IZE OF THE WORLD

The new film “American Teen” premiered at Sundance and has been getting comparisons to the 1980s John Hughes film “The Breakfast Club,” according to Slashfilm.com. Paramount Vantage has decided to use this as a marketing tool for the film, and has released a poster which looks exactly like the movie poster for “The Breakfast Club.”

The new film is a documentary based in Warsaw, Indiana. It follows five high school seniors as they cope with school and their lives, according to the Wikipedia article. It is expected to be released for the general public later in 2008.

I think this is a very good way to generate publicity for the film. “The Breakfast Club” is a classic in American cinema and the new poster for “American Teen” will no doubt be intriguing to anyone who has seen “The Breakfast Club.” It will spark everyone’s curiosity as to what this film is about, and this marketing technique will attract more people to the movie theater on opening day to see what this documentary is about and how it compares to “The Breakfast Club.” I personally loved “The Breakfast Club” and am interested in this new film and what it is about, so this marketing campaign definitely worked on me.

A warrant for Shia Labeouf’s arrest was issued on Tuesday, according to TMZ. Shia failed to appear in court regarding charges of unlawful smoking outside a Burbank, Calif. gift shop called Skyblupink. A $1000 bench warrant was issued for Shia’s arrest. E! News then reported that the day after the arrest warrant was issued, Shia sent attorney Michael Norris to plead not guilty to the offense. The judge then retracted the warrant. A pretrial hearing is set for April 24 and the trial is scheduled for July 11.

For mainstream news sources, I looked at E! News, MTV News, UsMagazine.com, Female First, Hollyscoop and TMZ. Most coverage is objective, stating the facts of the situation, although there are some side comments made. Some are positive, some are negative. For example, the last line of Hollyscoop asks, “So does this mean we’re gonna be seeing a new mugshot soon?” MTV News pokes fun at the situation, mentioning how ridiculous it is that someone can get cited for unlawful smoking and poking fun at the name of the gift shop. Most of the articles mention Shia’s previous arrest in November for trespassing at a Walgreens. MTV News’s headline states “Shia Labeouf’s Crime Spree Continues,” basically making fun of his infractions since they are both minor misdemeanors. Female First quotes Shia about the November incident, in which he says, “That was complete and utter insanity. I was a nincompoop, and it was a mistake I’m still completely embarrassed about.” Most of the photos used are him at various events, so they are flattering photos, although one or two sites use unflattering ones. TMZ uses a photo of Shia smoking. Shia’s publicist was unavailable for comment in all of the stories. The actor seems not to be portrayed negatively, because he is quoted as being remorseful for these mistakes that he made and the articles are making fun of these infractions and make it seem like these are silly things to get arrested for.

The blogs I looked at were Daily Blabber, Perez Hilton, I’m Not Obsessed and Hollywood Backwash. The blogs are mostly unfavorable to Shia. They poke fun at him, asking why he is trying to be a “bad boy” and that he is not doing a good job of it, since he is getting arrested for minor things. Daily Blabber says that Shia might be “the poorest excuse for a bad boy – ever.”A quote from Hollywood Backwash says, “We don’t buy the scruffy, bad-boy Colin Ferrell thing he is working now.” The pictures used on the blogs are of him looking more scruffy and less put together, some are of him smoking as well. Most emphasize how minor the infractions are that he has been arrested for. Perez Hilton says that Shia is acting out in silly ways, but at least he is not getting DWI’s.

The blogs are harsher towards Shia than the mainstream media is. They poke fun at him personally more, and the mainstream media mostly poke fun at the situation. One of the mainstream sites have quotes from Shia showing remorse, and none of the blogs do that. The blogs also show more unfavorable pictures. The mainstream media is more objective in its coverage overall, the blogs interject their opinions more often.

The publicist as of now has chosen not to comment on the situation. I think that even though this is another minor situation, some kind of comment should have been released, like the comments made about the November incident. Maybe in the near future Shia will make a statement about this particular infraction.