Hollywood in the Information Age

Beyond the Silver Screen

Janet Wasko

• Publisher: Polity
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780745669021
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film History & Criticism

This is a major new assessment of the American movie industry in the 1990's, focusing on the development of new communication technologies such as cable and home video and examining their impact on the production and distribution of motion pictures.

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Introduction: Hollywood and the Culture Industry

The Entertainment Age

Over the last decade or so there have been dramatic changes in the technologies employed for the production and distribution of entertainment and information. Computer systems have been introduced in a wide range of situations, from factories to offices to homes. New communication channels, such as cable television, home video, and satellite systems, are in use in most of the USA and much of rest of the world. Other developments, such as high-definition television (HDTV), direct-broadcast satellite systems, fiber-optics systems (or “electronic superhighways”), etc., are promised in the near future.

The confluence of these technological developments – the number and variety of technological devices and processes introduced or employed at one time – is perhaps unprecedented, and has prompted discussion and analysis of a new age: the information age.

An information society has been claimed by many to be more dependent on information and service industries, and thus organized and characterized fundamentally differently from previous eras. It is further argued that information has become a commodity – bought, sold and traded in marketplace situations.

Yet, in many ways, the notion of an information age is inherently problematic, and rather than embracing the concept, this study serves to challenge it on several fronts.

First, the myriad of technological changes that have prompted discussions of a new age of information has been introduced into societies which remain fundamentally the same. In other words, there is as much continuity as change in our “new” age. This fundamental concept is at the heart of this study, which provides an example by looking closely at one sector of our society – the entertainment business – to examine the extent of the change or continuity that has accompanied these technological developments.

Second, it might be noted that many of the new technologies associated with an information age have been introduced and employed for leisure-time activities or entertainment. In other words, many of the information technologies have been promoted for their entertainment components, and it would seem that people’s everyday lives are influenced as much, if not more, by these entertainment and leisure-time activities as by new or enhanced information channels.

Although it could be argued that entertainment is as characteristic of this age as information, we have heard little about a new entertainment age. And, come to think of it, both information and entertainment have existed in other historical periods, so why a new age at all?

Still, it is interesting to consider why discussions of an information age frequently neglect analysis of the entertainment component of information technologies.

One explanation is that the business of entertainment is often not considered serious business by economists and other proponents of an information age. More often emphasis is placed on business and military applications of information technologies, such as telecommunications and computers, rather than on consumer communications products, such as home video and cable, that merely provide diversion.

On the other hand, technological components or economic characteristics of entertainment are less important to many media scholars or cultural analysts, who are more interested in studying entertainment products as texts or measuring audiences or the effects of entertainment messages, thus missing the possible connections to fundamental components of this (supposedly) new technological era.

Revenues from the media /entertainment business may not compare to other “information age” industries and other sectors of the economy. For instance, Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys for 1993 reported domestic sales for the electronics and computer sector at over $287 billion in 1991. The film industry’s domestic box office revenues for the same year were a mere $4.8 billion. Comparisons also might be made with the aerospace industry’s total sales, reported at $134 billion in 1990, and the chemical industry’s sales of nearly $300 billion in 1991. These sectors easily dwarf the revenues of the entire media and entertainment sector, as indicated in table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Domestic filmed entertainment revenues, 1986 and 1991

Source: Veronis, Suhler & Associates, Motion Picture Association of America, McCann-Erickson, Wilkofsky Gruen Associates. From: Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys, 11 March 1993, p. L17.

Nevertheless, the media/entertainment industry has grown considerably during the last few decades, and increasingly attracts the attention of financiers, investors and companies outside the traditional entertainment world. New technologies introduced by some of these companies, plus the integration of media and information systems, continue to expand the markets for entertainment commodities.

Furthermore, these media industries distribute important ideological and cultural products, with significance for the representation and reproduction of social norms and values. It would seem, therefore, that economic and technological developments in these industries would be not only of passing interest, but crucial in understanding the cultural role of these media and communication products.

Beyond the Silver Screen

At the heart of the entertainment business in the USA (and, indeed, much of the rest of the world) is a set of corporations commonly referred to as Hollywood. At one time, these companies were primarily involved in the production and distribution of motion pictures in the USA and abroad. Many still think of Hollywood in these terms.

