The Curious Case of the Money Making Trailer

Movie companies have several means of making money. They put up posters in magazines and newspapers, and on the sides of movie theaters. They send actors and production staff out to do interviews about the film and generate word of mouth. Yet the classic is the movie trailer. On always before the start of a main feature, or on television a few weeks before the film opens, they allow audiences to get a taste of what’s to come. They’re made specific enough to allow the basis of the plot to be told, yet general enough to keep curiosity peaked. They’ll have voiceovers saying “THIS SUMMER…” or “IF THERE IS ONE MOVIE TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE….” Yet some take themselves seriously. Some try to generate a sense of serious emotion, not just “hey, that looks interesting.” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is such a film trailer. Choosing to compile emotionally or visually interesting pieces of the main character’s life, without using any sound besides the music and his voice to tell the story, draw the audience member in, and create interest to see the film.
Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers collaborated to make this movie for two reasons: one, to make money. The second, to win awards so they can have credibility to make more movies and, therefore, make more money. Their message, therefore, is to go see this movie. Yet, in order to avoid this greedy image, they disguise their message. Instead of, “go to the theater and spend money to see this film in germ-infested seats,” it’s “go to the theater and have a cathartic experience that will leave you weeping in your germ-infested seats.” This message works because many people did do this, and still do over other films.
These film companies hire trailer editors to compile pieces of the film and add music and narrations in order to pique the interest in the public once released. The editors chose, relying on the heavy themes of Benjamin Button, to create an emotional movie trailer. It starts off with the massive clock ticking one minute backward, and maintains this sense of reversed time throughout the trailer. Smash cut to the soldier running backwards from the blast that kills him, hugging his parents as he leaves the train that takes him to his doom. And then Benjamin appears, along with the rest of the cast of characters that, throughout the trailer, age into death, but not Button, who becomes younger as the trailer progresses. He continues on this path until the very end, when he is an infant with an old woman walking him. This montage of images reveal the ethos moment and core of the film: life is fantastic, and it’s the events that make it so, even at the end. Yet, as the audience finds, it causes sadness, laughter, and overall nostalgia that relates to all people, and not just Benjamin.
There are only two pieces of dialogue spoken in the film. “My name is Benjamin Button,” a voice speaks with a trace of an accent, “and I was born under unusual circumstances. While everybody else was aging, I was getting younger. All alone.” The second piece is at the end, when a woman says to Benjamin: “you’re so young.” Benjamin, his voice full of ancient yet innocent wisdom, replies: “only on the outside.” The rest is magical and sad music. This was done as a way of amplifying the emotions of the imagery, while simultaneously telling the audience that this film is a story of life, its mystical and happy moments, and its sad and lesson-giving moments.
The logos of the trailer is that going to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will make one appreciate life, while simultaneously seeing a great film. It has great actors, an interesting story, and, most of all, will make the audience tell others to see the film because of the impact it had on them. Well, that last one is at least the production company’s goal. If the audience has a great experience, the companies get more money. Maybe the audience will see it again, or get others to see it. Even better, people will go in droves to buy it on DVD. A great trailer, then, makes the chances of their logos succeeding increase.
What are movie trailers but commercials for many people to see in one room at once? Some, like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, just happen to make people emotional when they see it, which means a better chance for monetary success for the movie company. After all, that is the main goal of a movie trailer. Generate interest for the movie, and make more money. Yet who says one can’t enjoy the trailer for what is presented, not the motives? The Benjamin Button trailer causes a great stir and surge of emotions like sadness and joy, and that’s what makes it a success. For if the trailer is this good, then imagine what the movie will be like.

The Parable of Dani

"Dani California" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Gettin' born in the state of Mississippi
Poppa was a copper and her momma was a hippie
In Alabama she was swinging hammer
Price you gotta pay when you break the panorama
She never knew that there was anything more than poor
What in the world does your company take me for?

