The Business of Hollywood

In America on Film, Benshoff and Griffin describe the structure and history of Hollywood filmmaking; within the text they discuss the “Business of Hollywood” by introducing multiple concepts that create the framework that is “Showbiz” both today and in history. It has always been evident to me that Hollywood and film was a business, but until recently I had never realized how easy it actually is to look at Hollywood made films and break down their success formulas. I will discuss the business of Hollywood by looking at the concepts of profitability and cross promotion through the example of the “Batman Empire”.

The Batman rEVOLUTION!

Hollywood has been able to cultivate profit off of the concept of “Do what works.” Movie producers know to continue to do what has been done in the past by recycling concepts, characters, and even re-making entire movie series when the form has become outdated. This can be seen by looking at movies like the “Batman” series which some people would think started with Director Tim Burton and his 1989 release of “Batman”, however, in reality there had been a Batman movie released in 1966 which followed the television series, but even before that in 1943 the original Batman movie was released in a 13 part movie serial later followed by a 1949 sequel. It is also important to note that “Batman” was not a movie to start off with; the concept was brought to the film industry though another form of popular culture, Comic Strips.

The Batman Empire birthed from a single comic strip in 1938 has grown into a media franchise that has given birth to 10 theatrical releases; 6 direct to video releases; multiple live action television cameos; and even more animated feature presentations to include 5 animated series based solely on the character Batman.

It is almost too easy to see the producers of the Batman franchise have the profitability formula down very well with the recreation and distribution of just a single movie character. This brings me to my next concept of cross promotion within the Batman franchise and how it also directly correlates to profits. Businesses have come to realize the massive amount of consumers that are available to through each other’s networks and are able to utilize each other in order to gain further recognition and sales potentials. This can be seen in the Batman example by looking at how Batman uses OnStar as well as how Batman supports McDonalds.

Distribution is another key to the success of the Batman empire. Movie industries have been able to not only tap into the success of the American market, but the international market as well. In fact, the example of international distribution as well as cross promotion are seen where there is a Spanish version of Batman “iconization” through LEGO being marketed not in film, but in a video game.

Batman is just one example of how Hollywood over time has used a profit formula to make itself successful. It has done so through many genre's and series of films. (Rocky, Star Wars, The GodFather, Robin Hood...etc) But something else I feel needs to be addressed as well and that is the Independant Film Stlye. I am not talking about Independant films themselves, the real movies or documentaries that are submitted to the Sundance Film Festival or even the Fargo Film Festival for their "Focus of Film", but I am talking about what I will call Hollywoods exploitation of the Independant Film style by creating a Hollywood film based on the stylistic concepts of Independant film for profit based off of the recent trend of indy film popularity.

Movies such as Napolean Dynamite, Little Miss Sunshine, Resevoir Dogs, American History X are all movies that I feel would have made fine independant films but were brought into the limelight by the same types of formulas that create profit for large scale motion pictures.

Take example of Napolean Dynamite, it is an independant film that has a lot of the same concepts of Hollywood film. I use the example of the Vote for Pedro T-Shirt or the line of clothing that spurred into pop culture stores like Spencers or Hot Topic after its release. The movie was made emblematically like any other independent film with non-mainstream ideals and non-traditional cinemetography , however, it had the backing and production mind of Hollwood to drive its sucess.

Does this mean that profitability can only come from regurgitation of old worn out concepts becuase we know that repeated through history is the concept of "Do what you know works"?

Hyper-Masculinity in Society

During the course so far we have been able to discuss the issue of gender representation in both the past and present. Chapters 3 and 4 have identified a “radically simplified” view of gender in media with the focus being mainly on television, movies, advertising, and print. However, there was no discussion on the matter of gender representation in music videos, only brief acknowledgment that example’s could be found.

I want to use this blog entry to discuss the issue of gender identity in music. Specifically I will discuss the representation of masculinity in Hip-Hop music and the culture of violence because of it, the represented view of women in hip-hop, as well as how the view of how masculinity has effected self identity.

Hyper-Masculinity in Hip-Hop Music and Violence:

Hip-hop, also referred to as rap music in popular culture, is a music genre that has to some become a lifestyle. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latino Americans. In the 1980s and 1990s hip-hop had transformed from the lyrical tales of emcees in the 1970s to lyrical complexities and a new “gangsta rap”.

The difference between hip-hop today and the roots of hip-hop is the image that has been socially constructed and supported by those in the hip-hop world. Today’s hip-hop artists and followers have used hip-hop as identification of their gender representation. I speak specifically about the feeling of masculinity in being involved in hip-hop.

Young people in hip hop use weapons and violence as the symbol of being a real man. If you are a young man growing up being told that being a “real man” is having power, being dominant, and having respect from your peers but you don’t have “real power”, but what you do have is your body and your ability to present yourself physically as someone who is worthy of respect; that is what accounts for the hyper-masculine posture that you have seen in the past. This was seen more in the early 1990s and has steered towards drug use and sex to identify masculinity today. This hyper-masculinity and violence in hip-hop could by some be considered to be proven by the effects model from other forms of media like movies and television violence.

I use two examples here to show the difference of rap today and rap 30 years ago.

Hyper-Masculinity and sexism in Hip-Hop:

Hip-hop has also given rise to sexism and the identifying masculinity with the act of womanizing and by objectifying women in music videos. In the music video “Tip Drill”; Nelly is seen swiping a credit card down the backside of a female dancer. He is viewed as so important and so powerful and the women are so many that they do not matter that they are eye candy and they are just worthless. This image sends a message to young impressionable minds to tell them that “if I want to be a man, be like Nelly, this is how I have to be.”

I remind you that hip-hop music videos are the only place you will find this concept, however, this is the area I have chosen to expound upon.

Nelly-Tip Drill-Explicit

Hyper-Masculinity and Self-Identity:

Finally, I want to discuss the concept of how self-identity is affected by hyper-masculinity in society. I define self-identity just how it sounds, how one identifies oneself. When it pertains to gender identity I feel that gender identity is formed off of both the concept of biological determinism and social construction. Biology defines how you feel you should be, and society will describe how to fine tune how you should be. An example would be, a female who feels sexy, already feels like a woman and feels sexy based off of what society tells her sexy really is, she chooses for herself if what society tells her is sexy aligns with her identity, but I still feel they go hand in hand.

Desired Feeling+Societal Perception of Feeling+Individual Choice=Self-Identification

Now, where a problem with some people arises is with the issue of feeling societal mis-identity because of gender representation. The feeling that you feel like a man, you want people to see you as a man, but you are treated the opposite causes a gender mis-identification. In an article I found in the Texas Prison system, inmates are made to wear pink outfits, pink socks, pink underwear, and even live with pink walls. The use of pink is said to be calming, but inmates often times say that it affects their masculinity. I first found this issue when I came across an article about boxer Mike Tyson who had stated that he had a problem with being dressed in pink as well as rapper DMX's response to his masculinity and the effect of him wearing pink.

Pink Jails?

Mike Tyson: Man of Pink

DMX: Pretty pissed in Pink

As you can see with these examples, gender representation in media can expand very deeply into any type of genre or medium. I am sure with more research and further looking even jazz music, and possibly even classical music you could find connections to hyper-masculinity in society.