VW Golf Ad

[madcowsexiness.livejournal.com]

I don't know how vintage this is, but it's so disturbing I don't really know what to say.

Comments

[niyabinghi.livejournal.com]

That came out sometime in the mid-late 90s....

[acid-poptart.livejournal.com]

Not sure about the ad coming out then. That's a Mark 5 GTI in the commercial, they came out in 2004 in the UK.

[renn.livejournal.com]

That's not just evil, it's sacrilege. Even worse that Gene and Jerry Mouse getting it on w/ Paula Abdul for Diet Coke. *shudder*

[edgreen86.livejournal.com]

And, any bets as to whether Kelley's estate made a dime off this thing?

[acid-poptart.livejournal.com]

Probably depends if Kelly was a contract player when "Singin' in the Rain" was made, which I think he was - but I'm pretty sure Kelly's estate still saw some residual as VW is pretty much on the up and up with their own licensing and advertising. They didn't even want to be involved with the Transformers movie because of the violence portrayed.

[pagerbear.livejournal.com]

Technically, amazing.

Artistically, obscene.

[bricology.livejournal.com]

Sick. As if Gene Kelly would've ever danced around like some crack-addled baboon.

[madcowsexiness.livejournal.com]

LOLLLL

[madcowsexiness.livejournal.com]

I am now listening to what black-people music I have in effort to convince myself I am not racist.

NOT!RACIST

[silverstah.livejournal.com]

To scrub this image from my brain, I bring you a MUCH nicer modern interpretation of 'Singin' in the Rain'. :)

I'm not an Usher fan, but he did a marvelous job with this.

[madcowsexiness.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was great! I love how he didn't feel the need to hip it up and kept the great corny bits in.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Now that's keepin' it real.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Niiice! A living tribute beats photomanipulation of dead footage any day.

(To clarify: watching Gene Kelly dance on film is seeing art created by a living talent. Watching a zombie Gene Kelly twitch over sampled loops is kind of interesting. Once.)

[nokomarie.livejournal.com]

Now that was a nice thing to watch.

[yndy.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

That was beautiful and a damn nice tribute to Gene's work.

*that* is updating a classic - not the monstronsity that VW produced.

[fishcracker.livejournal.com]

Wow, I think I'm an Usher fan now.

My brain is also scrubbed. Thanks for posting that!

[tvini.livejournal.com]

That calms the shakes.

Thanks for posting that. It removed my unreasoning rage over that VW desecration.

And now, to hit iTunes to look for Usher songs.

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

It's a wonder Gene Kelly's estate let them do it. They must have been handsomely paid off.

[fishcracker.livejournal.com]

Gaaaaah, nooo, anything but THAT commercial!! *buries face in hands*

I barely survived it the first time around. -_-

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

Weird.
I feel strange.
I LOVE the VW ad. I loved when I first saw it, I loved it the next twenty times I watched it, I love watching it now.
It's not Fred Astaire dancing with vacuum cleaners or Marilyn Monroe having dinner with Einstein, Bogart and Madonna.
I felt the VW ad is a legitimate and awesome remix of the classic.

Plus I couldn't find Usher less sincere. No denying his talent but watching that video was like watching Gus Vant Sant's remake of Psycho. I fail to see the point. I honestly thought a lot of you here were being sarcastic until I re-read all the comments and realized that you're all actually being heartfelt.

Don't get me wrong, I think bringing dead stars back to life is appalling. I think using the dead to shill products is likewise a cancer in the advertising industry.

I also happen to be of the mind that the VW 'dancin' Gene' commercial is the exception to that rule.

Just my opinion but I thought I'd provide a counterpoint here. Or at least open up the floor a little if it's needed. I don't think you're all wrong or anything, don't get me wrong, but I don't agree with you and judging by the harshness of the comments, I'm a little mystified as to my views (that I thought were pretty universal) about this commercial.

[fishcracker.livejournal.com]

Obviously I don't know other people's reasons for not liking the VW commercial, but in my case, I had loved Singin' in the Rain since I was about five years old. Seeing my beloved childhood memories, one of my heroes, being altered so drastically, and so convincingly, is seriously creepy to me.

I generally like the concept behind these commercials (I *loved* the ad with Astaire and the vacuum cleaner, for example). It's just that this ad seemed to change the whole character of the actor they were depicting, which strikes me as a big no-no.

Yeah, the Usher thing is pretty hokey, but judging from the small clip we have here, it seems more like a heartfelt homage than just cashing in on a name. I could be wrong though. :^P

I don't really want to start a big debate here, and I'm glad that you stated your opinion instead of going with the crowd. I just thought I'd give my reasons too.

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Yeah, I can see that if Singin' in the Rain was one's favourite movie of all time, it would be quite creepy to see it altered so drastically and, like you said, convincingly. I think that maybe that was the point I was missing.

Taking it that way does make the Fred Astaire vacuum cleaner commercial seem at least more in keeping with Astaire's career and personality.

Yeah, I don't really know enough about Usher to pull any judgements. I was just thinking that as heartfelt as his homage probably was, he's no Gene Kelly. It made the re-creation seem a little on the pointless side. Not that I could do anywhere near as good so it's a moot point, really. More power to Usher. That clip just doesn't affect me either way.

Thanks for responding so eloquently. Like I said, I wasn't trying to put a fox in the henhouse or anything like that. I've just loved that ad for so long that to see the extremity of the digust expressed here really made wonder what the heck was up with me. I think I'm a little clearer on it. Cheers.

[fishcracker.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't really know enough about Usher to pull any judgements. I was just thinking that as heartfelt as his homage probably was, he's no Gene Kelly. It made the re-creation seem a little on the pointless side.

Well, in that same vein, being an Elvis impersonator is also pointless, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun. :^P

And thank you for proving that a debate on the internet can remain civil and not devolve into a flame war! That made me surprisingly happy, even if we don't entirely agree. Cheers to you, too.

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

Aw. Cheers. You too. I'm all happy on my insides now. : )