Book traces relationship between media workers and media industry
A career in Media is precarious & venerable
People may be drawn in by the promise of success, wealth and fame
People may also be drawn to media work after being driven away from the boring repetitive nature of other careers such as finance which is more predictable
Creative work is often imagined to be a self actualising pleasure instead of a potentially arduous or problematic obligation undertaken through material necessity
06/01/22
Products exist as a result of their economic context
The media industry is a high risk business
Media businesses are reliant upon changing audience consumption patterns
The media is reliant on marketing and publicity functions
Media products have limited consumption capacity
Hesmondhalgh argues that the risk associated with the creation on media leads the industry to to employ highly tuned range of production practices
book- the culture industries (2019)- relationship between media workers and media industries- set text for media students.
the individualising discourses of ‘talent’ and ‘celebrity’ and the promise of future fame or consecration, have special purchase in creative work, and are often instrumental in ensuring compliance with the sometimes invidious demands of managers, organisations and the industry(Banks & Hesmondhalgh, p. 420).
As can be deduced, this approach looks to spotlight a prevailing assumption around cultural production as one that is ‘innately talent-driven and meritocratic – that anyone can make it’ (ibid).
Wrote the book “The Culture Industries” published in 2019. This book is about the relationship between media workers and the media industry.
It describes how a career in the creative industry is much more volatile than that of a typical industry e.g finance. The careers in the creative industry are never guaranteed and the nature of them are very precarious. A lot of people, particularly on the younger end, are drawn into this career path because they are seduced by the promise of wealth and fame, then in reality this is not always the case.
The creative industry is often not as forgiving as others, in that the industry can rapidly grow or decline and jobs are never in excess.
The media industry is a very risky business, however big companies are able to somewhat mitigate the risks. They do this by using well-established, famous people to promote the content to a wide audience, serialisation (using prequels, sequels spinoffs) in order to lessen the amount of marketing needed to increase audience visibility of the product, and continuously making content based around the same genre in order to maintain consistent success. In addition, media companies are able to expand via horizontal, vertical and multi-sector integration in order to acquire new links and relations in order to explore new business opportunities. In addition, from this media companies can find multiple artists
Compared to other industries, the Cultural Industries is what effects they way in which we perceive the world
‘plays a pivotal role in organising the images and discourse through which people make sense of the world’ (Golding & Murdock)
David Hesmondhalgh – The Culture Industry
Wrote The Culture Industries (2002)
He highlights concern with the creative industry and it being too business and economically driven which effects the quality of work life and human well being
He also shines a light on the precarious nature of the creative industry as so many young people are too easily seduced to pursue a career in the creative industries which is an issue because this promise of wealth and fame is highly unlikely
In fact, the majority of the time, those who gain the most success out of the creative industry are those who previously had connections to those already in the industry
Forbes magazine estimated that in 2018 over 80% of the 700+ films created made no profit, which supports Hesmondhalgh’s view that the creative industry is a ‘RISKY BUSINESS‘ in the sense that:
An audiences tastes are continuously adapting which makes predicting their needs and wants nearly impossible
The industry is extremely competitive meaning its extremely difficult to become successful
The industry heavily relies on its connections and communication of the marketing functions and if communication is not made clearly then controlling the messages delivered by publicity partners of other companies can be very difficult
Media products such as film and television have a limited consumption capacity meaning the huge sums of money invested in creating media products result in only a one time reward
It can take considerable marketing efforts to break a potential writer or performer as a new ‘star’, especially without a built initial fanbase
Hesmondhalgh highlights that the risk associated with media creation encourages organisations, most significantly the large-scale organisations, to overproduce media content in the hopes that enough of those projects will succeed and make up for any losses.
These risks are minimised by:
Star formatting – rather than introducing new ‘stars’ whose path may prove unsuccessful and unprofitable, re-invent old, well-known stars with a ready-made audience
Genre-based formatting – labelling media content using genre-based categories allows an audience to identify whether or not a product is of interest to them before consuming it.
Serialisation – the use of sequels, prequels, spin-offs etc… requires less investment in marketing activities to create audience visibility therefore allowing producers to maximise their investments
Remakes – recycling previously successful archived material requires less time, effort and money when it comes to the production and instantly engages an audience through nostalgia-based appeals, while also rebranding content so that it fits the tastes of contemporary audiences
independent labelling – whilst the use of ‘independents’ engages more alternative audiences, audiences who are reluctant to consume mainstream media, it also shields companies from the impact of content failure on their brand identity
Curran and Seaton – Ownership Effects
Their novel ‘Power without Responsibility’ (1981), is deeply concerned with narrating the story of how the media landscape has fallen under the control of a handful of global media conglomerates.
