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Controversy in the Film Industry

Sydney Bridges

Emmanuel College

CM230-51: Media and Society

Jennifer Benson

November 19, 2020

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Controversy in the Film Industry

It is understood that with every form of mass media there is major controversy in some

form or fashion. Television, for example, has news stations that report events or topics that are

related to that company’s political standpoint. CNN and Fox News have been competing media

stations for the past decade, both of which report from an entirely different point of view based

off of politics and company values. To shed light on the idea of controversial topics in mass

media, I will identify four major problems in the film industry, explain the events surrounding

each controversy, and share how I would attempt to solve the issue. The following are the four

major controversies that I will be explaining: film is becoming less valuable as a product, film is

experiencing franchise fatigue, film is losing profit due to piracy, and film is receiving negative

feedback for using extremely suggestive content in movies.

Devaluation of Film as a Product

Because of popular streaming networks and devices, the value of film as a product has

decreased. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ are just a few streaming services that

offer a wide selection of shows and movies to customers who pay an affordable price monthly or

yearly. When a movie is released, it is easy for the film industry to share the movie via VOD

(video on demand) because of new technologies. However, “people are paying less per stream

than they would a physical product,” therefore the value of DVDs and Bluray has gone down

tremendously (Alexander, 2014). How does this affect the film industry? The film financier will

be hit the hardest considering the drastic change in price per film created. When a DVD is first

released, it costs $22.99. Disney+ starts at $6.99 per month. The better option is to pay monthly

to watch hundreds of movies for $70.00 per year, rather than $23.00 for a hard copy of one

movie that will only be watched two to three times. With this drastic price difference, the film
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financier will have to budget where the money is distributed. This unfortunately affects set

designers, producers, directors, actors, distributors, and so many others involved in filmmaking.

Getting rid of DVD and Bluray all together would be a major problem for the film industry

because there are still families that are old-fashioned and do not rely on streaming services as

their primary source of entertainment. However, doing so is up for debate because we are

transitioning to a more technologically advanced world each day to where everything will

eventually be streamed via the internet.

Film Franchise Fatigue

The standards for films are increasing as the quality has improved tremendously in the

past decade. From sound effects to visuals, movies have become incredibly realistic. Viewers

now have high expectations for any movie that is released because of the standard that big-

named movies such as The Avengers: Endgame has set. “Audiences are tired of bland, paint-by-

numbers films, and now they have the resources to figure out which films fall under that

category” (Lenz, 2019). Should the film industry come together and reconsider the direction they

want entertainment to go? I think yes. So many different companies and producers are competing

with each other trying to outdo each other. They should come together collectively to figure out a

way to keep society entertained. It is to the point where storylines are predictable, and viewers

are getting bored with the same plot for almost every movie. Some would argue that it is not a

problem until the audience’s expectations become low (Alexander, 2014). If this happens, the

box office receipts will be undermined across the entire film industry. The bottom line is the film

industry is running out of ideas, and there is not much they can do about it. What, then, can they

do to keep society entertained and happy?

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Lost Profit Due to Piracy

“According to a 2006 study sponsored by the MPAA, Internet piracy and other methods

of illegal copying cost major Hollywood studios $6.1 billion in the previous year” (University of

Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2010, sec. 8.4). In the past, pirates would sit in movie theaters

and film movies illegally, and then sell copies of them. Today, it is much easier to find a clear,

bootleg version of a film on illegal websites. A fairly new way of viewing movies illegally is

through the use of the Amazon firestick. This device connects to certain smart televisions, and it

filters out websites that may otherwise place a virus on a laptop of television. These devices are

often used by college students who wish to watch the latest movies without having to go to the

movie theaters. An Amazon firestick costs $39 which is much cheaper than paying monthly for

Netlfix or some other streaming service (Aamoth, 2014). There are ways to block servers and

websites from streaming movies illegally, but they would have to restrict parts of the web that

would limit our freedoms on the internet entirely (Alexander, 2014). This is where the

controversy comes into play. What is more important: keeping society happy with internet

freedoms or stopping the illegal publishing of films?

Suggestive Content Causes Riff in the Film Industry

It is obvious that media in general is becoming a lot more accepting towards secular-

themed music, television shows, and movies. Movies in particular have become a lot more

accepting towards sexual content and nudity. “The increase of profanity, sex, and violence in

movies has provoked the public to conclude that maybe it’s just too much. Filmmakers argue that

it’s merely representative of society” (Haygood, 2007, p. 2). Along with the contents being

uncomfortable for some viewers, “according to the significant and negative estimated

coefficients, it seems clear that intensive recourse to profanity or sex and nudity implies smaller
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box-office revenues” (Garcia-del-Barrio, 2017). Filmmakers are seeing a rise in this type of

content in music and on social media, therefore they feel the need to connect with their viewers

by putting that stuff in their films. What if doing so takes away from how many viewers they

have for that film? Perhaps, having less of that content will attract more viewers which will

ultimately result in a profit increase.

