I will begin by explaining what convention means. Convention is a term used to describe elements of artifacts within pop culture that doesn’t change. A good example is that all action movies have violence in one form or another.
The Hangover is another perfect example of convention. All movies with bachelor parties always revolve around sex and drugs and this movie does the same. The group of friends has a long night full of gambling, drinking, and getting into trouble only to wake up the next mourning with no memory of the events from the night before. This is convention because all bachelor parties are also portrayed as having a group of drunken men that seem to thrive on trouble and mischief. (Moviefone, 2009)
In the movie, the group of men lost the groom and began tracing their steps from the night before. They find out that they stole a cop’s car, stole Mike Tyson’s tiger, and one of the men married a stripper. This too is convention because I have seen countless movies and heard countless stories where a man goes to a bachelor party single and wakes up married. It is also convention of trips to Las Vegas, where the movie took place, because at the end of the movie all that had transpired was left in Vegas. This is the convention of what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Overall, the movie had many examples of convention and I am sure that many more similar movies are yet to come. Conventions are a welcome part to movie, TV, and other forms of media. They allow for a sense of familiarity.
References
Moviefone. (2009). The Hangover Synopsis & Summary. Retrieved July 31, 2009, from
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-hangover/35061/synopsis
This is a great example of pop culture. I was actually debating on watching the movie because it seemed like it was the same as all of the others. Now that I have read your review, I guess I was right.
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