Michael Curtin | University of California, Santa Barbara (original) (raw)
Papers by Michael Curtin
International Journal of Communication, 2017
The media revolution that has swept across Asia since the 1990s is often characterized as a techn... more The media revolution that has swept across Asia since the 1990s is often characterized as a technologically driven phenomenon. At a deeper level, it has been animated by a multifaceted neoliberal political project and economic globalization, which has in turn fueled the rise of satellite, broadband, and mobile media. As technologies and cultural options proliferated, policy makers in many countries of East Asia and the Middle East have shifted their priorities from the regulation of distribution and personal consumption to the promotion of favored commercial partners and hybrid state media institutions. Focusing on Arab and Chinese screen media, this article examines the profound tensions between transnational commercial media capital and nationally based official media capital, delineating some of the complex dynamics that are remediating Asia in ways that were previously unimaginable.
University of California Press, Sep 5, 2014
Film Marketing into the Twenty-First Century, 2015
Electronic Arts (EA) is one of the world's leading producers and publishers of video game... more Electronic Arts (EA) is one of the world's leading producers and publishers of video games, renowned for such titles as Madden NFL, FIFA, and The Sims. Despite its success, the company has repeatedly come under fire for working conditions and compensation at its production facilities worldwide. Tensions escalated significantly in 2004 when 'EA Spouse' began posting anonymous online criticism regarding long hours, unpaid labor, and unreasonable expectations. 1 Worst of all, the anonymous spouse wrote, was 'crunch time,' the period leading up to the launch of a video game when workers were expected to put in twelve-to-eighteen-hour days, completing artwork, fixing game bugs, and making sure the final build was polished and ready for the heavily promoted launch date when eager fans were expected to snap up the company's latest release. Such complaints jibe with studies showing that developers are in crunch mode an average of ten weeks per year.2 During these stretches, developers work seven days a week, leaving no time for family, friends, rest, or recreation. The EA Spouse postings created a stir among game developers, leading to a successful class action lawsuit against EA and a reshuffie of company management. 3 In response to mounting criticism from consumers and the gaming community , EA executives pledged to clean up their act, but most observers contend that little has changed. Indeed, despite management claims that crunch time is being ameliorated, similar stories continue to circulate about grueling schedules leading up to the release of major titles. 4 These sweatshop conditions are a telling counterpoint to the common assumption among policy makers that the creative (or knowledge) industries offer the most promising prospects for job growth. 5 Although the number of game-related jobs is indeed growing, it is remarkable that tech-savvy programmers and talented visual artists-seemingly elite members The Crunch Heard 'Round the World 197 of the global labor force-should find themselves in such circumstances. Having developed a rich and distinctive skill set, many of them soldier on despite adverse conditions, while others get burned out and leave the industry. Still others form their own small companies, hoping to realize the beguiling potential of online distribution. Some indies dream of producing a breakout hit while others target market niches the majors overlook. Yet independence carries its own price, with many start-ups failing and even successful companies finding that indie production can be exceptionally stressful and demanding. Consequently, the most plentiful and well-paying jobs in the video game industry continue to be those provided by major video game publishers either directly or indirectly.This chapter focuses on the challenges confronting game developers who work for the majors. The very biggest companies develop, produce, and own the rights to their most popular titles, often contracting services from a network of suppliers. EA, for example, has studios and subsidiaries in more than a dozen countries and a network of suppliers that spans the globe. Overall, the industry and the workforce are huge. By 2017 video games are expected to generate over $100 billion in annual revenue, thanks largely to substantial growth in the mobile space and in emerging markets like East Asia. 6 Overall, the video game industry, along with other forms of software development, is one of the biggest drivers of economic growth worldwide , adding jobs in such cities as Warsaw, Bangalore, and Shanghai. In fact, many of the pressures that led to unrest among EA employees in the United States have been mitigated by the dispersion of tasks to a burgeoning transnational workforce, creating an elaborate global assembly line. Yet despite this calculated globalization of production,7 relatively little has been written about the impact it has on actual video game artists and programmers. 