Entry 11: The Watch...and Costco?

Most of you have probably heard of or seen the movie "The Watch" that came out in July. It had Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and that guy with the fro and the British accent. 

It was definitely not a  great movie; the main attractions were probably the recognized 'funny guys' who starred. Although there were clever parts that garnered laughs, overall it had pretty stupid humor.

Like that

The most interesting part of the movie to me was that it was basically a Costco ad. (Spoilers coming, by the way.) The main character, Ben Stiller, is the manager of a Costco in his suburban town, and just loves it. He has obvious emotional attachment to his workplace, and it's presented as the most rewarding and overwhelmingly good place to be. He also has an incredibly nice house. I doubt Costco managers make that much, or even much at all. It adds to the "happy Costco employee" image his character creates. 

Costco even gets into the plot. There are a lot of scenes filmed in front of or inside a Costco, with the logo conspicuously in the background throughout. 

This is a still from the movie

The aliens (oh yeah, there's aliens) also use Costco as their base, because it "has everything." The guys in the watch hang out in a camping display because it's just so darn great to be in Costco. 

They would totally get kicked out.

In the end they have to blow up the Costco to destroy the alien transmitter thing that was going to destroy Earth (go figure). Ben Stiller is very sad to see his baby destroyed. This ending presents Costco as this greatly missed martyr that sacrificed itself to save the world, to the dismay of all those who loved it. It almost sounds Christ-like. 

Techniques used in this movie are patriotism, repetition, wit and humor, plain folks, and testimonial. There's patriotism because it saves the world, dang it! There is no greater act of patriotism. The name "Costco" is repeated throughout the movie, both visually and verbally. It's impossible for the watcher to separate it from the numerous praises Ben Stiller gives it every few scenes. Wit and humor is the whole point of this movie. It didn't succeed that well, in my opinion the really funny parts can't be mentioned in this blog. Plain folks is used in that Ben Stiller and the rest of the guys in the watch (British afro man and possibly Jonah Hill excluded) are just normal guys, with family problems, etc. However, it is still a movie with celebrated actors loving the Costco, so it's also a testimonial. 

The need to feel safe is also used here--those aliens are pretty freaky looking and not the nicest guys in the galaxy, and without the amazingness of Costco they would've taken over our world and killed us all!