The Hollywood industry has faced tremendous changes since the beginning of operations. The industry deals with movie production and has moved from the times of high theater movie attendances, for instance, by the year 1929, four-fifth of all American population, which makes up around ninety-five million people who attended the movie theaters, weekly (Epstein, 2009). The Hollywood industry is therefore controlled by the movie producers, the film owners, the directors and the movie stars themselves. The concept of popcorn economy on the other hand, revolves around productive resources being limited. As a result, Hollywood is in the process of feeling the effect of economic issues.
The industry was, however, boosted during the periods when the world was introduced to television that involved popcorn economy. The theaters either collapsed or were renovated to suit other businesses. This change of events made it impossible for the theater owners and managers to gain as many profits as they used to because a majority of the people stopped attending the movies weekly, giving only a five –to- ten percent turnout for the popcorn economy (Smith, 1999). Popcorn industry is attached to the current Hollywood movie nights a dissimilar way to the past. Currently, commercials that engage directly with Hollywood film technique of microwave popcorn market themselves as definite replica of snacks for Hollywood. The white popcorn currently accounts for 10 percent of the popcorn that is commercially grown.
The Popcorn Economy of Hollywood represents the general economic transformation which occurred in the movie industry, with the innovation of new technologies, and how they have been able to influence the fall of the movie theaters, and the development of new promotion grounds. With the introduction of these new technologies millions of Americans stopped going to the movie as they did in the early 1920s when the theater industry was introduced. The transformation of the movie theaters and the marketing of the new movies required a greater effort which should enable the owners, producers, and the directors to make profits, and also keep the industry moving. The fall of the number of individuals who attend the movies, however, did not entirely affect the businesses, since there are other businesses which are attached to the theater owners, where enormous profits are made (Epstein, 2010).
In this article, I will analyze all the new technologies, taking into consideration the the popcorn economy, which had a greater impact on the transformation of the Hollywood movie industry. I will discuss in details the strategies or the methods the media uses to make profits, and the effects those business models have on the society. The factor of, how the civil actions in social media influence social norms, is also a greater part of the discussion, as well as the concept of creating a healthy society by the use of information given. The idea of personal data rights, the prices paid for their access and the issue of the continuous rise in the social problems caused by mass media and new communication tools used by the society.
The introduction of the new technologies affected the way movies functioned, and so the Hollywood economy was enormously affected. The transformation of the movie theaters and the introduction of technologies which would enable people to watch any movie of their choice, or even watch it at their homes, or any other place of their choosing was a major blow to the Hollywood industry. The transformation made it impossible for the movie theaters to make as many profits as they used to make initially. The movement and the advancement of the technologies was a significant development for a majority of the manufacturing companies, but a setback to the Hollywood movie industry (Knapp &Thurau, 2015).
The popcorn industry has been playing an upper hand in the generation of income for their businesses. Although all these businesses had contradicting set-ups, they had all an ordinary business mind, the idea of generating as much revenue for themselves as possible. The movie theaters would extend a film for as long time as possible, which would even last three-quarters of a year. The businesses, however, faced the greatest fall when they faced the introduction of the new technologies, such as the Internet, the computers, and the televisions.
The media houses have various means of making their profits. About the Hollywood industry, the movie theater owners had mechanized different strategies to obtain a greater level of income and benefits for their business. In the Hollywood production, the theater owners had to diversify their abilities to create an extra income for themselves and the people around them. The society and the people who were closely related to the movie businesses had to come up with strategies for marketing their businesses, and making them better than their competitors (Proyect, 2015). The media includes the newspapers, the televisions, the radios and even the internet, in the modern world.
The media generates a lot of income from the three activities it is involved in, which is the production of the needed content, the process of information aggregation and the distribution of the information and the produced content. In the Popcorn economy Hollywood, the creation of extra profit was not only a well- calculated strategy but also an additional level of innovativeness and creativity. The movies owners sold various types of foods and the snacks such as soda, and other soft drinks. They also hosted entertainment for the guests, which was meant to create an extra coin for their businesses. Advertisements created awareness and were a sure way of moving the masses to the movie theaters. The innovativeness, where the movie theaters have been set up with a place to hold a cup, was a sure way of ensuring a customer satisfaction, which made them come back, hence making more money.
Various businesses adopt different business strategies and models, whose effects to the society vary, and range from a mild to a strong effect. The traditional models which were based on the market failures and the opportunism ideas, to the modern knowledge-based theories and the socialization perspective, has aided in the transformation of many businesses. The theory of social capital creates an opportunity for people to enhance themselves and even develop their skills based on their social connections (Edelman et al., 2004).
The inclusive business model is also another strategy adopted by companies to enhance the development of the people with low levels of income by making them the clients and the customers (Blay, 2012). In the Hollywood movie production industry, the people with moderate income were made the customers, with the big owners and the production companies such as the Sony Company, Disney Inc., Fox Productions, Universal productions, the Paramount, and the Warner Bros production companies. The large production companies make the small businesses be looked down upon and even created a large gap between the other companies with low income and them, due to the social capital theory (Lin, 1999).
