What is quality in relation to the entertainment media? Part of the problem in answering this question is that what viewers regard as quality and what entertainment media executives see as quality may be very different things. Another part of the problem is that the entertainment industry, unlike businesses, are multifaceted. In commerce, quality is evidently linked to profit and loss. In medicine, quality can be gauged in terms of the ability to keep people healthy. However, quality in the media has no concrete measure. And consequently, it is difficult to decide whether it should be defined in terms of financial success, an enriching experience or the ability to empower?
Profit is the most obvious definition of quality in the entertainment media and such a definition has value. When entertainment media products make a profit it leads to jobs, associated products and even international commerce is improved. Careers in the arts, fashion, journalism, advertising, sports can all flourish from profit-making entertainment media. But of course such an approach has many drawbacks. First, if profits are the measure of quality, then there will inevitably be much of the same in terms of material. One of the overwhelming rules of profit is, "if it works once, let's do it again." Hence "Lion King 2", "Speed 2", and so on. Moreover, the effect of a profit-making definition can also be seen in cheap but very non-artistic productions. Profit-making, as a definition of quality, stands in opposition to art because the most important element in creating art is the freedom to fail, both artistically and financially. In a profit-making environment, failure is an unacceptable reality that means you will probably not get a second chance.
Quality can also be measured via enrichment. However, this is a somewhat difficult concept to define. Much of the material that is brought out by the entertainment industry is clearly not enriching. Shakespeare on the other hand is clearly enriching and so one way of reaching a definition is to decide what components are in Shakespeare's plays that are lacking in popular movies. If one looks at the timelessness of these plays, it is because they depict the painful responses to dilemmas we can all recognize in spirit if not in reality. So enrichment means a play or movie that makes us think, makes us wonder, what would we do in these circumstances? But we should not underestimate the ability of some modern movies to do just that.
Popular entertainment is enriching when it makes us think about our lives and reassess how we regard the world. Films such as "The Fisher King" or "Awakening" show us people struggling with real problems. The issues are often painful and do not involve the prescribed fairy tale ending where everyone lives happily ever after. On the contrary instead of standing up and dusting off the trauma and grief with a wry smile or a funny comment, which are the typical responses in the superficial popular movies, we see characters struggle to come to terms with life-changing events and that struggle is not always successful.
Empowerment is another aspect of quality that is slowly becoming more popular. One example is National Empowerment TV which had a clear agenda as the name explains. Founded by conservatives, its aim was to mobilize its viewers to donate time or money to specific causes; in other words to empower them and make them a part of something. Another and more practical example of empowerment are some of the Reality shows that have become so popular. "The Biggest Loser" illustrates how people who would normally be classified as "losers" can take control of their lives. Many of those watching the show are similarly inspired and even more important, similarly empowered. And when contestants publicly sponsor others to join in their battle of the bulge the idea of empowerment spreads accordingly.
It is impossible to separate the profit motive from quality, but as long as we, the viewers, let the entertainment media executives know that we want the enriching and empowering experiences then that is what we stand a chance of getting. We cannot allow ourselves to just sit by and watch passively what they choose to give us. We have to watch the shows that are not always comfortable, the shows that make us confront painful issues such as, drugs, grief, pain etc. or the shows that ask us to do something to change the situation. And as long as we watch these shows they will bring in a profit and we will get more of them and our lives will be further enriched and empowered. And we will no longer be merely passive receptacles being filled with what those in power want to give us.
Copyright: Academic Reading
Profit is the most obvious definition of quality in the entertainment media and such a definition has value. When entertainment media products make a profit it leads to jobs, associated products and even international commerce is improved. Careers in the arts, fashion, journalism, advertising, sports can all flourish from profit-making entertainment media. But of course such an approach has many drawbacks. First, if profits are the measure of quality, then there will inevitably be much of the same in terms of material. One of the overwhelming rules of profit is, "if it works once, let's do it again." Hence "Lion King 2", "Speed 2", and so on. Moreover, the effect of a profit-making definition can also be seen in cheap but very non-artistic productions. Profit-making, as a definition of quality, stands in opposition to art because the most important element in creating art is the freedom to fail, both artistically and financially. In a profit-making environment, failure is an unacceptable reality that means you will probably not get a second chance.
Quality can also be measured via enrichment. However, this is a somewhat difficult concept to define. Much of the material that is brought out by the entertainment industry is clearly not enriching. Shakespeare on the other hand is clearly enriching and so one way of reaching a definition is to decide what components are in Shakespeare's plays that are lacking in popular movies. If one looks at the timelessness of these plays, it is because they depict the painful responses to dilemmas we can all recognize in spirit if not in reality. So enrichment means a play or movie that makes us think, makes us wonder, what would we do in these circumstances? But we should not underestimate the ability of some modern movies to do just that.
Popular entertainment is enriching when it makes us think about our lives and reassess how we regard the world. Films such as "The Fisher King" or "Awakening" show us people struggling with real problems. The issues are often painful and do not involve the prescribed fairy tale ending where everyone lives happily ever after. On the contrary instead of standing up and dusting off the trauma and grief with a wry smile or a funny comment, which are the typical responses in the superficial popular movies, we see characters struggle to come to terms with life-changing events and that struggle is not always successful.
Empowerment is another aspect of quality that is slowly becoming more popular. One example is National Empowerment TV which had a clear agenda as the name explains. Founded by conservatives, its aim was to mobilize its viewers to donate time or money to specific causes; in other words to empower them and make them a part of something. Another and more practical example of empowerment are some of the Reality shows that have become so popular. "The Biggest Loser" illustrates how people who would normally be classified as "losers" can take control of their lives. Many of those watching the show are similarly inspired and even more important, similarly empowered. And when contestants publicly sponsor others to join in their battle of the bulge the idea of empowerment spreads accordingly.
It is impossible to separate the profit motive from quality, but as long as we, the viewers, let the entertainment media executives know that we want the enriching and empowering experiences then that is what we stand a chance of getting. We cannot allow ourselves to just sit by and watch passively what they choose to give us. We have to watch the shows that are not always comfortable, the shows that make us confront painful issues such as, drugs, grief, pain etc. or the shows that ask us to do something to change the situation. And as long as we watch these shows they will bring in a profit and we will get more of them and our lives will be further enriched and empowered. And we will no longer be merely passive receptacles being filled with what those in power want to give us.
Copyright: Academic Reading
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