Sunday, September 14, 2008

The toughest race ever

The amazing race asia 3 premiered this week on Sept 11 2008 on AXN. Managed to catch the repeat this morning. As usual, the show was amazing. Season 3 was advertised as the toughest race ever. Have a look at the tara 3 advertisements.


Such advertisements are enticing because they bring about a difference between the different seasons of the show. Instead of presenting monotonously, another season of the amazing race asia, they used a new headline, that is 'the toughest race ever' to capture the attention of the audience. After all, there are 14 seasons of the american the amazing race, and this, being the third instalment of the asia version, it has to somehow be outstanding.

I especially loved the first advertisement that introduces the teams because of the style and narration of the advertisement and how it aims to reach out to the audience. Ethos (persuasive appeal of one's character) was definitely acheived. Through it's animated and exaggerated depiction, it definitely convinces me that the race is going to be full of challenges and difficulties.

For the past seasons, it has proven the criterias for a successful team. How about for this season? Being the toughest race, audience would perceived racers from this season to be tough and fit. Viewers would select teams to root for based on just physical attributes. I, myself was awed by our singaporean team because they did not look fit enough for such challenges. In fact, their physical attributes may hinder their progress in the game.

But, such perception is falsifiable because though fitness may be a criteria, past teams have won given their excellent team work and persistency. For instance, season 1 was won by a team of 2 malaysian girls.

Also, by watching the race, i learnt that language(Idols of marketplace) essentially is important in communication. Teams are travelling around the world and many a times, the differences in cultural and language have caused them to slow down during the race. Communication is successful only when ideas are transmitted right?

Though initially i wasn't hopeful for the singaporean team, however if singaporean don't support themselves, who will?

So everyone, do catch when you have the chance.

will the singaporean team go far?

p.s: the singaporean team can be seen in the advertisment. the 2 females (they look boy-ish) in the cave.

http://amazing-race-asia.axn-asia.com

6 comments:

Rif said...

I never really liked the amazing race asia tho..haha..i remember the host was like super stiff in the 1st season...
but that aside, I guess you're right about the importance of communication for the participants when they travel to a foreign land with foreign languages.
Non-verbal communication instantly comes to mind when the participants have to communicate with locals who may not fully understand english to gather information for locations of their next objectives.

DAN said...

I thought it was a right move to include the very first video because it helped alot in my understanding of what you were trying to bring across.

Indeed, this is by far, one of the few shows that emphasize on the importance of communication.

This advertisement definitely looks more enticing as compared to those for the past two seasons. In fact, I can't wait to know if it is really the toughest race ever!

And Communication seems like a pretty interesting major to me. (:

darren said...

Actually, I liked the fact that the camera never stayed still for too long in the advertisement. It really made me feel like things are happening in a rush... like a 'race'. So it's very apt how it keeps moving to switch between scenes and people, implying that in a race, no one waits for you..

Anonymous said...

ooohh.
I think that by introducing Amazing Race Asia 3 as the toughest race ever was a good move.

As being the toughest race ever could already be a show by itself.

I nv really watched AR actually but I really wouldn't mind watching a toughest race ever haha.

Emil said...

I was never into amazing race Asia. I got bored after a few seasons of the USA amazing race.

Not only is communication important in foreign countries, it is also within the team. ( read teamwork)

You can have the most able people on the team, but if they cannot coordinate among themselves, they are the most useless. We all know this through our group projects!

In addition, to being fast, the race is all about communication between team members. More interesting is when different teams cooperate and communicate with each other to gain advantage over a superior team.

racheloqh@gmail.com said...

Dont get disappointed by the physique of the Singapore team! I was too when I first saw their profiles (source: http://amazing-race-asia.axn-asia.com/) However, ep2 of The Amazing Race Asia 3 (TARA3) proves me WRONG! They were what I'll call e "Sluggish-ly Smart" duo! Quoted by Fuzzie - we are lazy so we'll think of the shortest / easiest way to complete the task. I'm so looking forward to more surprises from these bums! SG team ROCKS! Rem to catch TARA3, Every Thurs, 9pm, AXN. :)