Cultural Industries: blog task

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

The cultural industries are defined as 'industries that combine the creation, production and commercialisation of contents which are intangible and cultural in nature; these contents are typically protected by copyright and they can take the form of a good or a service. '

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

Societies that support the conditions for large companies and their political allies to make money. Lots of demand for new products, Minimal regulation, political and economic stability, Workers that work hard

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

Societies that support the conditions for large companies and their political allies to make money.

- Lots of demand for new products

- Minimal regulation 

- political and economic stability

- Workers that work hard

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

Cultural industry companies have to constantly compete with each other in order to draw in audiences and so they try and satisfy audiences desires for the shocking, profane or rebellious. There are also social expectations about what art and entertainment should do. 

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

*Risky Business

*Creativity versus commerce

*High production costs and low reproduction costs

*Semi-public goods; the need to create scarcity

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?

The risk derives from the fact that audiences use cultural commodities in highly volatile and unpredictable ways - often in order to express the view that they are different from other people.

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

I believe that content creators and creative minds should be rewarded for their contributions. They play a crucial role in shaping the final product and can greatly influence its success or failure. Therefore, it is important to pay them adequately to acknowledge their impact on the industry and the product. 

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 do believe that content creators and creative minds should be rewarded as without them the product would have turned out much differently from the original vision of a product and can be the main reason for a product succeeding and becoming popular or being obscure and underdeveloped and so these creators should be payed much more in order to reflect their impact on the industry and product . I would say that cultural industries do operate in a way that reflects these inequalities as the actors get payed much more for their work than the producers or directors even though without them there would be no film or product for the actors to act in.

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?

Throughout the early days of VFX there had been an emphasis on getting it done and although sometimes the budget would come up to be around a third of the entire budget of the film by the mid to late 2000s, fixed contracts with the film companies by the VFX studios meant that even though a film may be grossing very well the studios would not make any money and may actually start losing money.

10) What is commodification?

Commodification is turning something into something that can be bought or sold for.

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?

Yes I do 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 as the media always focus on one side of things in an argument and always portray people of colour as bad and dangerous people. This is because in the news there are countless of stories of police stopping black people in there cars and checking if they have a dangerous or harmful weapon or if they're carrying drugs and always half the time the police checks they do on black people they always come back as wrong and the media always portray black people or people of colour as people not to trust even when they are not all dangerous and harmful human beings.  

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.

• Ownership and organisation of cultural industries is now much broader - the largest cultural companies now operate across a range of cultural industries (for example, TV, publishing and film).

• These large conglomerates are now connected in complex ways however there are also many small and medium sized companies who create cultural products. These companies are becoming increasingly connected with other medium and large cultural industries.