The Business of Media ViolenceIn 2001, people around the world spent US $14 billion going

The Business of Media Violence

In 2001, people around the world spent US $14 billion going to the movies. The U.S. domestic box office alone hit US $9 billion—a 75 percent increase from 1991—and there are huge revenues from home video/DVD sales, rentals and spin-off merchandise. But even these profits are dwarfed by music, the largest global media sector. In 2000, sales reached US $37 billion, with music consumption high among young audiences everywhere. