SCABs

What Would John McClane Do? By @KennyTNL

Kenny Meek

By Kenny Meek

 

What Would John McClane Do?

 

Last night myself and the other half had the pleasure of watching one of the greatest films ever made; Die Hard. Naturally I was in a jovial state. Not only do I get to watch Bruce Willis kick German terrorist ass, but I get to share it with someone who hasn’t come anywhere close to this franchise, let alone 80s action films. It was either going to be a complete disaster or a festival of violence that we’d both love to bits. Hopefully, it was the latter. With all that said, let’s get to the core of this SCAB.

 

What three things can we as advertising students learn from Die Hard and its key protagonist, John McClane?

 

1: In Die Hard, everyone has a personality!

 

Unlike the characters in the majority of action movies being churned out by Hollywood, Die Hard’s cast actually has an ounce of charm. Each person we come across throughout the siege of Nakatomi tower has their own end goals, persona and ways of approaching the situation at hand.

 

This is a lot like working in the creative field. From working with creative directors to our various clients, we will always be at odds with the characters that we meet and do business with. We need to understand that they have a goal and that that goal might not be aligned with our own. If we embrace this rather than rejecting it, we may find that situations such as murdering 12 terrorists or even just compromising on a bit work become a lot easier.

 

2: The action is vertical

 

When taking on the antagonists, our hero must ascend a tower in the centre of L.A. Floor by floor, McClane finds new and increasingly complex ways of not only killing, but embarrassing Grubers henchmen, eventually making it to the top only for the roof to be blown off entirely. We should learn from John’s actions here. Sometimes positive career advancements can lead to an unexpected negative abruption. Be weary of detonation devices and take promotions with a pinch of salt. Not good all good plans have great endings.

 

3: Too many police officers spoil the broth

 

Look, we’ve all been there. You’re trying to get your idea right, but everyone around you has a their own, completely unique opinion on your work. We see this when L.A’s (not so) finest join in on McClane’s mission to save his sweetheart from the grasps of Alan Rickman. Our man John is just trying to do his thing, but sure enough, not only the LAPD, but also the FBI feel like their way of handling things is better. Well you know what? They’re wrong. This is NYPD’s John McClane we’re talking about here. He’s confident as all hell and everyone knows it. Let’s follow his lead and make our ideas, our own.

Yippee ki-yay, motherfucker!

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