Curran’s interest stemmed from his exploration of the radical press in the early 1800s: newspapers where originally engines for social and political change, made by the working class for the working class. However, this was short lived due to rising production costs meaning only upper class, competitive titles dominated the market and drove the radical press out. Ultimately, the process of media concentration – the control of media by larger organisations – began.
They both suggest a second, equally important factor which contributed to mass media concentration which look place in the late 20th Century. When widespread deregulation occurred in the media industry, the number of national press titles in the UK dropped to just 11 publications. This lack of diversity concentrates too much power in the hands of just a few companies.
Essentially, these conglomerates dominate the market through horizontal and vertical integration, leaving no room for smaller business, creating a lack of diversity and limited perspectives. Most commercial, print, film and television based media is situated in America and the UK: CBS, Comcast, Disney, News Corporation, Time Warner, and Viacom.
Benefits of HI
Benefits of VI
Production costs can be minimised Resources can be shared Market can be controlled
Capturing upstream and downstream profits (eg won’t have to pay extra for distributor) Control over all aspects of production chain restricts access to competitors Cross-media ownership synergies (eg Star Wars characters are used to build a plot for the films and into gaming products)
Curran argues, media owners control the content and flow of news either directly or indirectly:
Direct Control: Proprietor owners have the power to censor news content that conflicts with their political view and wider interests
Indirect Control: Installation of editors for example who are sympathetic towards the proprietor’s views and firing those who are not
They suggest that contemporary media ownership places the media in the hands of the few and not the many, touching upon Marx’s idea that culture is deployed to make the working class believe there isnt much alternative to their appaling working conditions:
Culture is controlled by social elites: media is controlled by a minority of wealthy institutions who only work for the benefit of themselves
Culture as a distraction: culture provides a temporary escape from people dull working lives and therefore distracts us from the true nature of our exploitation
Livingstone & Lunt – Regulation
They explore how the UK’s approach to to media governance serves the needs of audiences as both consumers and citizens. Most crucially, they believe that media policies implemented by governments over the last 20 years have worked in ways that protects the commercial interests of media producers
The consumer orientated approach:
Regulation champions consumer choice – regulation designed specifically to ensure a diversity of broadcasters to operate within the media landscape, allowing consumers to access a broad range of content, opinions and ideas
Relies on consumer-led policing of programme content – content regulation where audiences have to rely on ‘their own judgments of quality, truthfulness and enjoyment’ (2012).
The state plays a minor role in determining media regulation – this minimises the role of the government in producing media and is determined through quotas making entertainment that is more beneficial (eg factual, educational, content for children)
The citizen orientated approach:
Constructs a media model based on civic republicanism – provides focused content that directs media makers to ‘contribute to the enrichment of cultural and social life and the potential for self-development of individuals, groups and communities (2012). This serves consumers with not just entertainment, but also knowledge and a range of diverse content.
Citizen-based regulation foregrounds content issues – maintaining acceptable standards of content, by ensuring accuracy and dealing with the issues portrayed in a fair manner, is they key focus.
Encourages a media landscape that can critique government power – a central function of the media sector lies in its ability to hold the government and other sources of power accountable.
David wrote a book called ‘The Cultural Studies’, and has a fourth edition out.
-David essentially says that unless you have a direct root to a specific creative career (family owning a company), your chances to get to work in the creative industries is quite low.
-“If you are poor, you won’t get as far”
–“more people seem to have wanted to work professionally in the cultural industries than have succeeded in do so“
-People always expect that working in the Creative Industry is easy and you will be very successful, which is not true, actually quite the opposite. Even if you have all the talent and qualifications needed, you are still not guaranteed a job. It is purely a coincidence. Money plays a massive part as well as popular culture.
–“As if ‘determination’ and ‘commitment’ were in themselves enough to secure success?”
“Creative Industry is a risky business”
Davis splits the Culture Industry into three categories: Production, Distribution and Consumption. Production is the product your have created- for example an artist or band creating a song. Distribution is the way in which you promote it, how you get the product to reach audiences- for example a PR major or someone in a job with advertising, where they can successfully get the song promoted. The last one, Consumption, is the people who listen to the product created, the audience.
It can be risky because without the consumption and distribution, the production isn’t that impressive. If an artist were to create a bad song, or the distribution wasn’t successful, the consumption wouldn’t thrive. Many people are involved in the consumption, for example, an artist brings out an album and it is distributed well, they decide to go on tour. You have people who go on tour with them looking after the lighting and instruments, you also have the staff at the venues looking after the place and making sure it is okay. The consumption heavily relies on the production, so if it doesn’t turn out successful, people with other jobs in distribution and consumption will be out of a job.
