The Cultural Industries

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

Cultural industries refers to the creation, production and sitribution of products of  cultural or artistic nature.

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

Hesmondhalgh indentifies that the societies typically encourage providing the means for cultural industries to become increasingly successful and profitable, due to a public demand for new technology and media content etc, with society becoming more desensitised to explicit media as it becomes more acceptable for such content to be produced, especially as such content has become more profitable in the new digital age.  


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

Some media products offer ideologies that challenge capitalism or inequalities in society as media is now less regulated, as more challenging ideologies have become more publicly accepted due to increasing free press, allowing more alternative views which have increased especially in recent years as media has become more socially correct, offering alternative views of things such as the media released in the 70s, which would mock certain topics, whereas nowadays the media would be used to educate the public on the topic rather than mock.


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?

Cultural industries are risky businesses for companies involved due to the fact that audiences use cultural commodities in highly volatile and unpredictable ways, in addition to risks stemming from consumption, worsened by limited autonomy and the cultural industry company being reliant on other culture industry companies to make audiences aware of the existence of a new product and promotion of the product. 

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 personally believe that media products should be a form of artistic expression as not only does it ensure high quality media being produced, but also allows creators to express themselves and their views in an art form they are passionate about, rather than creating a cliched media form with the sole purpose of profit. While profit plays a large part in creating any media, it shouldn't be the main motivator.

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

Industry companies minimise their risks and maximise their profits through conglomerate ownership, diversification and integration. Industry companies buying their competition reduces risks of competitive industries and also makes it harder for smaller industries to compete and will likely eventually fail. Companies also expand and diversify so they don't have to outsource certain aspects of a media product and can maximise profit through internally producing it.

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?

Content creators should be better rewarded in some aspects, as the innovators and creative minds behind media aren't credited enough for the content they produce and are usually overshadowed by the publicly known personalities who receive the majority of the credit in many projects. However certain content creators are just as easily only in it for the profit, recycling ideas or using something that's easily marketable to draw in crowds, which shouldn't be as heavily rewarded.

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?

While the visual effects industry was originally widely appreciated as it first developed, in recent years it has become less of a marketing point in movies as it has become a normality in many films and the audiences have become less rewarding. Additionally the workers in visual effects aren't credited or paid much in relation to the job, as well as a rise in art house film seeing a declining need for visual effects.

10) What is commodification? 

Commodification is the action or process of treating something as a mere commodity (transformation of goods services, ideas and people into objects of trade).

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 agree with the argument that media texts fail to reflect the diversity of people or opinion in wider society. While in recent years this has been somewhat changing, especially recently, with more black representation in movies and shows in recent years, and Asian culture being represented more on screen this year, along with developments beginning in representation of the lgbt community this year. However relating these strides being made to the majority of the films being produced, and back to real life, there are still major shortfalls. Taking the Marvel cinematic universe as an example, which according to business insider is the highest grossing film franchise of all time, there is a huge disparity in representation. The highest grossing film in the franchise, Avengers Assemble (2012), the ensemble cast is a majority of straight white men, featuring one white female, and one black man; after growing calls for further representation in this franchise, the filmmakers have actively been aiming for diversity in the later instalments, growing their original team of Avengers to include more women and people of colour. Although this then led to the release of 'Black Panther', a film with a leading black superhero accompanied by an army of black women, all of the relationships shown so far have been between men and women, with a lack of lgbt representation. While the cast of this franchise has become increasingly diverse, it still lacks in terms of properly representing the real world. This is also apparent in a number of successful franchises, with straight white men being cast as James Bond continuously, even today, and Doctor who having a straight white man cast as the doctor, with a lack of representation in companions as well; although the show is seeing change, with its first female doctor, and growing representation in minorities, and sexualities of companions, it is only now beginning to be more diverse, with it still failing to reflect the diversity of people or opinion in wider society.


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.

• Digitalisation, 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 of people (think self-representation + prosumers). I find this significant because this has allowed growing competition for conglomerate media industries and has allowed more cultural content to be produced, such as the formation of streaming services like Netflix who are able to take bigger risks, being less well known, and are able to challenge the viewpoints put forward by larger companies.
• 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 or Sony. I find this important as IT and Tech companies are arguably more accessible for audiences to show the type of content they want to be produced and are more in touch with their audiences through things such as social media, as traditional cultural industries are. This has allowed further representation in media of those from different backgrounds, ethnic minorities and sexualities.
• As cultural industries understand the growing role and influence of the audience there is greater emphasis on marketing and research. Cultural industries actively seek to find and address the niche audiences. This is important because it moves away from the production of media purely for profit, which results in the same cliches being used and reused, and instead allows new and innovative content to be produced with high value and cultural impact, targeted at specific demographics and psychographics.