MIGRAIN: Hesmondhalgh - The Cultural Industries

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

Sectors that create and produce products with artistic and cultural value.

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

Hesmondhalgh identifies that those societies tend to be dominated by larger companies with minimal government regulation and significant socioeconomic inequality. 

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

They challenge these inequal and capitalistic ideologies due to needing to continuously compete with each other to secure a loyal audience by satisfying their profane desires and art is expected to to challenge the various institutions of society.

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

Hesmondhalgh identifies issues with cultural industries such as risky business(uncontrollable public perception), creativity vs commerce, high production and low reproduction costs, semi-public goods(the needs to create scarcity).

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

Audiences may use commodities in highly volatile ways to show how they're different, companies cannot predict perception of products, high levels of profit are hard to achieve for independant companies.

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?

Media profits are a mixture of artistic expression and profit that the artist should gain for said craft while living in a capitalistic society that benefits off their labour. 

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

They minimise their risks and maximise their profits via vertical and horizontal integration, that reduces competition and saves costs .

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?

Yes, creative minds should be better rewarded as the generate profit for the overall economy.

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?

Many companies in the visual effects industry are going bankrupt despite an illusion of grandeur and the sheer time and effort it takes to create these media products on their part due to gruelling hours and precarious conditions.

10) What is commodification? 

Commodification is the transformation of objects or services into commonplace.

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, media texts are becoming more homogenous and are reflecting scripted tropey ideologies that and repeated endlessly.

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 cultural industries have changed through digitalisation, sharing products over national borders, focus on marketing and advertising, I believe the digitalisation of products has changed the cultural industries vastly due to the multiplication of forms to access a wider range of media products for millions more people.