8 This seems especially odd when one considers that far more scholarly attention has been paid to the supposedly 'invisible' free labor gaming enthusiasts contribute .9 Moreover, what little has been written about studio working conditions focuses almost exclusively on North America. Few have broadened their critique to examine the changing contours and increasing dispersion of big-budget game development, and the emergence of development clusters in such places as Eastern Europe, India, and China. 10 In this chapter, we connect the quotidian working conditions of game developers to the global structure of an industry oligopoly dominated by a handful of publishers. Researchers have enumerated three historical stages to the globalization of labor, beginning with manufacturing (product assembly), service (back office operations), and most recently creative (media and design) labor. 11 Each of these stages has entailed a move from integrated mass production to ':flexible' modes of operation…
Media Industries Journal, 2020
International Journal of Cultural Policy, 2016
Confronted by media globalization, many governments have expressed concern about the productive c... more Confronted by media globalization, many governments have expressed concern about the productive capacity of domestic screen media institutions that are aiming to sustain the allegiances of resident populations. Policymakers are furthermore aware that creative labor is now widely perceived as a resource worth cultivating for its perceived benefits as a catalyst to economic innovation and productivity. In fear of being left behind, countries with even modest resources have fashioned a range of subsidies, tax breaks, and other enticements that have facilitated the emergence of a global production infrastructure that favors producers and media conglomerates at the expense of screen media workers. This mounting crisis of creative labor calls for a critical reassessment of the fundamental rationales behind these film policies and encourages speculation about new directions for cultural activism. Drawing inspiration from environmental studies, this essay advances the concept of stewardship as a geographically scalable approach to the challenges of media globalization.
Film Amp History an Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies, 2000
Wasko/The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications, 2011
... media conglomerates and while traveling the globe, one commonly encounters their voluminous c... more ... media conglomerates and while traveling the globe, one commonly encounters their voluminous cul-tural output, from Batman to Mickey Mouse, from ... Asian media companies that used to operate national or local television stations in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei now run ...
Television & New Media, 2014
Digital visual effects (VFX) now comprise one-third of total production spending on major feature... more Digital visual effects (VFX) now comprise one-third of total production spending on major feature film releases. They also are a significant and growing component of production budgets for television programming and commercials. Yet, despite the rising status of VFX, this sector of the media business has been in turmoil for over a decade, a situation made palpable by recurring waves of bankruptcies and layoffs, most notably including Rhythm & Hues, the company that scored the 2013 Oscar for VFX in Life of Pi. This essay analyzes the increasingly globalized mode of production in the VFX industry. We critically examine the specific practices and protocols of the VFX business, demonstrating their impact on workers and labor-organizing efforts. Tying together insights from political economy, creative economy, and production studies, the essay offers a middle-range analysis that connects specific local labor conditions to broader trends in the media industries.
Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 1997
... They seized the chance Page 8. 296 Christopher Anderson and Michael Curtin to transcend prior... more ... They seized the chance Page 8. 296 Christopher Anderson and Michael Curtin to transcend prior constraints of space and time, all the while characterizing ... originate from the source which is most efficient and expeditious... As a television viewer, I rarely ...
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 1998
Like their overseas counterparts, most Hong Kongers experienced the transfer of sovereignty last ... more Like their overseas counterparts, most Hong Kongers experienced the transfer of sovereignty last summer almost exclusively as a media event [1]. Other than 61ite members of government, business and'society', most citizens of the territory did not participate' ...
