OK, let me get this out of the way straight-up: I didn't watch the Superbowl. In fact, I barely knew who was playing--I'm not exactly a sports guy, to put it mildly.
Hell, here's a recent exchange between a friend of mine and I on Facebook that should give you an idea of how clueless about the NFL I am:
FRIEND: Tired of hearing about Roethlisberger's "redemption." Either he's a rapist (no redeeming him) or he was falsely accused. One or the other.
ME: Who? (I'm guessing he's an athlete of some sort?)
FRIEND: He's one of the big stars of this weekend's Super Bowl. I guess you REALLY don't follow sports, eh? ;-)
ME: Not in the slightest. I just assumed he was a pro athlete because, based on your post, he's apparently been a) accused of rape and b) is being slobbered over by the media. Kind of narrowed the possibilities.
You get the idea.
Anyway, I didn't watch the Superbowl, but I did just watch the single most powerful and important (for those of us here in Michigan) ad of the whole thing.
If you haven't seen it yet, trust me, just go full screen, crank up your speakers and watch the full 2 minutes of it:
It really is a thing of beauty.
For anyone who lives (or used to live) in Michigan--especially the Metro Detroit area--this ad is sure to make you choke up and give you goosebumps.
Yes, I know, I know: Chrysler is now partly owned by an Italian company now (Fiat), which, admittedly, weakens the point a bit.
Still, a powerful ad and one that was desperately needed here in Motown. I love the way it basically mirrors the final rap battle scene from "8 Mile" where he takes every insult and accusation of his opponents, admits it flat-out and then turns around and shoves it up the other guys' ass. That's pretty much the message of this ad: "Yeah, Detroit has had the shit kicked out of it, but we're still here and we still put the country on wheels, so up yours."
Update: Here's the voiceover transcript:
VO: I got a question for you.
What does this city know about luxury, huh?
What does a town that's been to Hell and back know about the finer things in life?
Well I'll tell ya.
More than most.
You see, it's the hottest fires that make the hardest steel.
Add hard work and conviction
And the knowhow that runs generations deep in every last one of us
That's who we are.
That's our story.
Now, it's probably not the one you've been reading in the papers.
The one being written by folks who've never even been here, who don't know what we're capable of.
Because when it comes to luxury, it's as much about where it's from...as who it's for.
Now, we're from America. But this isn't New York City.
Or the Windy City. Or Sin City. And we're certainly no one's Emerald City.
Eminem: This is the Motor City. And this is what we do.
Update x2: Here's the scene in question from 8 Mile (no embedding allowed); it's of poor quality and the audio doesn't sync up right, but it's the only copy I could find on YouTube.
Lyrics (from the 8 Mile scene, not the commercial):
Now everybody from the 313 put ya motherfuckin hands up and follow me
Everybody from the 313 put ya motherfuckin hands up--
Look, Look--
Now as he stands tough, notice that this man did not have his hands up
This free worlds got you gassed up; now whos afraid of the big bad wolf?
1,2,3 to tha 4
1-Pac 2-Pac 3-Pac 4;
4-Pac 3-Pac 2-Pac 1;
He's Pac, you're Pac, no Pac none
This guys no motherfuckin MC
I know everything hes gotta say against me
I am white; I am a fuckin' bum;
I do live in a trailer with my mum!
My boy Future is an Uncle Tom--
I do have a dumb friend named Chedder Bob
who shoots himself in his leg with his own gun!
I did get jumped by all 6 of you chumps,
and Wayne did fuck my girl
But im still standing here screaming fuck the free world
Now never try to judge me dude, you dont know what the fuck ive been through!
But i know some thing about you, you went to Cranbrook, thats a private school!
What's amatta dog? You embarrassed? This guy's a gangsta? His real name is Clarance!
And Clarance sits at home with both parents
and Clarance's parents have a real good marrage!
This guy dont wonna battle, he shucks--There's no such things as half way crooks!
He's scared to death, scared to look in his fuckin' yearbook--fuck Cranbrook!
(music stops)
Fuck the beat--I'll go a capella,
Fuck Pappa Doc,
Fuck a clock,
Fuck a trailler,
Fuck everybody,
Fuck y'all if you doubt me
I'm a piece of fuckin' white trash; I say it proudly!
Fuck this battle--I don't wanna win, I'm outtie;
Here--tell these people something they don't know about me.
Update x3: Here's Michael Moore's insta-response to the ad, via his Twitter posts (I've reordered them chronologically). I'm not 100% on board with Moore on everything, but lord knows he sure as hell is the definitive voice for Michigan Autoworkers, so his take on this ad is certainly worth including in any discussion of it:
MMFlint Michael Moore
Re: Eminem/Chrysler ad: Putting aside the idiot execs who ran the Big 3 in2 the ground & putting aside(!) how cars melt the polr ice caps...
