Convergence, Part 2 - Attack of the Pack

Hello, dear readers. Some of you may recall my earlier post about convergence, and what it means in today's society. Today's post is somewhat of a sequel to that piece, but instead of defining what convergence is, this time I've actually got an example of it, and a current one at that. 

Now, what brought this to mind for me were all the ads playing for Pitch Perfect 2 lately, and the fact that in some of them, I saw none other than Clay Matthews (and upon further investigation, four other Packers players and Aaron Rodgers' little brother). I recalled seeing something trending in my Facebook news feed a few months earlier about this happening (because I'm a fan of the Packers on Facebook and we all know from my last post how Facebook loves to personalize our feeds) but it was quickly forgotten amidst all the other not-even-remotely-important-but-still-completely-engrossing occurrences in my Facebook world.

Now that my mind has returned to the subject, I once again find myself connecting it to convergence. Ever since I've learned about it, I honestly believe my mind has begun looking for it absolutely everywhere. However, in the case of the Packers meeting the Barden Bellas, it's legitimate. The concept of two different types of media -- one a film, the other a televised sport -- coming together to form something that otherwise wouldn't have come about had they not meshed; or rather, had they not {wait for ittt} converged! See, the concept is everywhere! Check it out for yourself in a piece of the "Pitch Perfect Packers" example:

Now, let's be honest -- would this have ever even been considered as an idea twenty years ago? How about ten? The media is constantly changing, always trying to up its game, despite the fact that they pretty much rule over everything; media no longer has any real competition in terms of how people spend their time. And it seems that it'll be that way for awhile, especially if media keeps allowing people to come up with ideas like this.

And fun fact: Did you know the combination of the film and the team started, of all places, on Twitter? Yup. By way of a series of exchanges between the producers and the team an agreement was reached, and what we are left with is the finished product. The movie thus far has gotten mixed reviews, but more have praised the movie than condemned it. And let's not forget -- it debuted #1 at the box office on opening weekend, beating the second place film by almost $30,000,000... that's a lottt of zeros folks. Clearly, convergence pays, as it keeps growing more and more popular.

Needless to say, I for one am beyond excited to see the movie, regardless of the mixed reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed the first one, and not only does this one have most of the original cast, but it now has the Green Bay FREAKIN Packers too. You know who's going into that movie with a bucket of popcorn bigger than her head and a drink the size of a big gulp?

Singing (and signing) off for now,

 - Robyn

P.S. Another fun fact: football season's only 90 days away :)