The poor are always left on the receiving end, having no choice other than to accept the fate of the large businesses. The small businesses have to take whatever is given to them by the large organizations. In Hollywood, the small production organizations do not provide much of income to the people who own the theaters, and so, it is very hard for them to make as much impact on the society, like their big competitors. Although the small companies win, they usually suffer from neglect and refusal by the society (Mohr et al., 2005). The social norms are greatly influenced by the local movement in the social media which has been able to play a great role in the transmission of data and information in the modern world, making the world, a small village.
The social media, however, can have a broad range of effects on the lives of people. The majority of citizens interact daily through the various social media platforms which might create the source of a negative or even a positive influence on their lives. The media can present its information via various mediums which include movies, messages, and even plays. The effects, however, can be based on the three broad aspects, which include the secret sphere compartments, which concur with movement principles, the citizenship actions, and the policy support and its acceptance (Stern et al., 1999). The Hollywood industry had been greatly changed by the social media where the people of America could get all the information they wanted from the internet and even socialize with each other without attending the theater movies (Sheedy, 2011).
The Hollywood industry has highly invested in the general process of product placement. Director and film actors have invested in the process known as the “benefit-mix,” where the various organizations have used both advertisement and general publicity to make known of their products (Walton, 2010). The process of willingly incorporating the commercial materials into the noncommercial character is what mostly constitutes the product placement. It is, however, riskier to have product placement, rather than using the conventional advertising (Williams et al., c. 2010). Product placement in the Hollywood industry has been of greater importance because it has influenced the general sells as well as the impact on the consumer choice (Kit &P’ng, 2014).
A “good society” is created on various grounds. The society should first address all the challenges which face them such as the high rates of unemployment, the increased rates of homelessness, the poor infrastructures, and the general environmental degradation and destruction. The society should, therefore, be able to address the issue of selfishness portrayed by a majority of the society who only base their actions on their needs, with little or no regard for the other people (Andre & Velasquez, 2015). The idea of creating a healthy society is therefore based on the perception that human beings should be left alone to pursue their personal and individual interests, with no regard for the welfare of their neighbors. A healthy society is, therefore, a subject of self-centered strategy where people only think of themselves, and their well-being (Cruddas&Nahles, c.2012).
In the Hollywood movie industry, the society is centered on a selfish strategy, where each and everyone involved in the film production, promotion or even distribution focuses on self-gain. The people who had the movie theaters were all interested in having as many profits as possible, with no regard to the people of low incomes. Everyone involved was going for a profit maximization strategy where the businesses focused on the creation of a cohesive society with the rich people-centered together to create more wealth. The security of personal information is imperative. Many people feel that once they have lost their personal data that they might never have any control over it again. It is, therefore, necessary that each and every person’s rights are safely guarded and protected. The protection should be ensured and assured so that no one loses their private data and information to someone else or even an organization. The main aim should always to protect the image and the confidentiality and the privacy of any client, who might be willing to provide the information needed for a certain study or case (Data Protection Authorities, 2015). The people who offer the information are usually concerned with the aim of collecting their personal data, which should always lay on the privacy and the confidentiality. The people are also concerned about their ability to access the information given, and maybe delete or even change it, to suit their desires and descriptions.
It is, therefore, imperative that each and everyone is protected and that their personal data rights are protected so as to ensure their safety. There should be independence in the provision of the information, consistency and even certification of trust, and privacy as a show of commitment to all parties. The responsive to new technologies as well as the creation of an enforcement strategy to ensure that everyone is safe creates a higher level of understanding. There are various consequences that people face for accessing information in the media. Many people have been able to get rewards from the information they get, enabling them to obtain vital information which is key to the development of various plans, which might be business related, social or even political. The access to the most information stored or even posted in different social media platforms forms an excellent platform for the data collection. The information obtained can, however, be very costly and demanding. The access to the information can place someone in high danger if in any way or another they expose the identity or the confidential information of anyone.
The access to information in various media needs caution and even care so as to ensure that there are peace and unity for everyone and that each and every member of the society enjoys the same level of privileges. The people who offer detailed information about their lives should also be careful enough not to provide any information which might put their lives or even the lives of those they love or even care for in danger. There are many challenges in the modern world created by the social media. The social media has created a lot of problems such as educational disadvantages, sexism, racism, poverty, violence, pornography, and crime in many parts of the world (Argyle &Howitt, 1982). The Hollywood business has also created a lot of social problems in the society which have led to the destruction of morals in a majority of the youths. Some movies which are usually cast have a significant effect on the morals of the youth. The videos show various characters which do not have an appeal to the nature of people. It is, therefore, evident that the revolution in the technological world brought a change in the Hollywood movie industry, which later led to what was known as the popcorn economy Hollywood.
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