Those of us from Detroit/Flint etc area will NEVER let Det & MI die. We r suffering through a 1-state depression, people feel abandoned...
We created the Amer mid class. We were the 1s who fought 4 decent wages/health care/safer work cond--our unions&strikes made that happen...
& we MI gave u Aretha, Supremes, Stevie, Madonna, Iggy, WhiteStripes, FrancisCoppola, SDS, corn flakes &Thomas Edison grew up in Pt Huron...
So when the ad says "Imported from Detroit," how does it feel to think of us as a foreign country, no longer part of your America?
I'll tell u how WE feel: Your America is letting the rich run all of us in2 the ground. I'm sorry, but that's just not an option. U with us?
That statue in the spot is called "Spirit of Detroit." The murals were painted by the socialist Diego Rivera. That JoeLouis fist? That's us.
Thx 4 listening 2 that. I'm glad the spot ran. Moving. Reminded us Michiganders that all's not lost (btw that car's built in Detroit) Nite!
Update x4: A couple of people in the comments have taken the position that this ad is somehow trying to insult the other cities mentioned in the voiceover (New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Seattle). Of course everyone's entitled to their own take on it, but to me this is sheer nonsense. At no time does it ever say that those other cities are bad in any way; it's just noting that all of them have traditionally gotten a hell of a lot better press than Detroit, but that oh, by the way, we exist and guess what? We're part of America too. That's the whole theme of the ad and the tagline ("Imported from Detroit").
Update x5: As long as I'm on the Rec list, I should also probably note that there was another important Detroit Auto Industry ad on the Superbowl tonight as well--and no, I'm not talking about the Transformers/Bumblebee ones.
I mean, of course, the Chevy Volt:
The ad is also very good and fairly significant, although not nearly as powerful or breathtaking as the Chrysler ad. However, in terms of the product that it's promoting, the Volt far more important to the Detroit (and U.S.) auto industry than the Chrysler 200 (which, I presume, is just another high-end luxury sedan, albeit a very nice one).
The New GM has pretty much staked its' future on the Volt. If it's a success, it, along with the Nissan Leaf will herald in the new age of the Electric Car. If it's a failure, GM is most likely toast, government assistance or not.
Fortunately, every review from a legitimate critic/source I've heard about the Volt has given it glowing reviews across the board. Whatever GM's past sins (and lord knows there's plenty of them, up to and including the EV-1), the Chevy Volt appears to have been thought through in every conceivable way before going to market.
I'm itching to buy one myself, even though I won't be able to do so for another 4-5 years at least. I pray that it's selling strong by then (and at a lower price point, of course)...
Update x6: OK, just figured that while I was at it I might as well also add the Eminem song itself, "Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile:
...annnnnd, just for the hell of it, here's "Weird Al" Yankovic's version, "Couch Potato":
Update x7: Since so many people were impressed by the assembly line mural paintings, here's the backstory on them:
Diego Rivera
Detroit Industry Murals
Detroit Industry Murals are the renowed frescoes by Mexican artist Diego Rivera. It is a series of twenty-seven panels depicting industry at the Ford Motor Company. Together they surround the Rivera Court in the Detroit Institute of Arts. Painted between 1932 and 1933, it is considered by Rivera himself to be his most successful work.
The two main panel on the North and South walls depict laborers working at Ford Motor Company's River Rouge Plant. Other panels depict other advances made in fields of science, such as medicine and new technology. The entire mural as a whole encompasses the idea that all actions and ideas are one.
Even before the murals were made, there had been controversy surrounding Rivera's Marxist philosophy. Rivera's works in Detroit are his only works in the United States. Critics viewed it as Marxist propaganda. When the murals were completed, the Detroit Institute for the Arts invited various clergymen to comment. Catholic and Episcopalian clergy condemned the murals for supposed "blasphemy." The Detroit News protested that they were "vulgar" and "unamerican." As a result of the controversy, 10,000 people visited the museum on a single Sunday, and the budget for it was eventually raised.
One panel on the North wall displays a Christ-like child figure with what appears to be a halo over its head. Surrounding it are livestock, a doctor and nurse giving the child a vaccination, and three men working on a lab experiment. This is believed to be a parody on the birth of Christ, with the scientists as the three wise men, and offended members of the religious community. It was demanded to be destroyed, but was saved due to support from commissioner Edsel Ford and the director of the DIA.
Rivera depicts the workers as in harmony with their machines and highly productive. This view reflects both Karl Marx's begrudging admiration for the high productivity of capitalism and the wish of Edsel Ford, who funded the project, to have the Ford motor plant depicted in a favorable light. Rivera depicted byproducts from the ovens being made into fertilizer and Henry Ford leading a trade-school engineering class.