How I Would Attempt to Fix These Controversies

Film as a product is diminishing because of the transition to complete internet use. There

is no way to solve this controversy because there will always be a certain group of people who

are in favor of sticking with the old-fashioned way of watching a movie via VHS or DVD.

However, with today’s technological advances it is nearly impossible to avoid this transition to

only streaming networks. The film industry will probably not lose money because of this, simply

because streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ will eventually increase their prices just

as they have already planned to do so in 2021 (Spangler, 2020). The idea of franchise fatigue is

another controversial topic in the film industry that will eventually not be a debate anymore. At

some point, the film industry will run out of ideas and viewers will lose interest and will have

low expectations for movies. In my opinion, the best way to continue showing movies is for

different companies to come together. They all have their own separate way of creating films

with certain actors and actresses, but if they put their creative minds together, then a whole new

realm of movies could potentially be formed. Using ISPs to restrict websites may be the best

option to prevent piracy. This has been an ongoing issue for several years now, and it will

continue being an issue because there is no simple fix. ISPs would limit our internet freedoms

tremendously which will make millions of people upset, but the lost money from piracy has to be

taken into consideration. The $6.1 billion that I previously mentioned was lost by piracy in the
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year 2006 alone. Today, it is probably an even greater amount because of all the new

technological advances. The best option to solve this problem would be to make it illegal to sell

or purchase the devices that allow people to watch movies illegally. While it may not prevent

people from taking the films and putting them online, it will prevent most viewers from watching

it on illegal websites. Lastly, the suggestive content in movies is something that will never

change even though I think it should. Our world is extremely secular, and most music, films, and

television shows will continue to be that way because that is what the world wants.

Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to change that, but if I were in charge of this

industry, I would enforce all shows to use little to no profanity and the sex scenes would

definitely not be as intense. Filmmakers say that they are making the movies more relatable and

appealing to the audience, but I have only ever experienced watching scenes like that make

people uncomfortable. Whether I watch those types of films with friends, family, or in a class, it

never fails to be a very awkward setting for everyone watching. Movies are supposed to be made

to watch with other people, so I do not understand how it can appeal to everyone as they say.

Conclusion

Not everyone will always be in agreement in every situation. That is why these are

controversial topics. Media is filled with all sorts of opinions and ideas that we can get wrapped

up in if we are not careful. We rely so heavily on media in general, whether it is music, television

shows, movies, or social media. We are constantly looking for the next trend or the next hot

topic, and we are forgetting to live in the moment. The media is having arguments over whether

or not DVDs should exist anymore. Why is that relevant? We as a nation are so caught up in the

small things that should not matter because media has portrayed these topics as a huge deal. For

some, it is a huge deal because they put their entire life into creating movies or becoming a film
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financier. Considering everything, we should not waste our time trying to argue with people

about who is write and who is wrong. The media has done an excellent job at telling us to stand

up for ourselves and what we believe in, but that has only allowed us to be closed off to others’

ideas and opinions. It is always important to be respectful and open to change, especially in times

of controversy.
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References

Aamoth, D. (2014). Amazon Fire TV Stick vs Google Chromecast vs Roku Streaming

Stick. Time.Com, N.PAG.

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=d4d3af6f-136a-47f9-95c4-

5ce717674cd7%40pdc-v-sessmgr05&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2

NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=99184157&db=ulh

Alexander, Iaian (2014, November 19). 8 Gigantic Problems in the Film Industry That Have to

be Fixed. Film Industry Network.

https://filmindustry.network/8-gigantic-problems-film-industry-fixed/26044

Garcia-del-Barrio, P., & Zarco, H. (2017). Do Movie Contents Influence Box Office

Revenues? Applied Economics, 49(17), 1679.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2016.1223828

Haygood, Ashley (2007, May). The Climb of Controversial Film Content.

https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?&httpsredir=1&article=1007&co

ntext=masters&sei-re

Lenz, Sam (2019, June 18). Franchise Fatigue or Bland Blockbuster? Medium.

https://medium.com/@thesamlenz/franchise-fatigue-or-bland-blockbusters-385e9ee58d4a

Spangler, Todd (2020, October 30). Netflix U.S. Price Hikes Could Boost 2021 Revenue by

$500M Even with Subscriber Cancellations, Analysts Say. Variety.

https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/netflix-us-price-hikes-cancel-2021-revenue-

increase-1234819628/

University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing (2010). Understanding Media and Culture: An

Introduction to Mass Communication.

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https://open.lib.umn.edu/mediaandculture/chapter/8-4-issues-and-trends-in-film/