However, films are seen today in many places other than theaters: most often, in people’s homes on television monitors, via over-the-air television stations, networks, cable and pay-cable channels, or home video systems; but also in airplanes, hospitals, schools, universities, prisons, even in dentists’ chairs. Popular films often initiate or continue an endless chain of other cultural products. A film concept or character often leads to a TV show, with possible spin-offs, video games, and records. Merchandising efforts also include toys, games, T-shirts, trading cards, soap products, cereals, theme park rides, coloring books, magazines, how-the-movie-was-made books, etc.

The major Hollywood corporations are transnational conglomerates, often involved in all of these activities. Thus it becomes increasingly more difficult to distinguish the film industry from other media or entertainment industries. Indeed, Hollywood – or those corporations collectively referred to as Hollywood – can be considered one of the focal points of the culture industry, to recall a term popularized by the Frankfurt School, and no longer as merely involved in the traditional production, distribution, and exhibition of movies. Thanks to technological developments, commercial motivations, and globalization trends, Hollywood has moved … beyond the silver screen.

From Production to Exhibition: Promises and Myths

New technologies introduced since the 1970s have influenced the way that motion pictures are produced, distributed and exhibited. Some claim that the adoption of new techniques, especially in the area of production, has been relatively slow, thus reinforcing Hollywood’s reputation as technologically backward.

Nevertheless, there have been important changes in the structure and policies of traditional Hollywood activities. New computer and video techniques are employed in the production of motion pictures, providing new possibilities for manipulating sounds and images. Distribution channels have expanded, with the proliferation of cable systems, home video, and satellite technology. And exhibitors are increasingly being forced to consider new projection systems or distribution methods, such as HDTV.

These technological developments have been, as historically media technology has been, accompanied by predictions and promises, in this case for filmmakers, the film industry and movie audiences. Three main promises can be identified: (1) more competition, (2) increased industrial conflict, and (3) more diversity and access.

First, more opportunities for independent production, or in other words, more competition, has been anticipated for the film business, with independent production sources proliferating. Consequently, the new technologies have prompted claims that there will be intense industrial rivalries and conflicts, as the film industry battles with the television industry and both confront the cable industry, etc. The third, and possibly more prevalent, prediction pertains to the availability of cultural products. Better quality and more spectacular films have been promised through the “magic” of new production technologies. And consumers have been promised more convenient access and more consumer choice or program diversity. Thus, with more information and entertainment, a better informed, more educated, and happier public is portrayed.

Through a series of questions and careful analysis, however, these promises become merely myths. We might ask, for instance, what the latest technologies have actually changed about the production and distribution of motion pictures, the traditional foundation of Hollywood entertainment? Have the structures and policies of corporate Hollywood actually changed? In other words, is discontinuity or change the only operating principle applicable in this entertainment or information age, or is there also a good deal of continuity observable in the industry’s structure and strategies? To answer these questions, technological change in Hollywood, as in other areas of the communications sector, must be analyzed historically.

Other important questions relate to who is in control of technological development, or in other words, how are decisions being made about what new technologies will be innovated and introduced, and what products will be delivered via these new technologies? How are changes in the production and distribution of film related to other media products? And, finally, is the public offered more choice and better quality entertainment, or just more of the same?

To answer these questions and more fully understand these developments, this book will present a political economic analysis of Hollywood and the latest technologies. It presents a survey of the newest technological developments since the 1970s in the traditional production, distribution and exhibition of motion pictures. It is essential to look beyond the technologies themselves, however, and consider how Hollywood has reacted and adapted to more general economic and political changes.

The main points delineated throughout this book are:

1 The major Hollywood companies have been interested and involved historically in a variety of media and other commodity forms beyond film.

2 Hollywood as an industry means more than film production, distribution and exhibition; it also has incorporated promotion, merchandising, theme parks, and other media forms, such as television, cable, home video, etc. In other words, Hollywood does not merely represent the film industry, but crosses over traditional industrial boundaries and engages in transindustrial activities.

3 The changes and continuity in Hollywood must be understood in light of general economic and political contexts, i.e. deregulation of media sectors such as cable, privatization and commercialization tendencies in global markets, etc.

