Cultural Industries: blog task

 

1) What does the term 'Cultural Industries' actually refer to?

The term ‘cultural industry’ refers to the creation, production, and distribution of products of a cultural or artistic nature.

2) What does Hesmondhalgh identify regarding the societies in which the cultural industries are highly profitable?

Hesmondhalgh identifies that the societies in which the cultural industries are highly profitable tend to be societies that support the conditions where large companies, and their political allies, make money.

3) Why do some media products offer ideologies that challenge capitalism or inequalities in society?

This happens because the cultural industry companies need to continuously compete with each other to secure audience members. As such, companies outdo each other to try and satisfy audience desires

4) Look at page 2 of the factsheet. What are the problems that Hesmondhalgh identifies with regards to the cultural industries?

• Risky business

• Creativity versus commerce

• High production costs and low reproduction costs

• Semi-public goods; the need to create scarcity

5) Why are so many cultural industries a 'risky business' for the companies involved?

firstly, limited autonomy granted to symbol creators in the hope that they will create something original and distinctive;

secondly the cultural industry company is reliant on other cultural industry companies to make audiences aware of the existence of a new product or of the uses and pleasure that they might get from experiencing the product. Companies cannot completely control the publicity a product will receive, as judgments and reactions of audiences, critics and journalists therefore there is no way a companies that spends money producing a form of  media that will make a lot profit from it and  have the public think positively about it especially if you are a independent film company.  

6) What is your opinion on the creativity v commerce debate? Should the media be all about profit or are media products a form of artistic expression that play an important role in society?

 I'm in the middle I think that  media should be creating  something because they want to and for artistic value  and expression but  they  need to make profit as a payout for this because in order for them to make these projects  they need funds and they need to be rewarded for their handwork. 

7) How do cultural industry companies minimise their risks and maximise their profits? (Clue: your work on Industries - Ownership and control will help here) 

Many companies such as Disney use vertical integration.

8) Do you agree that the way the cultural industries operate reflects the inequalities and injustices of wider society? Should the content creators, the creative minds behind media products, be better rewarded for their work?

Cultural industries mirror societal inequalities through under representation, unequal pay, cultural exploitation, and restricted access based onĺ social status. They often reinforce systemic hierarchies. At the same time, creative minds behind media products should be fairly rewarded, as their work drives the industry's cultural and economic value.

9) Listen and read the transcript to the opening 9 minutes of the Freakonomics podcast - No Hollywood Ending for the Visual-Effects Industry. Why has the visual effects industry suffered despite the huge budgets for most Hollywood movies? 

The fact that the visual effects company he worked for, Rhythm and Hues, was at that moment going through a bankruptcy. And that several hundred visual effects artists had protested outside the Oscars, claiming their industry was being crushed by outside economic and political forces. That’s what Westenhofer planned to get into

10) What is commodification? 

This involves the transforming of objects and services into commodities. At its most basic level, it involves producing things not only for use, but also for exchange.  Hesmondhalgh identifies some issues with commodification and how it can be judged or evaluated.

The google definition is the process by which something without an economic value gains economic value that can replace other social values

11) Do you agree with the argument that while there are a huge number of media texts created, they fail to reflect the diversity of people or opinion in wider society?

I think sometimes the media texts fall short but as a majority I think they do it well

12) How does Hesmondhalgh suggest the cultural industries have changed? Identify the three most significant developments and explain why you think they are the most important.

• Cultural industries are no longer seen as second to the ‘real’ economy. Some are actually vast global businesses. This  is important it shows that media company's such as the big 5 can push  agendas and influence decision of the real government or economy. 

Digitalization, the internet and mobile phones have multiplied the ways audience can gain access to cultural content. This has made small scale production much easier for millions

Powerful IT and technology companies now work with cultural industries to understand and produce cultural production & consumption. These companies (e.g. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon) are now as powerful and influential in cultural industries as traditional companies such as News Corporation, Time Warner- This create another source of influence within  the westerns world and  people who can rival the big 5