Cultural Industries

What does the term 'cultural industries' actually refer to?

• the creation, production and distribution of products of a cultural or artistic nature

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

• The societies usually support circumstances in which large companies and their governments make money, with constant demand for new, innovative products and minimal regulation as well as political and economical stability and motivated workforces allow cultural societies to successfully make profit. 

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

• Cultural industries need to survive through constant competition to secure audience members therefore companies strive to outdo each other through culturally shocking or profane depictions that satisfy audience desires for shocking, rebellious or profane ideologies. Challenging society is also a longstanding expectation of art movements. 

What are the problems Hesmondhalgh identifies with regards to cultural industries? 

• It's a risky business, there's the argument of creativity vs commerce, the high production costs vs low reproduction costs and 'semi-public goods'; the need to create scarcity in the market. 
• Creativity vs Commerce; ideology that there should be opposition between creativity, knowledge and commerce and adds to tension within the industry and adds to the uncertainty of the conditions in which cultural businesses work
• High production costs and low reproduction costs, most cultural commodities have high fixed costs and low variable costs, amplified by digitalisation in the modern age means that big successes are extremely profitable and therefore audience maximisation becomes a priority over artistic value or higher cultural capital.
• The need for scarcity; cultural commodities are seldom destroyed by use and therefore act like public goods however they're relatively low cost to make leading to businesses need to create scarcity in production to maximise profitability of items.

What is your opinion on the creativity vs 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?

• Personally, I believe that what people create and display should be motivated by creativity and a desire to express themselves in various art mediums. I think that it is quite immoral to perpetuate ideologies and use media and it's dominant stance in social influence with the sheer motivation of getting money and similarly only perpetuating media and topics that you believe will cash in. Creativity should be a celebrated attribute to society and artistic motivation can help gain following and influence upon society and help counteract capitalist opinion leaders ideologies however this simply is not the case in the modern age, with the introduction of social media as a way of spreading news in an efficient way, creating news stories that are exclusive and current is much more important than creating a news story, or a piece of work that has a high cultural capital as it appeals to a more niche market and is unlikely to create as much money as a mainstream news topic or viral topic would be. This is unsettling to me however money runs the world and creates opportunity and provides necessity for people who do create art as a job- this means media products are created with the motivation of profit despite the fact that artistic expression and the perpetuation of modernised, educated ideologies to counteract enforced ideals of yesteryear's would arguably be more beneficial in the long run. 

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

• Content creators deserve to be credited, and rewarded for their work - through articles that can be used for educational or recreational use to the gaming industry and rise of social media, content creators deserve to be rewarded for what they supply society with. Youtube, as a platform allows smaller companies or independent people to share their opinions and provide resources for people and yet they only make a small proportion to what production companies etc make. I do, however see the disparity in wealth between high industry people and people working in entrance jobs as well as the injustices of our social climate today reflected in media content and performance. However, it does only focus on mainly negative situations within mainstream media texts and could perhaps contribute to a cultural calamity with people adopting pessimistic ideologies of the world instead of seeing an equal dispersion of content.

Why has the visual effects industry suffered despite the huge budgets for most Hollywood movies?

• The people working on visual effects don't see as much of the money as perceived due to tax incentives and lack of promotion for the extensive work and time taken for visual effects and it's high artistic value within hollywood blockbusters. Due to the way that VFX revolutionised the film industry, a lot of movie budgets were spent on vfx and yet the audience is no longer as rewarding due to the rise in popularity of arthouse films.

What is commodification?

• to make something into an object or product for commercial use

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?

• In theory, the large number of media texts would increase diversity of opinion however due to regulations and censorship, the opinions and ideologies reflected lack diversity and are usually representations of mainstream opinions or ideals that allow media texts to appeal to a larger demographic, Films, for instance, are created in huge density however the representation of gender, race and class is rooted in inequality. It is difficult to reflect the diversity of people and opinions if most of your texts show the same demographic or focus on the majority rather than the minorities. Therefore i do agree with the argument above.

How does Hesmondhalgh suggest the cultural industries have changed? Why?

• Ownership and Organisation of cultural industries is much broader and companies operate across many industries, this allows a larger audience reach for these companies and therefore hypothetically a larger cultural impact.
• Cultural products can now be shared across national borders meaning that there are no longer geographical limitations to the spread of cultural companies and products which will lead to a larger wavelength of influence on consumers at a larger geographical density which can improve the economic value of cultural companies and products,
• Cultural industries have been transformed therefore promotional and advertising now infiltrates areas more than previously and to a wider amount of genres which has caused the satirisation and apprehension of cultural authority.