Global Media and Communication, 2010
The term ‘Chindia’ is relatively incoherent, since these two countries share few characteristics ... more The term ‘Chindia’ is relatively incoherent, since these two countries share few characteristics other than their sheer size and their consequent significance to the global community. They will indeed be major economic, social, and cultural forces in the 21st century, and their impact on global media is likely to be profound. Yet colliding the two names together does not make them complementary companions. It does, however, invite critical comparisons, some of which can be quite revealing. Most interesting are their diverging patterns of institutional organization and regulation. Indian film and television operates at arm’s length from the state in a relatively open market economy. Chinese media on the other hand is held close by a state apparatus that fears criticism, democracy, and populism, as well as a host of ‘cultural contaminants’ that include on-screen depictions of horror, violence, and sexuality. Equally intriguing is the fact that these structural differences have manifested themselves in the diverging fortunes of the two industries with respect to globalization. Indian screen media are successfully expanding their range throughout South Asia and increasingly in Africa, the Mideast, Europe, and North America. Chinese film and television on the other hand seems to be mired in a state of disarray. Occasional blockbusters circulate beyond East Asia, but the film industry is now renowned for a yawning gap between state-sanctioned extravaganzas and sadly undernourished midrange and independent movies. Television likewise suffers from various institutional constraints, so that mainland China, which is by far the world’s largest national television market, remains a net importer of programming. Such diverging fortunes are also manifested in the geography of these respective media industries. Fifteen years ago, Bombay – the enduring center of the Indian movie business – was rapidly becoming an important node of the India’s nascent commercial TV industry, an emerging ARTICLE
Making and selling culture, Jan 1, 1996
International Journal of Communication, 2017
The media revolution that has swept across Asia since the 1990s is often characterized as a techn... more The media revolution that has swept across Asia since the 1990s is often characterized as a technologically driven phenomenon. At a deeper level, it has been animated by a multifaceted neoliberal political project and economic globalization, which has in turn fueled the rise of satellite, broadband, and mobile media. As technologies and cultural options proliferated, policy makers in many countries of East Asia and the Middle East have shifted their priorities from the regulation of distribution and personal consumption to the promotion of favored commercial partners and hybrid state media institutions. Focusing on Arab and Chinese screen media, this article examines the profound tensions between transnational commercial media capital and nationally based official media capital, delineating some of the complex dynamics that are remediating Asia in ways that were previously unimaginable.
University of California Press, Sep 5, 2014
Film Marketing into the Twenty-First Century, 2015
Electronic Arts (EA) is one of the world's leading producers and publishers of video game... more Electronic Arts (EA) is one of the world's leading producers and publishers of video games, renowned for such titles as Madden NFL, FIFA, and The Sims. Despite its success, the company has repeatedly come under fire for working conditions and compensation at its production facilities worldwide. Tensions escalated significantly in 2004 when 'EA Spouse' began posting anonymous online criticism regarding long hours, unpaid labor, and unreasonable expectations. 1 Worst of all, the anonymous spouse wrote, was 'crunch time,' the period leading up to the launch of a video game when workers were expected to put in twelve-to-eighteen-hour days, completing artwork, fixing game bugs, and making sure the final build was polished and ready for the heavily promoted launch date when eager fans were expected to snap up the company's latest release. Such complaints jibe with studies showing that developers are in crunch mode an average of ten weeks per year.2 During these stretches, developers work seven days a week, leaving no time for family, friends, rest, or recreation. The EA Spouse postings created a stir among game developers, leading to a successful class action lawsuit against EA and a reshuffie of company management. 3 In response to mounting criticism from consumers and the gaming community , EA executives pledged to clean up their act, but most observers contend that little has changed. Indeed, despite management claims that crunch time is being ameliorated, similar stories continue to circulate about grueling schedules leading up to the release of major titles. 4 These sweatshop conditions are a telling counterpoint to the common assumption among policy makers that the creative (or knowledge) industries offer the most promising prospects for job growth. 