
Mike Kohary
JoeEkaitis wrote:
> In other words, child-rearing expert Spielberg wants you to empty your
> checking account, charge your MasterCard/VISA/American Express/Discover
> Card to the limit and otherwise impoverish yourself by plugging "TLW:JP"
> stuff on the very TV shows your kids watch. Oh, and should you cave in to
> your little darlins' incessant begging to actually SEE the film, it's not
> HIS fault if you can't get them to sleep that night. Hey, you moron, he
> warned you!
Joe: I doubt that Spielberg has very much say in matters like this. No
matter how much of a God some in this group like to think he is, the
film still belongs to - yes - the STUDIO. They market it as they see
fit.
Mike
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Chuck Kahn
In article <338D2D...@u.washington.edu>,
Mike Kohary <mko...@u.washington.edu> sez:
>JoeEkaitis wrote:
>
>> In other words, child-rearing expert Spielberg wants you to empty your
>> checking account, charge your MasterCard/VISA/American Express/Discover
>> Card to the limit and otherwise impoverish yourself by plugging "TLW:JP"
>> stuff on the very TV shows your kids watch. Oh, and should you cave in to
>> your little darlins' incessant begging to actually SEE the film, it's not
>> HIS fault if you can't get them to sleep that night. Hey, you moron, he
>> warned you!
>
>Joe: I doubt that Spielberg has very much say in matters like this. No
>matter how much of a God some in this group like to think he is, the
>film still belongs to - yes - the STUDIO. They market it as they see
>fit.
Everything has to be run past Spielberg first. The 20/20 profile back
in 1982 showed him approving trailers, etc.
But who says sheltering children from scary movie dinosaurs is good
parenting anyways? That may be Spielberg's parenting philosophy, but
many of us have managed to survive the scary movies of our childhood.
--
Chuck Kahn / od...@interlog.com / http://www.interlog.com/~odin