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and Gricis Université du Québec à Montréal, within the ACI programme
« Les mutations des industries de la culture, de l’information et de la communication : bilan, cartographie, observation ».
| Workshop 2.1 - Workshop 2.2 - Workshop 2.3 - Workshop 2.4 - Workshop 2.5 | |
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Workshop 2.1 Public Policies, industrial lobbying and the internationalization of the CMI |
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Chairman : - Tristan Mattelart, University Paris 2, MSH Paris Nord, France Speakers : Alexandre Bohas, Université Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne, France «The MPA : The Global Diplomacy of Hollywood» Frédéric Depétris, CNRS, IEP de Paris, France Iona Popa, CNRS - Institut des Sciences Sociales du Politique, France |
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«The MPA : The Global Diplomacy of Hollywood» Alexandre Bohas Organisation gathering the seven major studios – that are
Buena Vista, Sony Pictures, Paramount, Warner Bros., Metro Goldwyn
Mayer, Universal Studios et 20th Century Fox– the Motion Picture
Association coordinates their global policies. It strives to preserve
and extend the world-cinema where American films dominate. Settled
in more than 124 countries, it structures, indeed markets in order
to lastingly assure a global predominance. To do so, it benefits
capacities of action which confer it the power of the studios. Impacting
as much socio-economic spheres as governments, its means consist
of diverse measures from promotion campaign to coercion, including
pressures exerted jointly with the U.S. Congress. It is also crucial to back track the socio-genesis of the MPA which practices changed with the growth of foreign direct investments and the evolution of international system. While its activity depended in the past on the interstate game, its initiatives rely on the goodwill of U.S. diplomacy no longer. If the latter remains a partner concerned with the thriving of its cinema, the MPA deals now directly with national authorities and opposes sometimes the approach adopted by U.S. trade representatives. In other words, it acquired autonomy towards Washington. This research will give rise to interviews which we want to conduct with leaders of this association in Los Angeles and its representation in Brussels. Besides, this spokesman of Hollywood companies is often consulted by national government during hearings which are published. Moreover, it will be observed through the media. As a lobby group, it manifests in the specialised press such as Variety. Finally, its operations conducted around the world are usually reported in local newspapers.
« The contemporary evolution of film policies in France: between neo-corporatism and globalization » Frédéric Depétris This paper deals with the study of dynamics in French cinema policies, in which the intimate neo-corporatist relationship between the professionals of the film industry and the state plays a major role. The study reveals the links existing between aesthetic, social and political transformations of the cinematographic environment, as well as the change of the state action’s referential. Furthermore, the paper puts in perspective the contemporary evolution of cinema policies in France, characterized by deep changes associated with the growing influence of television and new industries of communication, but also resulting from europeanization of national policies, as well as from the globalization of trade and culture. Indeed, few industries occupy as central a position within the debate surrounding the regulation of globalisation and international trade as the film and television industries. Film and television production and distribution have proven time and again to be sensitive matter. Such sensitivities partly reflect the high economic value of the trade in audiovisual goods and services. However, film and television sit alongside a range of broader concerns about national culture, language, the internal dialogue within countries and the self-perception of national populations. Although the US entertainment industry has consistently rejected attempts to pose the debate over the regulation of audiovisual trade in such terms, for the majority of the US’ trading partners, and especially the European countries, the defence of national audiovisual production is an expression of national sovereignty and cultural autonomy. In spite of the European Commission’s commitment to create
a huge market of images in Europe, political processes and mobilisations
ended in some alternative measures such as those known as “cultural
exception” or “cultural diversity” policies.
This cultural exception refers to the European Union (EU).
Europe matters, but how? Are the mechanisms of change within the
EU exclusively market-oriented? Or do different domestic political
structures ‘refract’ Europeanization in different directions?
In fact, the type of discourses used to justify economic and institutional
adaptations is crucial in terms of legitimacy. France, for example,
has not been able to create a discourse justifying the process of
economic liberalization triggered by EU decisions. The adaptation
to European policy has been justified in terms of protection from
globalization and Americanization, but this makes many liberalizing
choices (obviously in the area of public utilities and culture) difficult
to accept. Thus, the paper underlines the film policies changes in
France in the broader context of Europeanization. « Royalties, music usages and creative freedom: from local debates to international stakes » Veva Leye
« Transformations in international books distribution. Iona Popa |
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