Goodbye Media Oligarchy

Consumers devote half of their waking hours to entertainment but stock prices for Disney and other entertainment companies have collapsed. Now an executive at Disney most likely devotes 90% of their work hours if not more attempting to correct this catastrophic issue. However, is it really an issue for your typical consumer? I argue not. Clearly, the public is still consuming entertainment and most definitely they are consuming new entertainment. I reason the decline in Disney and media conglomerates stock prices is due to the fact that today’s society craves more authentic, real entertainment. Entertainment they choose to consume. 

Many people are now turning to creator based content such as Tik Tok, Snapchat, and Youtube as their main source of entertainment. Creators on these platforms feel more real and their goals are more achievable than ones touted on most TV shows and movies. Reality T.V. shows a lavish lifestyle that the average American can’t obtain. Especially in today’s declining economy when many Americans are struggling to afford rent, groceries and car payments they do not want the lifestyles of the rich and famous shoved down their throats. For this reason, many people want to consume the content of everyday working class people. I do not believe that this is a conscious choice on behalf of many but rather a cultural shift away from Hollywood. This shift I believe is a good thing as in my opinion Hollywood is an oligarchy. An oligarchy is defined as a small group that has control over an institution, company or country. The movie and t.v. show networks are tightly intertwined with the big newspapers and talk shows. This means that almost all of the media the public consumed before this new age of consumer based content was all produced by the same institution. How then is it possible for the American public to get content they actually want to see if it is the oligarchy of Hollywood that is deciding what the public GETS to see. 

A great example of this tightly knit community is the Met Gala. Arguably, the gala is the most prestigious fashion event of the year, however if you look at the attendees you will see models, film stars, singers and producers: all of the content we consume in one room. Not to mention, the whole extravaganza is held by Vogue. 

I believe that it is in societies best interest if we move away from these huge entertainment companies in favor of smaller production companies as they will cater towards what society wants to consume. Not to mention, the smaller companies would have to listen to the public’s desires if they wanted to survive. This contrasts with the past in the age of the entertainment conglomerates because the benefit of an oligarchy to the oligarchy is there is no other option- people had to consume what they were releasing if they wanted to consume media. The same is not true today- companies have to listen to the public and I feel it is a vast benefit to society.  

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