Tuesday, October 05, 2021
Opinion | Don’t Let Amazon Eat the Film Industry
The New York Times: In the 1930s and ’40s, five major Hollywood studios dominated the film industry and tried to lock up distribution and exhibition channels as well by taking over movie theaters across the country. Courts and regulators saw that allowing studios so much power up and down the film supply chain posed grave threats to the integrity of the industry and to viewer choice.
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9 comments:
Streaming services’ impact on the Film and television industry is a very interesting topic, and the comparison to the studio monopolies of old Hollywood provided in this article gave me a new perspective on the issue. I had always thought of streaming services as a boon because they created so much content and provided so many jobs, however I didn’t realize how much they were able to stifle the creation of even more jobs with their pseudo monopolies. I now agree that they should be stopped from growing too much to retain the true arts of the film industry. Of course streaming services create incredible pieces of art, but film in its truest form is far less business-like than what is made for a streaming service. Hollywood must keep space for indie filmmakers or else new legends in the industry will never appear. It is also important to diversify the perspectives and oftentimes one company can only make one kind of art.
I enjoy the accessibility of streaming services for those who are able to afford a television at home and those who can pay for membership, but I am NOT a fan of the impact it has made on independent films. Amazon avoids publishing independent work. As it grows more popular and more people rely on it for their source of entertainment, it means independent films are becoming more lost and inaccessible. The Amazon streaming platform also has a very corporate feel, and takes away from the experience of watching a movie. Movies on Amazon feel less of an art, and more of a business. This is mainly contributed to Amazon's capitalist values, where money is the end goal. It then causes the movies to feel like they were only created for money, a side effect of existing on such a business driven platform. Moving forward, I think Amazon needs to reevaluate the type of work they are including and excluding.
It’s no surprise that Amazon is now withholding their power from independent filmmakers especially considering its rapid growth over the past several years. I have been recently thinking about how close Amazon is to becoming a monopoly if it isn’t already. Their ability to control the careers of aspiring artists, independent filmmakers, producers, etc., is, in my opinion, too much power for a company to hold. As well as withholding their platform from indie creators, they are also gatekeeping a prosperous and innovative film industry for a little more profit. Considering that Amazon brings in billions of dollars a year, they can spare some to allow more creators. In comparison to Netflix, the other largest streaming platform, Amazon Prime Video does not have as many indie shows or streaming options. However, there is still hope if the FTC cracks down on Amazon for antitrust violation.
As artists, I think that sometimes we view art, film included, as something separate from the shackles of money and big companies. But unfortunately, the theatre and film industry is all about money. That’s why huge companies like Amazon are able to monopolize because they have the money and resources to consolidate all their content down to only award winners and guaranteed watchable shows. Unlike small independent companies, they don’t have to play around and possibly fall before they make something incredible. In addition, it's all about exposure. So many people already have Amazon Prime or Netflix, so it's easier to find something to watch on there, instead of seeking out independent films. In a culture of overconsumption and capitalism convenience is key, and Amazon plays to that very well. Monopoly busting can no longer be thought of as a thing of the past if people actually want to help independent companies and film.
I found this article interesting in how important digital streaming platforms are in the film industry now that it is the preferred method of watching new and previous works. This article allowed me to realize how streaming platforms put films one step closer to being monopolized. In relation to amazon, I never knew that you couldn’t see data from the pieces being streamed which surprised me because it is so common to see that on other streaming platforms. Pertaining to the theatre industry, we are now seeing theatrical works being streamed on these platforms which is an interesting concept that has direct correlation with how streaming platforms are the preferred way to view works in society today. To my understanding, many shows are filmed with the original cast and those videos are archived and often never show to the public, so it is nice to see that some shows are trying to make their works more accessible. Therefore, we see these patterns between the success of works and how accessible they are to the public which can have enormous influence on how film will be produced in the future.
I have mentioned this in a comment elsewhere but doesn't all of this mess with the streaming services seem like "too little, too late"? I mean, obviously these media companies are monopolies. That has been clear for far longer than I have been alive and the issue has been getting worse and worse with each passing year. I think the bottom line is that the people that are able to do something about this simply don't want to. Our society is obsessed with big numbers and the existence of these mega corporations make our lawmakers think that the economy is strong because of these absolute powerhouse companies. But now these companies are gaining the power to use their extensive material resources to control the narrative of the stories being told and it's scary. How many different industries can Amazon step into before something is actually done about it? They clearly have too much power and are causing an incredible amount of suffering due to their business model and lack of basic concern for the wellbeing of those touched by their business.
I am often genuinely concerned by the number of industries Amazon has stretched itself into. Music, TV, retail, food, politics, tech, etc… I would not be surprised if they soon were into medicine or vehicles. It seems like one of the fastest growing companies in the world, and while its services are undoubtedly useful, it really brings to light how unethical the company is as a whole. When it comes to the TV and film industry, I wonder how contained the media they touch will become. The article gives a great quote about this, saying that Jeff Bezoz said “when [Amazon] win[s] a Golden Globe, it helps [them] sell more shoes.” They have tendrils of influence in so many spaces, their media will most definitely be tuned to influence consumers for their benefit in multiple areas. This will be especially so as Amazon grows their entertainment industry influence. Between the manipulation potential this has, and the overall ethics concerns I have about Amazon as a whole, I worry for the effect this will have.
As messy and unfair as the theatre industry is, it always seems like the film industry is ten times worse. I wasn’t aware that Amazon used to be a streaming platform for independent films. This feels like such a noble idea of having a media giant as big as Amazon host thousands of independent movies that are easily accessible – but the fact that the filmmakers weren’t in control of their royalty rates sounds just like something Amazon would do. Its devastating to hear that so many independent films were dropped as soon as the Amazon Prime streaming service started picking up in traction. Its getting increasingly more difficult for independent filmmakers to produce and showcase their work. To lose the independent film industry would mean to lose a pilar of art exploration. If the public is only receiving work from big studios and corporations, then we are greatly doing ourselves a disservice.
We can all agree that streaming services have changed the film and media industry drastically in the past few years. It’s shocking how much companies have grown financially with the addition of streaming services (e.g. Disney with Disney+). Although I knew there’s a change in marketing strategies in these companies, I never looked into it before. This article mentioned how Amazon was a platform for independent filmmakers to publish their works but now that the company is producing its own ‘original’ content, many publishers have lost their platform. Another thing that was briefly mentioned in the article was the fact that streaming services like Amazon and Netflix hold an uncountable amount of data of their clients, which they use for analytical purposes and produce shows that better fit the taste of their audiences. But the downside to this is that the diversity in the content that we get as an audience is getting more limited and a lot of independent producers’ works are not getting media exposure.
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