It is also heavily based off audience’s opinions. If people don’t like the song created, other people further down the chain will suffer more than the millionaire artist.
The Culture Industry is also risky because media products have limited consumption capacity. You wouldnt watch a movie multiple tiems
David Hesmondhalgh is a British Sociologist who is currently a professor of media, music and culture at the University of Leeds. He wrote a book called ‘Cultural Industries‘ published in 2002. He is acknowledged as a key figure in developing the “cultural industries” approach to media, which emphasises the complex and contradictory nature of cultural production under capitalism. A critical reflection highlights that there is a ‘myth‘ about how the creative industry really is and how much work they require. Leaving people vulnerable to the illusion that they will be a ‘star‘ if they have some sort of creative talent.
David states networking is also incredibly important in the industry, its all about who you know and who you have ties to. Without this it is much harder to achieve the spotlight, even if you are better or a hard worker.
‘for every individual who succeeds, there are many who do not. For many, it will be the result of a perfectly reasonable personal decision that the commitment and determination required is not for them’ (p. 20)
David also states that its a risky business. It is competitive as those are fighting for the spotlight but its also determined on the opinions of the audience or the producers. This means creative people are competing for the majority in order to be liked and successful.
The creative industry is divided into 3 groups:
Production– people who create thing e.g write a song, make a movie, make a painting.
Distribution– people who promote and market things to reach the target audience using advertisements.
Consumption– The audience consuming the information e.g by going to the cinema, going to a concert; to consume the product.
Key Quotes:
“the distinctive organisational form of the cultural industries has considerable implications for the conditions under which symbolic creativity is carried out“
“in its utopian presentation, creative work is now imagined only as a self-actualising pleasure, rather than a potentially arduous or problematic obligation undertaken through material necessity” (2009, p. 417)
Media buisnesses are reliant upon changing audience consumption patterns”– The media and creative industry is based off of audience preference, taste, and how audiences will react to productions.
Risk is minimized by many different things:
‘Fan culture’, if productions develop a strong, reliable and loyal fan base, producers can almost rely on a positive reaction from these consumers towards future productions.
Marketing and advertising, the use of advertisement allows creative/ media products to gain the attention of their target audience
Trying not to create a ‘monopoly’, often, large, worldwide companies such as ‘Disney’ and ‘Apple’ leave one aspect of production, distribution or consumption to a third party company in order to create a legal monopoly.
Repetition; Producers stick to their strengths and create similar products time and time again to create a loyal fan base so that they don’t have to continue finding new target audience.
David Hesmondhalgh (British sociologist and Professor of Media, Music and Culture at the University of Leeds ) is among a range of academics who critically analyse the relationship between media work and the media industry. In his seminal book- The Culture Industries.
‘the distinctive organisational form of the cultural industries has considerable implications for the conditions under which symbolic creativity is carried out’
in an article he wrote with Banks (Banks, M., & Hesmondhalgh, D. (2009). Looking for work in creative industries policy. International Journal of Cultural Policy. Saying…’there must be serious concerns about the extent to which this business-driven, economic agenda is compatible with the quality of working life and of human well-being in the creative industries.‘
David Hesmondhalgh critically analyse the relationship between media work and the media industry. In his seminal book, The Culture Industries (Sage, 2019) he suggested that:
“the distinctive organisational form of the cultural industries has considerable implications for the conditions under which symbolic creativity is carried out“
Often, this ‘myth-like’ narrative young people aspire to is unachievable. They are seduced easily into wanting to work within creative industries and fail to see the counter side, the reality, to what is on the surface.
“in its utopian presentation, creative work is now imagined only asa self-actualising pleasure, rather than a potentially arduous or problematic obligation undertaken through material necessity” (2009, p. 417)
The creative industry is stereotypically presented as a ‘utopian’ career choice in which, workers have fun at all times whereas it is risky and involves many aspects such as business and money as well. Success in creative industries is largely based off of contacts, connections and luck rather than pure talent and effort.
David Hesmondhalgh says; “All business is risky, but the cultural industries constitute a particularly risky business”
The media and creative industry is based off of audience preference, taste, and how audiences will react to productions. For example, if a production gets a unexpected, negative reaction, money is lost without being made back and jobs are lost, making it a risky venture. Artists and producers take a risk when creating a product as they don’t have any idea how it will be received by the consumers.
“Media buisnesses are reliant upon changing audience consumption patterns”
As audience taste changes, it has a knock on effect to the productions being made.
Risk is minimized by many different things:
‘Fan culture’, if productions develop a strong, reliable and loyal fan base, producers can almost rely on a positive reaction from these consumers towards future productions.
