Midterm

Question 1

Social Capital

Answer 1

• Using cultural capital (knowledge, status, gender, etc.) to position yourself in the market
• social capital = economic capital
• Pierre Bordeaux: social capital is cultural capital

Question 2

Pseudo-individualism

Answer 2

• People become just as standardized as the art, entertainment, and products they consume

Question 3

“Creative Class”

Answer 3

• Posited by Richard Florida
• Key motivators of economic development
• Creative professionals, skilled workers, bohemians, gays.. used as indexes

Question 4

Above-the-line vs. Below-the-line

Answer 4

• Above: those involved in the development phase of a film, before money is in place
• Below: other skilled craftspeople who work behind the scenes once production begins and well into post-production

Question 5

Film studios vs Clearinghouses

Answer 5

• Studio: concerned with the creative aspect of the production
• Clearinghouse: concerned with the financial and economic aspects of the production

Question 6

Tent-pole film

Answer 6

• Films that generally lack specific cultural references in order to reach a global, more universal market and make as much profit as possible for the least risk.

Question 7

1915 Supreme Court ruling about film industry

Answer 7

• “film is entertainment… thus not protected under the 1st amendment”
• led to local govt. being allowed to censor film

Question 8

House Un-American Activites Committee

Answer 8

• 1950’s Red Scare; fears of communists infiltrating Hollywood.
• Hollywood complied; people (especially Jewsish-Americans) felt their american identity threatened by this witch hunt.
• Complied in order to affirm their own “american-ness” and point fingers at the “other.”

Question 9

Cultural Diplomacy

Answer 9

• A political tactic of promoting your own country in a very specific way through culture (propaganda)
• Rests in the culture, values, and policy of a country in order to improve diplomatic relations

Question 10

National Endowment for the Arts

Answer 10

• Established in 1965 by the Fed to distribute funds across cultural industries
• Channeled the political energy and upheaval at the time in order to maintain social control

Question 11

Visual Artists Rights Act

Answer 11

• Passed in 1990 and gave artists the “moral right” to own their own style

Question 12

Creative vs. Cultural Industries

Answer 12

• Cultural Industry: all culture is industry in the service of efficiency and automation. Propaganda machine; makes culture in order to pacify us. Standardization.
• Creative Industry: emerges with Neoliberalism; all becomes economized and monetized; humans are market actors and disposable. Embrace capital logistic for art and culture in favor of deregulating and privatizing the arts. Believe the commodification of creativity promulgates it further.

Question 13

Horkheimer & Adorno’s “Culture Industry” argument

Answer 13

• Culture Industry: all culture is produced by corporations as products for purchase; secures profits and power hierarchy; culture appears to be unique; can only produce more and more.
• Commodity Fetishism: ascribing symbolic meaning and value that it doesn’t actually have; all massed produced commodities are fetishized because they have no intrinsic value; leads to art being commercialized and used as distraction.
• Art as Distraction: Helps us “forget” the suffering of the capitalist system by exploiting our affection for art.
• Pseudo-Individualism: We become just as standardized as the art, entertainment, and products we consume.

Question 14

Political Influence in Hollywood

Answer 14

• Four domains: official censorship, unofficial censorship, considerations of display and circulation, and relationships w/consultants and liaison offices.

Question 15

Official vs. Unofficial Censorship

Answer 15

• Official: began in 1915 with SC court ruling; 1924 Hayes Office established to monitor filmmaking: 1944 war era, used to villainise the enemy and propagate nationalism (propaganda); established Motion Picture Bureau, a branch of the Office of War Information; 1950’s Red Scare and communism; 1960’s OFI and Hayes Office close down, official censorship ends.
• Unofficial: Govt. controlling film industry through the corporate parents that own the studio; Federal Communications Commission can put pressure on things they are allowed to control but cannot directly control the film industry.

Question 16

Lawrence Lessing & “Free Culture”

Answer 16

• Argues economics and concept of “property” have diluted the virtue of art; culture has been increasingly made into a private good, which makes it vulnerable to control, regulation, and privatization.
• Suggests a “sensible patent system” in which copyrights are still in effect, but distribution rules change; more flexibility surrounding copyright.

Question 17

State Dept’s first efforts at Cultural Diplomacy

Answer 17

• Logic: public diplomacy = soft power = obtaining ends through attraction rather than coercion.
• Began in 1954 under Eisenhower; established the Emergency Fund or Int’l providing $2.5million to State Dept. for promotion of American dance, sport, music, and culture; sponsored them to tour internationally on condition that performances would be about promoting American democracy; PUBLIC DIPLOMACY BECAME CULTURAL DIPLOMACY.
• National Endowment for the Arts (1965) funded by the Fed to distribute funds across cultural industries.
• These came under attack in 1980’s; conservative right was opposed to funding the “gay agenda;” withdrew funding and gave us NEOLIBERALISM; forced arts to seek commercial funding/private donations, etc.

Question 18

“The Riddle of the Artist”

Answer 18

• Ernst Kris & Otto Kurz rendered the artist as alienated from “normal” civil society; romanticized stereotypes of tragedy, mental illness, substance abuse, early death, etc.
• Originates in Renaissance; art dealers emerged to aid visual artists in consolidating a lasting role in society; their purpose was to sever the artist from the point of transaction; artists income increased greatly through work on commission; dealers made pieces appear rare and unique; positioned dealers as gatekeepers.
• Artist biographies helped consolidate the paradigmatic image of artists; eccentricity meant talent and thus justified the whole value of art; IMAGE OF ARTISTS COMES FROM DEALERS AND THOSE WHO MANIPULATE THE ART MARKET ECONOMY.
• 3 artist figures: the gentleman artist, the Bohemian, and the Mad Genius (most enduring); women are forced to fit these male-dominated identities.

Question 19

The Branded Artist

Answer 19

• Artists have become the products themselves; Xiyin Tang and the “cult of authenticity”
• Brand = longevity and location, must be able to be recognized any place and time; have the privilege to live outside their brand (unless a woman or a person of color)