Showing posts with label globalization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label globalization. Show all posts

Playing to the World's Biggest Audience: The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV Review

Playing to the World's Biggest Audience: The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV
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Playing to the World's Biggest Audience: The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV ReviewI write this from Los Angeles, which has the Hollywood film industry. It has dominated world cinema since its inception. Yet in this book, Curtin suggests that the expansion of Chinese film and TV might one day make it a serious global cultural competitor.
He analyses the current geographic distribution of Chinese output. Until recently, it was mostly Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. While mainland China had been making movies for decades, the hitherto insular nature of the Chinese economy relegated its film output to mostly China itself. But the burgeoning rise of the overall economy and its opening to global trade has also expanded the scope of Chinese films. This is perhaps the most interesting part of the book. Much of the future projected growth emanates from China.
The quality of the films is also described as rapidly improving. Due to larger budgets, which in turn is a functioning of greater real spending power by Chinese audiences. It has meant that the cheesy, low budget kung fu and romance films are increasingly sidelined.
The discussions about Singapore and Taiwan are interesting, certainly. But those are largely saturated (and small) markets.
The only missing feature of the book is the minimal discussion about animation. The technology for this is now largely available to Chinese studios. While the latest animation techniques are still dominated by American studios, there might be a trend of diminishing returns. Thus, there might be good prospects for a global Chinese animation industry. Akin perhaps to Japanese anime.Playing to the World's Biggest Audience: The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV OverviewIn this provocative analysis of screen industries in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, Michael Curtin delineates the globalizing pressures and opportunities that since the 1980s have dramatically transformed the terrain of Chinese film and television, including the end of the cold war, the rise of the World Trade Organization, the escalation of democracy movements, and the emergence of an East Asian youth culture. Reaching beyond national frameworks, Curtin examines the prospect of a global Chinese audience that will include more viewers than in the United States and Europe combined. He draws on in-depth interviews with a diverse array of media executives plus a wealth of historical material to argue that this vast and increasingly wealthy market is likely to shake the very foundations of Hollywood's century-long hegemony.Playing to the World's Biggest Audience profiles the leading Chinese commercial studios and telecasters, and delves into the operations of Western conglomerates extending their reach into Asia. Advancing a dynamic and integrative theory of media capital, this innovative book explains the histories and strategies of screen enterprises that aim to become central players in the Global China market and offers an alternative perspective to recent debates about cultural globalization.

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On Hollywood: The Place, The Industry Review

On Hollywood: The Place, The Industry
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On Hollywood: The Place, The Industry ReviewAllen Scott has produce a very original book. Any person interested in Hollywood business structure will find it valuable. Most interesting is discussion in terms of industrial districts and there relation to globalisation. Also important is connection to cultural economy and the dynamic of creative industries. Very clear. Very readable. Very informative. Bravo!On Hollywood: The Place, The Industry Overview
Why is the U.S. motion picture industry concentrated in Hollywood and why does it remain there in the age of globalization? Allen Scott uses the tools of economic geography to explore these questions and to provide a number of highly original answers. The conceptual roots of his analysis go back to Alfred Marshall's theory of industrial districts and pick up on modern ideas about business clusters as sites of efficient and innovative production.

On Hollywood builds on this work by adding major new empirical elements. By examining the history of motion-picture production from the early twentieth century to the present through this analytic lens, Scott is able to show why the industry (which was initially focused on New York) had shifted the majority of its production to Southern California by 1919. He also addresses in detail the bases of Hollywood's long-standing creative energies and competitive advantages. At the same time, the book explores the steady globalization of Hollywood's market reach as well as the cultural and political dilemmas posed by this phenomenon.

On Hollywood will appeal not only to general readers with an interest in the motion-picture industry, but also to economic geographers, business professionals, regional development practitioners, and cultural theorists as well.