5 Although the number of game-related jobs is indeed growing, it is remarkable that tech-savvy programmers and talented visual artists-seemingly elite members The Crunch Heard 'Round the World 197 of the global labor force-should find themselves in such circumstances. Having developed a rich and distinctive skill set, many of them soldier on despite adverse conditions, while others get burned out and leave the industry. Still others form their own small companies, hoping to realize the beguiling potential of online distribution. Some indies dream of producing a breakout hit while others target market niches the majors overlook. Yet independence carries its own price, with many start-ups failing and even successful companies finding that indie production can be exceptionally stressful and demanding. Consequently, the most plentiful and well-paying jobs in the video game industry continue to be those provided by major video game publishers either directly or indirectly.This chapter focuses on the challenges confronting game developers who work for the majors. The very biggest companies develop, produce, and own the rights to their most popular titles, often contracting services from a network of suppliers. EA, for example, has studios and subsidiaries in more than a dozen countries and a network of suppliers that spans the globe. Overall, the industry and the workforce are huge. By 2017 video games are expected to generate over $100 billion in annual revenue, thanks largely to substantial growth in the mobile space and in emerging markets like East Asia. 6 Overall, the video game industry, along with other forms of software development, is one of the biggest drivers of economic growth worldwide , adding jobs in such cities as Warsaw, Bangalore, and Shanghai. In fact, many of the pressures that led to unrest among EA employees in the United States have been mitigated by the dispersion of tasks to a burgeoning transnational workforce, creating an elaborate global assembly line. Yet despite this calculated globalization of production,7 relatively little has been written about the impact it has on actual video game artists and programmers. 8 This seems especially odd when one considers that far more scholarly attention has been paid to the supposedly 'invisible' free labor gaming enthusiasts contribute .9 Moreover, what little has been written about studio working conditions focuses almost exclusively on North America. Few have broadened their critique to examine the changing contours and increasing dispersion of big-budget game development, and the emergence of development clusters in such places as Eastern Europe, India, and China. 10 In this chapter, we connect the quotidian working conditions of game developers to the global structure of an industry oligopoly dominated by a handful of publishers. Researchers have enumerated three historical stages to the globalization of labor, beginning with manufacturing (product assembly), service (back office operations), and most recently creative (media and design) labor. 11 Each of these stages has entailed a move from integrated mass production to ':flexible' modes of operation…
Media Industries Journal, 2020
International Journal of Cultural Policy, 2016
Confronted by media globalization, many governments have expressed concern about the productive c... more Confronted by media globalization, many governments have expressed concern about the productive capacity of domestic screen media institutions that are aiming to sustain the allegiances of resident populations. Policymakers are furthermore aware that creative labor is now widely perceived as a resource worth cultivating for its perceived benefits as a catalyst to economic innovation and productivity. In fear of being left behind, countries with even modest resources have fashioned a range of subsidies, tax breaks, and other enticements that have facilitated the emergence of a global production infrastructure that favors producers and media conglomerates at the expense of screen media workers. This mounting crisis of creative labor calls for a critical reassessment of the fundamental rationales behind these film policies and encourages speculation about new directions for cultural activism. Drawing inspiration from environmental studies, this essay advances the concept of stewardship as a geographically scalable approach to the challenges of media globalization.
Film Amp History an Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies, 2000
Wasko/The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications, 2011
... media conglomerates and while traveling the globe, one commonly encounters their voluminous c... more ... media conglomerates and while traveling the globe, one commonly encounters their voluminous cul-tural output, from Batman to Mickey Mouse, from ... Asian media companies that used to operate national or local television stations in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei now run ...
Television & New Media, 2014
Digital visual effects (VFX) now comprise one-third of total production spending on major feature... more Digital visual effects (VFX) now comprise one-third of total production spending on major feature film releases. They also are a significant and growing component of production budgets for television programming and commercials. Yet, despite the rising status of VFX, this sector of the media business has been in turmoil for over a decade, a situation made palpable by recurring waves of bankruptcies and layoffs, most notably including Rhythm & Hues, the company that scored the 2013 Oscar for VFX in Life of Pi. This essay analyzes the increasingly globalized mode of production in the VFX industry. We critically examine the specific practices and protocols of the VFX business, demonstrating their impact on workers and labor-organizing efforts. Tying together insights from political economy, creative economy, and production studies, the essay offers a middle-range analysis that connects specific local labor conditions to broader trends in the media industries.
Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 1997
... They seized the chance Page 8. 296 Christopher Anderson and Michael Curtin to transcend prior... more ... They seized the chance Page 8. 296 Christopher Anderson and Michael Curtin to transcend prior constraints of space and time, all the while characterizing ... originate from the source which is most efficient and expeditious... As a television viewer, I rarely ...
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 1998
Like their overseas counterparts, most Hong Kongers experienced the transfer of sovereignty last ... more Like their overseas counterparts, most Hong Kongers experienced the transfer of sovereignty last summer almost exclusively as a media event [1]. Other than 61ite members of government, business and'society', most citizens of the territory did not participate' ...
