Contemporary Media Industries

CA 557

During the last three decades, cultural institutions have undergone profound changes, transforming almost every aspect of their operations, from the production of artifacts and the management of creativity to the promotion and distribution of songs, stories, and information. The structure and scope of their operations have changed as well, due to the emergence of new technologies, cross-media conglomerates, and transnational patterns of circulation. Indeed, we have at once entered an era of global media and personal media. That is, cultural artifacts now traverse great distances and may reach vast audiences, but they may also be crafted for very local audiences or even for niche audiences dispersed around the globe. This
seminar examines the operations, discourses, and logics that govern the contemporary culture industries, interrogating their impact on creativity, culture, and society. We will focus our attention on screen industries--film, television, and Internet--but will also take up themes that affect culture industries more generally, such as convergence, conglomeration, globalization, post-Fordism, and the commercialization of public institutions.