Comments on: Chronicle of Cancellations Foretold https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2007/10/04/chronicle-of-cancellations-foretold/ Culture, Politics, Academia and Other Shiny Objects Sat, 06 Oct 2007 15:46:21 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.15 By: William Benzon https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2007/10/04/chronicle-of-cancellations-foretold/comment-page-1/#comment-4401 Sat, 06 Oct 2007 15:46:21 +0000 http://weblogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=438#comment-4401 s an industry, it’s a very weird and feudal one. The maximization of profit is not what the major pop-culture producers do, or at least, not what they do very well.</i> I keep mentioning De Vany's book on <i>Hollywood Economics</i> in this kind of context because he's got the numbers. Try as they might, the Capitalist Fat Cats who run the movie biz simply can't manipulate it so as to completely snooker the poor rubes (that is, us) who buy the tickets. They may wish they could, but they can't. The only reliable way they've got of determining whether or not a movie will make a profit is to make the movie and put it into theatres. Six months after that, they'll know. The "culture industry" is crazy. It's crazy because the niches into which it sells are idiosyncratically complex, as are the products it sells. ]]> However, this is what casual cultural studies talk about the “culture industry” conceals. If it’s an industry, it’s a very weird and feudal one. The maximization of profit is not what the major pop-culture producers do, or at least, not what they do very well.

I keep mentioning De Vany’s book on Hollywood Economics in this kind of context because he’s got the numbers. Try as they might, the Capitalist Fat Cats who run the movie biz simply can’t manipulate it so as to completely snooker the poor rubes (that is, us) who buy the tickets. They may wish they could, but they can’t. The only reliable way they’ve got of determining whether or not a movie will make a profit is to make the movie and put it into theatres. Six months after that, they’ll know.

The “culture industry” is crazy. It’s crazy because the niches into which it sells are idiosyncratically complex, as are the products it sells.

]]> By: Jason Mittell https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2007/10/04/chronicle-of-cancellations-foretold/comment-page-1/#comment-4400 Sat, 06 Oct 2007 01:27:21 +0000 http://weblogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=438#comment-4400 Wow – I am in awe of your former power! We were a Nielsen diary family once for a sweeps period, but that’s nothing compared to the PeopleMeter Power…

Glad to see that your former Nielsen peers tuned in for Daisies in fairly strong numbers, winning its timeslot definitively. And I agree that sustaining the show’s tone and narrative energy will be challenging. But as long as they keep showing Anna Friel smiling, I’ll keep watching, for I am smitten.

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