Fancy some meatballs?

This movie was inspired by a book with the same title “ Cloudy with a chance of meatballs” by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett. However, it does not closely follow what is written in the book. This is a brief synopsis of the movie.

Aspiring inventor Flint Lockwood is the socially awkward genius behind some of the most bizarre contraptions ever conceived. But even though all of his inventions, from spray-on shoes to a monkey thought translator, have been spectacular failures that caused trouble in his small town, Flint is determined to create something that will make people happy.

When Flint's latest machine, designed to turn water into food, accidentally destroys the town square and rockets up into the clouds, he thinks his inventing career is over. Until something amazing happens—cheeseburgers start raining from the sky. His machine actually works! The food weather is an instant success, and Flint forges a fast friendship with Sam Sparks, the weathergirl who comes to town to cover what she calls "the greatest weather phenomenon in history."

But when people greedily ask for more and more food, the machine starts behaving erratically, unleashing spaghetti tornadoes and giant meatballs. With the town about to be buried beneath mountains of marshmallows and waves of watermelons, it's up to Flint and Sam to use their combined expertise to shut down the machine and put everything right.
Courtesy of http://www.tribute.ca/movies/Cloudy+with+a+Chance+of+Meatballs/18497
Here is the link of the official website: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/cloudywithachanceofmeatballs/

For a more detailed synopsis, please visit the link below:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudy_with_a_Chance_of_Meatballs_(film)

  

In the movie, Flint lives in a small town called Swallows Falls that is well known for its sardines. However, when the only sardine factory in the town closed down, the town had been living on sardines ever since. The mayor felt that something should be done to revive the sardine business in order to attract visitors to their town. Hence, he broadcast on live television about his campaign to promote sardine tourism. This is a form of the mass communication where the message addresses a relatively large group of audience physically separated from one another. The characteristic of media messages is that it is non-exclusive and temporal. However, this message was transmitted publicly but not timed to reach most audiences simultaneously as the mayor chose an afternoon where most of its villagers are working. This resulted in the low turnout for his first campaign.

 

The mayor also set an agenda for the campaign and this has a great influence on the people in the town, as it is an obtrusive issue. It might not be easy for the mayor to set the agenda as it is happening near the villagers. However, as it concerns the survival of the town and its people, most of them are willing to believe what the mayor had said. Also, with the accompanying images of the new Swallows Falls, it creates an impression in the public’s mind that it would most likely succeed as it is related to them.

The media in the movie represents the views of the government of the town as they have the political power. As the media monopolizes opinions, they drive the town to believe that this project benefits them. No matter what the villagers felt about it, they have no channel to voice their oppositions because powerless groups like them are silenced.

When the news decided to broadcast about a tiny island where food rains from the sky, as well as live coverage by Sam Spurts then broadcast in different languages across the world; it has achieved its goal of setting the agenda for the audiences as they spanned across the world. Through the repeated broadcasting of the news (the different food that rains everyday at different time: breakfast, lunch and dinner), it raised an important issue in the public’s mind – how is that possible? That in turn managed to attract many visitors to the small town and enjoy a meal at the open-air café to see if it is true.

The media can have a great influence on us like in the case of this movie. They can manipulate us and sets agenda to make us believe in what they want us to believe and think. It also represents the perspective of the powerful elite - the economic and political powers of a particular society. Do you have any views on the positive or negative impacts that the media can inflict upon us? You can leave your comments or raise any issue about what I have mentioned in the above entry!