Discuss the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences by international or global institutions (#6 from the table below)
Media area: Film Since the passing of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allowed for the virtually unchecked acquisition of competitors by large media conglomerates, the film industry has become more monopolized than ever. For reference, out of the roughly 50 companies that dominated the film and entertainment industry at the time of the bill’s passage, only a handful remain independent today, as the others were absorbed or bought out by these companies. This has caused the few remaining media conglomerates, which are often referred to as “the big six”, to be met with the extremely difficult task of attempting to appeal to and target global institutions and audiences. To elaborate, in order to make their media as profitable as possible, these companies specifically tailor their films to be as globally appealing as possible, often by prioritizing large foreign markets. This raises all sorts of issues in the media world, for example the increased homogeneity/lack of creativity in mainstream film production. However, I believe the most pressing issue that the targeting of national audiences on a global scale has created is the erosion of morality and ethics among the production companies that partake in it. To begin, I believe the monopolization of the film industry on a global scale has caused media conglomerates to prioritize financial success over a maintenance of morality. The member of the big six most guilty of this is probably the Walt Disney Company, which has gained a reputation in recent years for buying out/absorbing competing production companies. Few media conglomerates have the reach over mainstream film/entertainment that Disney does, which has caused the company to ditch many of the core values it preaches in its own films. For example, Disney in particular is infamous for ignoring racial or political issues in order to appeal more to the Chinese market. From a business standpoint this makes sense, after all the Chinese box office accounted for an astounding $9.8 billion in 2019, but issues arise when Disney chooses to disregard ethics to do this. See, Disney has received backlash in the past for editing out or shrinking specifically black characters from the Chinese versions of their movie posters. For example, in the Chinese poster for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, the character of Finn (who is played by black actor John Boyega), was significantly smaller when compared to the American poster, despite him being a main character in the film. Also, while the American version of the “Black Panther” poster featured the titular character mask-less and showing the face of black actor Chadwick Boseman, the Chinese version had a mask photoshopped over him, very clearly done in an effort to hide the face of the African American actor from Chinese audiences. The most recent and perhaps worst example of Disney disregarding ethics for the sake of profit is related to production of the recent live-action remake of “Mulan”. Disney chose to shoot certain parts of the movie in China, as that’s where the film takes place. A large part of that filming took place in the very same province where the Chinese government has been forcibly relocating Uighur Muslims into what can only be described as internment camps. In all honesty I don’t fully understand the situation, but I do know that many critics have compared the Chinese government’s actions to ethnic cleansing, and criticize Disney for still choosing to support the government by filming there, as well as refusing to condemn them, which was likely done in an effort to get the film shown in China. Disney is hardly the only large media conglomerate that partakes in immoral actions for the sake of appealing to a global market, however it provides one of the most relevant examples of the issues raised by the targeting of national audiences by global institutions. In sharp contrast with large media conglomerates, I believe smaller, independent film production companies often avoid many of these aforementioned issues. Yes, while indie film companies don’t have nearly the reach or funding that major media conglomerates do, I believe that that’s what allows them to remain ethically sound. An excellent example of this that I found in my research is the independent, British-based production company known as “Environment Films”. Environment Films was founded on a basis of maintaining ethics, has shot films for a wide variety of charities, campaigns, and causes, and has made a name for itself as one of the UK’s most ethical film production companies. Also, whenever they are producing and shooting movies, Environment Films abides by a strict set of social and environmental criteria. One example of such practices is refusing to work with/for any company that promotes what they view as unethical practices, which it seems major media conglomerates like Disney could learn a lot from. Sources: http://www.environmentfilms.org https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/09/disney-mulan-controversy-issues https://variety.com/2015/film/news/star-wars-china-poster-controversy-john-boyega-1201653494/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yFjW5I2O28
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