Cultural Industries: blog task

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

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

The term refers to the creation, production and distribution of a cultural or artistic natures product. 

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

He identify that industries that support conditions where larger companies and their political allies make the money. These conditions are constant demand for new products,minimal regulation outside of general competition law, relative political and economic stability; workforce that are willing to work hard.

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

Some media products offer these ideologies because the cultural industry companies need to continuously compete with each other to secure audience members. Companies usually outdo each other to try and satisfy the audiences desires for the shocking, profane or rebellious.

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

The problems are: risky business, creativity versus commerce, high production cost and low reproduction costs, semi-built goods;the need to create scarcity.

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

Many cultural industries are a risky business as they are reliant on other existence of a new product or of the uses and pleasures that they might get from experiencing the product. Companies are not able to control the publicity their product will receive , this cannot be predicted.

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?

Creativity vs commence should have an effect of tension  in order to generate the relevant and provisional autonomy that many symbols makers attain. I believe that media products can be about both profit an an artistic expression. This is because industries and companies need to earn more money ion order to create better, innovated designs to fulfil their audience desires. They also need to meet their audiences expectations with their product to keep their companies reviews.

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

Cultural industry companies try to minimise risk and maximise audiences through vertical and horizontal integration and by formatting their cultural products. This helps them own a variety of companies and branch wider to reach desired audiences.

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?

I don't believe that the cultural industries operate reflects the inequalities and injustices of wider society as many of these products focus on profit and money income for their company whilst trying to reach a desired audience. They don't have much focus on the inequity faced by people as they are more focused on niche groups which are recognisable.

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?

That the visual effect company rhythm and hughs was going through a bankrupt and 7 hundred visual effects artists had protested outside the Oscars claiming their industry was being crushed by outside economic and political forces.

10) What is commodification? 

When you are able to turn everything into something that can be bought or sold.

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 do agree with this, since a variety of media texts have been released,they has been a huge failure to reflect the diversity of people in order to reach a wider audience. This could be due to the ignorance portrayed by producers where they follow society and their discrimination expressed to a few people. This just shows a  contributes to and increases the impact of stereotypes, showing a wide range of people in media texts can help shape how people think and identify others.

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.

He suggests that cultural industries that explore and operate their effect on audiences can also change in the management and circulation of symbolic creativity. There are some significant developments like: formatting starts, genre, serials as this helps associate the name of the star writer with the text, there is also an involvement of loyal fans while the genre indicates to the audience what is expected from the text. There is gaining control of symbol creators and tight control of distribution and marketing. This grants creative autonomy within the production process as this is a result of originality whilst vertical integration is used to control risk. There is also business ownership and structure where there is an increasing presence of large corporations in the business of cultural production.