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After Capitalism: Prout's Vision for a New World Review

After Capitalism: Prout's Vision for a New World
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After Capitalism: Prout's Vision for a New World ReviewThe most important contribution of this book is that it presents an alternative to the free market economy we have taken for granted.
Especially after the fall of communism, most people have taken capitalism as the given order of life instead of seeing it for what it really is: An economic system that is dominant at a given point of time. 'After Capitalism' shows us that there are alternative ideas out there, and presents those ideas with force and power, backed up by support of some of the most powerful alternative thinkers of our age, such as Noam Chomsky, P.R. Sarkar and Johan Galtung.
Whether you are a staunch free market supporter or a member of the anti-globalisation movement, this book is important for any person who seriously wants to analyse the issues at hand.
If you are a free market supporter, you will find that 'the other' view is actually based on well founded facts and rational ideas, and not just on thoughtless rebellion without a proper ideology. If you do not understand people of different views, it is hard to argue with them!
If you are already critical to the current economic system, you will find here a wealth of information and theories to shape your thoughts and ideas and discover alternatives to the present system.
In either case, it is an important book that I strongly recommend that everyone interested in the current state of the world should read.After Capitalism: Prout's Vision for a New World OverviewAfter Capitalism: Prout's Vision for a New World sheds light on the Progressive Utilization Theory, or Prout, a socio-economic model based on decentralized economic democracy, cooperative enterprise and the ethics of inclusion. Foreword by Noam Chomsky, with contributions by Frei Betto, Marcos Arruda, Johan Galtung, Leonardo Boff, Sohail Inayatullah, Ravi Batra, Mark Friedman. The book asserts that capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction, based as it is on greed, intense competition and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. In contrast, Prout provides a model of economic development grounded in universal values. It seeks to balance regional self-reliant economic development with ecological protection, and encourages creativity and innovation. In his preface to the book, Noam Chomsky stated, "Alternative visions are crucial at this moment in history. Prout's cooperative model of economic democracy, based on cardinal human values and sharing the resources of the planet for the welfare of everyone, deserves our serious consideration." Historian Howard Zinn, author of the best-selling A People's History of the United States, wrote: "After Capitalism is refreshingly original. It is spiritual and utopian while remaining grounded in reality. Its analysis is intelligent and its vision inspiring."

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Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole Review

Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole
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Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole ReviewI see a number of other reviewers belittling the book because of some trivial factual error regarding sports figures or celebrities, but in my eyes those points merely underscores the point that Barber is trying to make. In the end the constant media focus on these types of people is in my eyes a mass distraction. Does it change my life one iota when a drunken celebrity does something stupid? Not at all, but the media covers it for hour on end, and people lap it up.
People defend popular culture such as Harry Potter or Shrek, but these are all pure escapism and have very little relevance to our daily lives. Reviewers of those films make tortured comparisons to try and prove relevance to daily life, but the sad fact is that many people have become conditioned to not expect more, and perhaps not even have the patience to view a more substantive work.
Other reviewers insist that they aren't manipulated and that they have free choice. To an extent that is true, but one can easily argue that many people are making poor choices because they have been so deeply conditioned by advertisers. How can you justify spending 50K$ on a car, and replacing it when it is 3 years old when an inexpensive well-made car will fulfill the basic needs of transportation and may last 5-8 years instead? How can you justify spending money on bottled water when tap water in most areas is just fine? And how can you justify accumulating tens of thousands in consumer debt just to acquire all of this stuff? There are countless such examples all over the place.
And finally, there is the paradigm that runs deeply through our society that having more money and having more material goods will somehow make you happier. The problem is that these desires can never be satisfied - there is always something more, and there is always someone else who has more. In the end all of this materialism leaves people feeling empty, and the only tonic that they know to try and fill the void is to go out and shop some more.
On the other hand, if you can reach a point where you are content with what you have, you may find that many of the things that you do have are completely superfluous and can be donated to Goodwill or sold. Get rid of enough stuff, and that McMansion will seem empty, and a more modest and affordable house may meet your needs quite nicely.
Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole Overview

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