by MC12
On a fairly typical weekend in the film industry, July 18- 20, 1997, the top 60 movies in national distribution grossed $104 million in ticket sales within U.$. borders. These top 60 movies altogether had grossed $2.1 billion by the end of that weekend, at which point they were showing on more than 13,000 screens.(1) So, U.$. movie-goers have spent more for tickets to these 60 movies than the whole Gross Domestic Product in Eritrea for 1995.
The concentration of spending on just a few movies is significant. The top five movies on this list -- Men in Black, George of the Jungle, Contact, Nothing to Lose, and Face/Off -- grossed $72 million that weekend, or 69% of the total. This is evidence of a mass capitalist culture of conformity.(1)
These top five movies were run by the largest culture companies in the world, also some of the largest companies period. Men in Black is from Sony, which had $46 billion in revenue last year, and also owns Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures, and distributes Castle Rock films, among others.(2) George of the Jungle is from Disney, which had revenue of $18.7 billion and ranked 55 on the Fortune 500 list last year.(3) Disney, which also owns ABC, owns Buena Vista home video, 17 theme parks and resorts, etc., and controls Hollywood, Touchstone, Caravan, and Miramax films. Contact is from the Time Warner publishing empire, which owns CNN, HBO, and lots more, and had $10 billion in revenue last year, at 141 on the Fortune 500.(3) Nothing to Lose is also from Touchstone (Disney). Finally, Face/Off is from Paramount, which is owned by Viacom, which owns MTV and its "competitor" VH1, Showtime and its "competitor" The Movie Channel, and, if you want to pick your own, Blockbuster video as well.(4) Viacom is also in publishing with Simon and Shuster, and a lot more, with $12.1 billion in revenue last year making it 112 on the Fortune list.
Each of these companies is heavily involved in production of films, and their distribution in theaters, on TV, video stores, and so on -- all up and down the entertainment food chain. That way they don't have to worry about serious competition at any level.
One feature of imperialism is its increasing concentration of capital and power. When this concentration develops in the realm of culture, one important result is the concentration of control over culture and the public expression of ideas. This leads to hegemony by the ruling class over culture. By maintaining a tight control over large-scale cultural production -- in addition to news media, the education system, and so on -- the ruling classes can do a lot to smooth the way for the public acceptance of their view of things.
Lots of critics of capitalism are upset about the concentration of capital in culture, but Maoists understand that this hegemony is reinforced by the massive infusion of super-profits from Third World countries -- which are used to pay the people of the oppressor nations to play along -- so that Amerika in particular has developed an epidemic of decadent conformity despite the constant mantra of free will and individuality.
NOTES:
1. Variety box office lists available at www.yahoo.com.
2. Sony corporate information from www.sony.com.
3. Fortune 500 at www.pathfinder.com.
4. Viacom corporate information from www.viacom.com.
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