4 Hollywood’s relationship to new technologies must be seen in light of these other contexts.

Chapter 2 will consider historical treatments of Hollywood and technology, with a brief discussion of specific periods of technological development in film history. Chapter 3 presents an overview of some of the technological developments in the production of motion pictures, while chapter 4 details the activities of the dominant Hollywood corporations that link film production with distribution. Major outlets for the distribution of Hollywood products are considered in the following chapters: cable (chapter 5), home video (chapter 6), and theatrical exhibition (chapter 7). Hollywood’s marketing and merchandising strategies are detailed in chapter 8, while global activities are outlined in chapter 9. Based on these discussions, conclusions will be offered in chapter 10.

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The Way We Were: An Historical Look at Hollywood and Technology

Hollywood and technology? How about Charlie Chaplin’s assembly line in Modern Times, Hal, the misbehaving computer in 2001, or R2D2 and Robocop? While Hollywood has produced these vivid and memorable depictions of future technologies, there is more to this relationship than the images that appear on the silver screen. After all, film is technology and the motion picture industry has exploited technological developments throughout its history.

But recently such developments have come under more intense scrutiny as new distribution outlets, such as cable, pay cable, and videocassettes and discs, have challenged the traditional distribution outlets of theaters and over-the-air television. Interestingly, the attention directed at film technologies has churned up some myths that have long been associated with the US film industry. An example is the following statement by George Mair in his recent book on Home Box Office (HBO):

Hollywood has never grasped the importance of new technology. It fought against the talkies, against color, against radio, against television, against cable TV, and, most recently, against the videocassette and home video. Hollywood ended up profiting from all of these new technologies, but only after it tried unsuccessfully to kill them. Hollywood always views a new way of doing things as a threat, instead of as an opportunity.¹

Mair is not alone in this opinion, as evidenced by the following comments by Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA):

Major technical developments in the audiovisual field generally make their initial appearance as esoteric laboratory curiosities, innocuous and benign. But many rapidly metamorphose from cute chicks to voracious vultures. To survive and prosper, our industry has had to develop not only coping skills, but more important, the ability to anticipate and manage change. This has not always been the situation.²

Mair and Valenti are echoing the received history of Hollywood’s technophobia.³ Historians have repeatedly reported the reluctance of US film companies to anticipate and accept new technological innovations, from the introduction of sound film to the home video “revolution.” This chapter will explore the challenges to this myth represented by more recent work on the history of film technology, but argue that there are still some problems with these newer approaches.

The Myth of Hollywood’s Technophobia

First, it might be noted that the image of Hollywood as technologically backward does not seem to apply to technological development within the film industry itself, i.e. lighting, cameras, film stock, etc.⁴ Film histories abound with detailed accounts of developments in these areas, with praise heaped on Hollywood producers for a wide range of special effects techniques.

However, major technological changes outside the traditional parameters of motion pictures have been labeled by many as beyond Hollywood’s vision. Specifically, some historians have observed that the introduction of important new communication media, such was radio, television, and more recent video technologies, have been only reluctantly accepted by the film industry. The studios are even accused of resisting sound film, which was introduced by forces mostly outside the industry.

But how was it possible that these large, profit-seeking film corporations were as myopic as reported in these histories? Could they have been unaware of the competitive threat posed by these new media, and uninterested in the profit potential or promotional possibilities represented by these new technologies?

A good deal of...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Plates
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction: Hollywood and the Culture Industry
• 2 The Way We Were: An Historical Look at Hollywood and Technology
• 3 Film Production in the Information Age
• 4 The Big Boys: The Hollywood Majors
• 5 The Wired Nation and the Electronic Superhighway: Cable Television, Pay Cable, Pay-Per-View and Beyond
• 6 Talkin‘ ’Bout a Revolution: Home Video
• 7 The Silver Screen: Theatrical Exhibition in the Information Age
• 8 Hollywood Meets Madison Ave.: The Commercialization of US Films
• 9 Around the World in Nanoseconds: International Markets for Filmed Entertainment
• 10 Hooray for Hollywood: Moving into the 21st Century
• Notes
• Index