“Seeking to understand what was going on, I took very unscientific straw polls of family and friends. I learned anecdotally what sociologists and social psychologists have shown in more scholarly explorations: If the image or manipulation supports what someone already believes, they often accept it unquestioningly.” – Fast Company
Category: media
At The Creative Arts Emmys, ‘Game of Thrones’ Cleans Up
The show earned 10 awards in its last season, after demolishing the record for nominations with 32. And: “HBO and Netflix are, once again, locked in a tough battle. HBO notched 25 Creative Arts wins over the weekend compared to Netflix’s 23. HBO has had the most or tied for the most Emmys of any outlet for 17 consecutive years. If Netflix can make up the difference next Sunday, one of television’s most formidable streaks could be broken.” – The New York Times
Independent Moviehouses Are Having A Hell Of A Time Surviving
In Seattle, the Columbia City moviehouse Ark Lodge Cinemas has seen box office receipts drop by as much as 60 percent this year. “Its struggles illustrate the challenges of operating an independent moviehouse at a time when audiences are changing and competition is fierce from shiny multiplexes that increasingly boast amenities like beer and wine, reclining seats and expanded food menus.” Can the indies survive? – Seattle Times
Hollywood Is Assisting In The Death Of Freedom Of Expression In Hong Kong
Soft diplomacy? Or government control and censorship? “Beijing has a very clear idea of how a film industry should operate—namely, as an essential part of the effort to bring public opinion in alignment with the party’s ideological worldview. To that end, Beijing has been using Hollywood’s insatiable need for investment, and its vaulting ambition to reach a potential audience of 1.4 billion people, to draw it into China’s orbit.” – The Atlantic
Twenty Years Ago, Reality Shows ‘Broke TV’ And Paved The Way For Today
Used to be, the U.S. TV landscape had a few reality shows, nothing spectacular, nothing great. But 1999 changed things: “The drama, the spectacle and arguably the artifice of reality television became the main draws. Participants couldn’t simply be regular people anymore; they had to be personalities, or types, perfectly attuned and calibrated to orchestrating the juiciest of drama. Soon reality stars became the new celebrities, celebrities the new reality stars.” One might say it led to a certain election outcome as well. – HuffPost
MoviePass, Too Good To Be True, Has Finally Died
The promise – unlimited films for $10 a month – went far beyond its founders’ capital and far beyond what the market could support. But for a limited time in 2017, MoviePass was poised with millions of customers and a demand for Netflix-like experiences at theatres. And indeed, it rewrote the rules, forcing cinema chains like AMC, Cinemark, and Regal to create subscription offerings in order to keep customers loyal. – Los Angeles Times
The Royal Visit In The New Downton Abbey Movie Is Easy Peasy Compared To Reality
For one thing, there’s a limit to what you can portray on screen (who knew?): “The film depicts only a fraction of the staff required for similar occasions, as they would simply not fit on the screen, said Alastair Bruce, the historical adviser on both Downton Abbey the movie and the show.” – The New York Times
A Short History Of TV’s “Golden Ages”
Golden Age evangelists love to wax rhapsodic on the artistic triumphs of their preferred series, but those same critics are quick to pull the “mass appeal” card to defend those series’ failings, reminding naysayers that, unlike the snooty purveyors of fine art and literary fiction, showrunners, both valiantly and by necessity, take a populist approach. – Harper’s
YouTube Steps Up Removal Of Hate Videos
YouTube is doing something about the proliferation of hate on its video site. According to a blog post published on Tuesday (September 3), it took down five times more channels and videos promoting hate in the second quarter of the year than it did in the previous quarter. The equates to more than 100,000 individual videos, more than 17,000 channels and more than 500 million comments removed in the second quarter of the year. – ColorLines
YouTube Says It Will Crack Down On Manipulation Of Music Charts
This form of advertising lets the advertiser, like the artist or the label, play a shortened version of a music video as an advertisement in front of other videos. Under some conditions — like if a YouTube user interacts with the video or watches it for a certain amount of time — it would count toward the video’s overall view count. – TechCrunch