Black bandanna, sweet Louisiana
Robbin' on a bank in the state of Indiana
She's a runner, rebel and a stunner
On her merry way sayin' baby what you gonna
Lookin' down the barrel of a hot metal .45
Just another way to survive

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess, I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah

She's a lover, baby and a fighter
Shoulda seen it coming when it got a little brighter
With a name like Dani California
Day was gonna come when I was gonna mourn ya
A little loaded she was stealin' another breath
I love my baby to death

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess, I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah

Who knew the other side of you
Who knew what others died to prove
Too true to say goodbye to you
Too true, too say say say

Push the fader, gifted animator
One for the now and eleven for the later
Never made it, Up to Minnessota
North Dakota man was a gunnin' for the quota
Down in the badlands she was saving the best for last
it only hurts when I laugh
Gone too fast

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess, I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess, I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah

Parables, throughout history, remain popular for their ability to reach across time periods and remain relevant. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song, “Dani California,” uses imagery, foreshadowing, and irony to tell the modern parable of a misfortunate girl’s eventually fatal path through life. Dani herself appears in several songs from the band, such as “Californication” and “By the Way,” but only referred to in subtle ways. Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer and lyricist for RHCP, originally created her to be an embodiment of all the girls he has had relationships with. In this case, she is a fast-living woman, travelling on a path of destruction. The song is a warning to those who wish to live a similar life, and the ultimately cruel and untimely end that would be met.
The song uses striking, yet brief images to show its story rather than tell it. The listener first gets a strong taste of this tool in the second stanza:

“Black bandanna, sweet Louisiana
Robbin' on a bank in the state of Indiana
She's a runner, rebel and a stunner
On her merry way sayin' baby what you gonna
Lookin' down the barrel of a hot metal .45
Just another way to survive”

Dani, after living a destitute life in Mississippi, chose to live a life of crime across the United States by robbing banks. Though this could have easily been sung in a simpler way, RHCP chose to use strong, memorable images to let the listener conjure the character of Dani and her exploits. She is girl that doesn’t care about any negative side-effects to her life, just considering it “another way to survive.” This lifestyle, though dangerous, seems alluring to the singer, who considers her to be “a runner, rebel and a stunner.” However, as the song creeps on, he grows to realize that she is destined for a premature end.
The chorus of “Dani California” is sung thus:

“California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess, I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah”

The singer uses foreshadowing to constantly remind the listener that, due to Dani’s lifestyle, she will die. “California, rest in peace,” and “Simultaneous release” refer to Dani’s death, while “California, show your teeth” is an allusion to what brought her to her end: her fast-paced and dangerous life. In the fourth line of the chorus, the singer speaks directly to the listener. In it, he briefly states what made him choose to tell the listener the story: Dani was his priestess, providing an example of the life one should not live. He, in turn, became our priest, telling her story, spreading the Word of Dani California in an easily enjoyable tune whose meaning suddenly sneaks up on us.
Common in Red Hot Chili Peppers’ more meaningful songs, the music of “Dani California” is enjoyable and catchy, ironically contrasting with the tone of the lyrics being sung. Even in describing Dani’s death, in which she is shot trying to make it to Minnesota, the song remains upbeat. This is highly important in a parable: the tale must be as entertaining and thought-provoking as the moral itself. “Dani California” fulfills this purpose, having become a major hit across the world. Its meaning has reached to its listeners willing to hear its words, not just the music. The song is easily accessible to all. Ironically, the music’s tone deceives the listener into believing they are listening to a light, upbeat song, when it is in actuality dark and a warning to those that live like Dani.
“Dani California” is a modern parable about the dangerous end one who enjoys a fast-paced lifestyle may face, sooner rather than later. It uses imagery, foreshadowing, and irony to bring this point across. It is a song that one may have to listen to several times to truly understand it; it has much imagery and befuddling lyrics at times, yet the deeper meaning is there. One must only search to find it. For that is what a good parable does: it makes its audience search for its meaning, and hold onto it dearly, never for it to be lost again.

Amor Vincit Omnia

Like Pearl Harbor it came,
A surprising burst of emotion, tangerine joy,
Her hair, haute chocolate,
Laugh like luminous moons,
Bright, lively, racing rubies in me.

What voodoo broke me of the spell?
What got me out of that paradiso inferno, that Hell?
It seems so obvious now, like Fujiyama,
Or silver ice on the ground.
Essential heart beat.

Life and joy are contradictions without her.
Not a one man show anymore.
Every cliché proven right,
I get those songs now,
All that live jazz and… yeah.