Marketing and advertising, the use of advertisement allows creative/ media products to gain the attention of their target audience
Trying not to create a ‘monopoly’, often, large, worldwide companies such as ‘Disney’ and ‘Apple’ leave one aspect of production, distribution or consumption to a third party company in order to create a legal monopoly.
Repetition; Producers stick to their strengths and create similar products time and time again to create a loyal fan base so that they don’t have to continue finding new target audience.
The Media and creative industries are categorized into sub sectors;
Production = Artists, designers, actors etc who create the product.
Distribution = Marketers, publicists, advertisers etc who promote the product to the audience.
Consumption = Workers who allow the product to be brought to the audience and consumers who consume the products.
Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance.
How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?
The interpretation of gender, Girl, boy, man and women, has constructed how humans live for millions of years. Only now in the last two century’s it’s starting to be challenged. Through many types of media for hundreds of years the ideology of gender characteristics and how they can be desirable to each other has determined how each gender lives their life. A woman expressing her delicateness and virtue results her being wed and respected, and a man being tall and strong is desired and celebrated. But the question is why women cannot be big and strong, and men are not delicate and emotion. The social construct of gender is the answer, without generations passing down the social ideology of gender we would not be subjected to do certain things or present ourselves in a certain manor to seek the approval from our opposite gender to finally mate and pass on the exact same ideals to our children.
I suggest that Judith butlers claim that gender is a performance, negotiates that we ‘pretend’, and ‘act’, the characteristics that are compulsory to are gender assignment. She protests that we are not born with the desire of certain things, for example boys playing with trains and cars, and girls playing with princess dolls and unicorns, it is the result of ‘‘an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts’’. Butler explains that gender is fluid that there isn’t a box we should fit in, she follows up on this theory and argues that our gender is on a suggestive spectrum of male and female. On the other hand, Laura Mulvey (2nd wave feminist) suggests that gender is fixed to male and female, that it is structured by institutions and those powerful individuals who are able to exert power and control for example Harvey Weinstein. While still recognising those arguments presented by Mulvey, Jean Kilbourne, Butler suggests that gender is fluid and changeable and can be altered by anyone at any point in time depending on how they see fit.
The sexualisation of women has been among one of the most argued and challenged subjects in media. From the ‘wash is whiter’ and ‘score’ adverts they both along with thousands of other adverts from that time subjected women to limited purpose in life, to be sexualised and to serve men. On the score advert I intently analysed that the date of this advert, 1963 explains the sexist reasoning behind it. The ideology of women being stay at home mothers and the stereotypical women cook and clean was still very much distinctive. Therefore, advertising a product that shows women working hard to please the man, ie, holding him up on the stretcher teases the men that the product brings this. The disregarding focus on women shows them in a negative and gullible light, and that we would they are happy. The only aspects of women that the advert show are those that are favourable to men are their bodies and their submissive tendencies, illustrating the voyeuristic tendencies of the patriarchy.
In addition, the third wave feminism included things like intersectionality, raunch culture and queer theory. the Maybelline advert in context to Judith butlers’ theory’s the advert describes gender as non-conforming and an illusion. The male actor Manny Mua is a gay man is used to highlight the fluidity of gender and sexuality and proving that these ideals shouldn’t be one thing, like the stereotype of men being strong and heroic. In this advert he over exaggerates his actions and tone of voice to present more feminine and to promote LGBTQ plus furthermore also links to Judith Butlers theory that gender is performed and not set in stone as such. Maybelline has applied a male to advertise their product, this is a clever advertising strategy as it does not target a specific audience. The advert is radical as normal advert for makeup would have a white female using the makeup, this advert challenges that as it has a gay male using the makeup and representing the product. Things such as “promotes the dangerous sentiment that men are supposed to adhere to hyper masculine culture.” and “he encourages people to think of makeup as genderless. He thinks boys deserve just as much cosmetic recognition as their female counterparts.” shows how people are trying to advertise the idea that gender isn’t fixed, and so certain things shouldn’t be applied to one gender.
In the past men were regarded greater at creating literally pieces and writings then woman were. Virginia Woolf stating that simply if women were not stereotyped and given equal opportunities to men originally, then more literacy pieces would have been made. These opportunities being not regarded as worse or beneath men and given the correct education and same rights as men.
“Me Too” was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual assault survivor and activist Tarana Burke.[4] Harvard University published a case study on Burke, called “Leading with Empathy: Tarana Burke and the Making of the Me Too Movement”.[5]
Similar to other social justice and empowerment movements based upon breaking silence, the purpose of “Me Too”, as initially voiced by Burke as well as those who later adopted the tactic, is to empower sexually assaulted individuals through empathy and solidarity through strength in numbers, especially young and vulnerable women, by visibly demonstrating how many have survived sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace
