Obviously we don't begrudge a dime to the makers of this fine little ghost
movie, or the geniuses behind its savvy marketing effort. Except for one small
point, the part about ruining the film for anyone who hadn't caught it by ... more its
second weekend in wide release.
Once Paramount decided that the viral marketing campaign had run its course,
the studio began airing TV spots featuring part of the movie's final, big
reveal. We've come to this: Hollywood marketers not only steer most studio fare
toward the group they can sell to the easiest (18- to 24-year-olds), but they
also actually don't trust the kids to sit through a really great film that
they're bound to love. They must reassure the little darlings that, at some
point, there will be some violent action to warm their bloodlust.
It's all about preconditioning the audience: The trailers and TV spots serve
not only as come-ons, but also as tutorials in how the movie will unfold (the
plot points, themes, specific moments of revelation and turnabout) so that even
morons can sit through the thing with a minimum of confusion or discomfort (or
shame, regarding their own inability to understand something that's been pitched
straight at them).
They can then leave the theater with unequivocal conviction about the movie
they've just seen and tweet all their pals with the good news.
"Idiocracy" had it right. Mike Judge was just 490 years off in his timeline.
