By Alton Jerome McFarland
With full-color movie posters dominating nearly every page, the Paramount
website (located at www.paramount.com) is feast for the eyes, if not
the mind. Although the site boasts pictures and links galore there
is little real substance to be found. The aim of the site is obviously
promotion, but there is almost nothing about the presentation to interest
me in their various pitches. Links to other sections of the site (Television,
Video/DVD, etc.) offered more of the same. Pretty pictures and snappy
slogans serve much the same purpose, no matter the medium.
In all fairness, when I first entered the site, Paramount's aim became
immediately clear. Sell, sell, sell. With three huge movie posters
in the middle of my screen, I could see that the site was putting
up absolutely no pretense as to its purpose. I was supposed to look
at the posters, read the "reviews", and go see the movies.
Though I traveled all around the site, I didn't encounter much more
than colorful graphics attached to painfully shallow blurbs touting
things like "inspiring and emotional" journeys and "white-knuckle
suspense". At one point I decided that it might be interesting
to know who founded Paramount and when, alas, such information was
nowhere to be found. Following a promising link named "The Studio";
I was directed to links for purchasing promotional mugs and T-shirts,
and to information about buying tickets for tours.
Although I was disappointed with what I found on Paramount's website,
I was not at all surprised. The site was merely employing a formula
used so often by all segments of the entertainment industry. Instead
of trying to convince you of any particular product's quality, the
site hits you with as many different offerings as it can in hopes
that something will strike your fancy. Quantity, not quality, is the
mantra of today's entertainment industry, and Paramount's site simply
follows suit. In an attempt to provide a deeper level of content,
the site does offer links to its movies' official websites. These
sites, though, present more of the same, the only difference being
that now the pictures and blurbs are specific to individual films.
If I were looking for a movie to watch and happened upon the Paramount
website, I'd have gone to the right place. At any other time, though,
the constant self-advertising feel that pervades the site becomes
annoying very quickly. A commercial disguised as a website, www.paramount.com
perfectly embodies many people's perception of today's entertainment
industry…style without substance.