Television/Movies and Political Economy

Television/Movies and political economy

The political economy of media approach sees the profit motive that drives corporate media as being incompatible with a healthy democracy.  The media are extremely critical in the modern society because they are associated with power whether political or economic. The term media here does not only apply to news, broadcasting or entertainment on various platforms but to the entire industry. One such example of the dominant media is the television. 

The television does not simply act a tool to generate revenue by entertaining (movies) or informing (news) the public, but it is also a central player in strengthening the values of capitalism. It is unbelievable as to how advertisements, publicities or movies influence public opinion about certain aspects of routine life, highly contributing to the formation of beliefs. Being part of the media corporation, the television is often used as a pawn to shape public opinion in order to pursue political ends. The media industry did nothing but expand over large areas and it continues to grow and will continue to grow because money is involved; the primary goal of corporations is to generate profit for shareholders.

 The television industry plays a central role in the political economy of a country. By using tact of public visibility, the government tends to use a significant influence upon film-making by helping to establish the official and informal rubrics under which the cinema operates. Movies usually diversity the production of its television network and further propagates its concentration of power over the market showing the link between political and industrial elites. The cinema can be considered to be an economic/social institution and a tool for the government, leading to multiple dimensions. This was possible due to the advent of television. Movies have in a way become the property/object of the government. The growing attention to the cinema and the film and media industry is related to both the government and the private sector. In the end, both need to be winner. The political economy thus comes into action because quotas are often implemented to protect the national film cultures from international hits or producers who boom the box office with blockbusters. For example; the United Kingdom, for instance, attempted to protect British and British empire filmmakers from Hollywood with the Cinematograph Films Acts of 1927, 1938, and 1948. Hollywood can be said to be a major component of most national film cultures where audience expectations molded largely by Hollywood are misused by domestic producers.

Movies are a form of communication and media that influence the society are used are used as a gauge of where the mindset of the population is at. Shortly after USA goes to war with Afghanistan, war movies came out about fights in Afghanistan and Iraq. After the Americans killed Gaddafi, videos about making making fun of the dictator came out. When Americans went into Somalia and “Black hawk” was released and when they bombarded Serbia, “Dogma” was released. Are these coincidence or simply a method to control and gauge public support aka propaganda? Movies are sometimes purely political. The film industry provides cultural fuel and shapes the way morals and ideals are seen to the general public. It either reinforces stereotypes or completely shreds them. So many movies have been produced on political economy amongst which; MALCOLM X, The American President and The Manchurian Candidate (2004). The television is used in all its aspects to influence voters directly and indirectly through: movies, advertisements, news(News coverage debate), publicity(Election campaigns), Also, when the economic situation is bad, politics play the game carefully; there are practically no or less movies about wealthy people and spending big. Music videos also show less gold chain music, for example, little Wayne throwing money around would just piss people off. The television as a whole or even part of it such as movies are used as a means by major players who battle over influence and access to resources to increase the political economy.