Global Media and Communication, 2010
The term ‘Chindia’ is relatively incoherent, since these two countries share few characteristics ... more The term ‘Chindia’ is relatively incoherent, since these two countries share few characteristics other than their sheer size and their consequent significance to the global community. They will indeed be major economic, social, and cultural forces in the 21st century, and their impact on global media is likely to be profound. Yet colliding the two names together does not make them complementary companions. It does, however, invite critical comparisons, some of which can be quite revealing. Most interesting are their diverging patterns of institutional organization and regulation. Indian film and television operates at arm’s length from the state in a relatively open market economy. Chinese media on the other hand is held close by a state apparatus that fears criticism, democracy, and populism, as well as a host of ‘cultural contaminants’ that include on-screen depictions of horror, violence, and sexuality. Equally intriguing is the fact that these structural differences have manifested themselves in the diverging fortunes of the two industries with respect to globalization. Indian screen media are successfully expanding their range throughout South Asia and increasingly in Africa, the Mideast, Europe, and North America. Chinese film and television on the other hand seems to be mired in a state of disarray. Occasional blockbusters circulate beyond East Asia, but the film industry is now renowned for a yawning gap between state-sanctioned extravaganzas and sadly undernourished midrange and independent movies. Television likewise suffers from various institutional constraints, so that mainland China, which is by far the world’s largest national television market, remains a net importer of programming. Such diverging fortunes are also manifested in the geography of these respective media industries. Fifteen years ago, Bombay – the enduring center of the Indian movie business – was rapidly becoming an important node of the India’s nascent commercial TV industry, an emerging ARTICLE
Making and selling culture, Jan 1, 1996
University of California Press, 2017
Precarious Creativity examines the seismic changes confronting media workers in an age of globali... more Precarious Creativity examines the seismic changes confronting media workers in an age of globalization and corporate conglomeration. This pathbreaking anthology peeks behind the hype and supposed glamor of screen media industries to reveal the intensifying pressures and challenges confronting actors, editors, electricians, and others. The authors take on pressing conceptual and methodological issues while also providing insightful case studies of workplace dynamics regarding creativity, collaboration, exploitation, and cultural difference. Furthermore, it examines working conditions and organizing efforts on all six continents, offering broad-ranging and comprehensive analysis of contemporary screen media labor in such places as Lagos, Prague, Hollywood, and Hyderabad. The collection also examines labor conditions across a range of job categories that includes, for example, visual effects, production services, and adult entertainment. With contributions from such leading scholars as John Caldwell, Vicki Mayer, Herman Gray, and Tejaswini Ganti, Precarious Creativity offers timely critiques of media globalization while also intervening in broader debates about labor, creativity, and precarity.
Introduction to Distribution Revolution
by Chris Lukinbeal, Laura Sharp, John Finn, lynn spigel, Stuart Aitken, Michael Curtin, Leon Gurevitch, Leo E Zonn, Ken Hillis, Keith Woodward, and Christina Beal Kennedy
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-017-9969-0 This is the first comprehensive volume ... more https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-017-9969-0
This is the first comprehensive volume to explore and engage with current trends in Geographies of Media research. It reviews how conceptualizations of mediated geographies have evolved. Followed by an examination of diverse media contexts and locales, the book illustrates key issues through the integration of theoretical and empirical case studies, and reflects on the future challenges and opportunities faced by scholars in this field. The contributions by an international team of experts in the field, address theoretical perspectives on mediated geographies, methodological challenges and opportunities posed by geographies of media, the role and significance of different media forms and organizations in relation to socio-spatial relations, the dynamism of media in local-global relations, and in-depth case studies of mediated locales. Given the theoretical and methodological diversity of this book, it will provide an important reference for geographers and other interdisciplinary scholars working in cultural and media studies, researchers in environmental studies, sociology, visual anthropology, new technologies, and political science, who seek to understand and explore the interconnections of media, space and place through the examples of specific practices and settings.
Mediated Geographies and Geographies of Media
During the early 1960s, the "golden age" of network documentary, commercial television engaged in... more During the early 1960s, the "golden age" of network documentary, commercial television engaged in one of the most ambitious public education efforts in U.S. history as all three networks dramatically expanded their documentary programming. Promoted by government leaders, funded by broadcasters, and hailed by critics, these documentaries sought to mobilize public opinion behind a more activist policy of U.S. leadership around the globe. The programs also were part of an explicit effort to make the "vast wasteland" of prime-time television live up to its vaunted potential to educate, inform, and enlighten. After more than a decade as the nations' ship window, television in the early 1960s promised to become the viewer's window on to the Free World, a world that President John F. Kennedy described as being full of promise and peril.
By tracing the multiple and shifting relations between the government, the TV industry, and viewers, Michael Curtin explains how the most commercially unprofitable genre in television history became the most celebrated and controversial form of programming during the New Frontier era. This book is an important contribution to our understanding of how television mediates powerful social forces and will be indispensable to anyone interested in media studies and the history of the Cold War period.
