Okay I've just watched it again and I genuinely don't understand how Bellas beat DSM.
Bellas do a bit of clapping and drag up nostalgia with the old Bellas while DSM create a rock band with their mouths, a ship, a race and a flag raising.
It's like they made DSMs performance then were like "crap Bellas are supposed to win. Meh just give them the win anyway"
Well it had to be one or the others. Everyone else sang the same song.
It had to be the Bellas that won. They needed to make another sequel.
People often think of Germany as boring, dispassionate culture. Full disclosure: I have a German heritage. If you think German culture is boring and “dead,” you must think the same of Japan. A culture that is based on rigorous devotion to duty, discipline and honor (one’s own and one’s family’s) is an object for admiration and respect, not scorn. If YOU failed your corporation or government, would you have the balls to disembowel yourself? Like Hell you would. I am an auto racing fan. Porsche is known as “the most respected name in racing.” Not as “the most exciting name” nor as “the most loved name.” The most RESPECTED name. Porsche never announces when it will be at a race. They just show up. They will say, “We just want to see how the car will do.” Baloney. Porsche is there only to win. They have developed the car on test tracks about which no one else knows. They have run it till it breaks. They fix the breaks, run it faster, and so on till nothing breaks. Then they go out and crush the competition. Do you think Das Sound Machine’s amazing shows “just happened”?
The writers of Pitch Perfect think that German culture is grim and dour. How did such a lackluster culture produce some of the greatest composers and poets—not to mention scientists—known to our species? The poet, Wordsworth, defined poetry as “a powerful overflow of spontaneous emotion, recalled at leisure.” Any idiot can make a brief but powerful effort. Very few can sustain a Herculean effort over the years it may require to meet one’s goal.
I liked the Bellas. I am expected to like the Bellas; but I don’t think a lot of people grasp that REAL passion expresses itself over years, not minutes.
I forgot I'd even made this post. It was certainly tongue in cheek. I really liked the first Pitch Perfect, but I did not like either sequel.
I agree that German culture is not grim and dour. I spent quite a lot of time in Germany when I lived in Austria. There is some fantastic art in that part of the world.
There was a point made earlier in the film about the acapella community hating original songs. It seemed to me that they took the risk, went with something original, played the crowd with free flashlights, made it more emotional and sentimental with the old Bellas etc etc. I thought the direction they would take was to make their performance extremely emotional as that was what the Germans were 'missing', they were like a machine so lacked raw emotion. Was surprised they didn't go that way.
That said, while I think that all things considered the Bellas performance at the end was better, the DSM performance earlier in the film (at the car show) would have won over both performances.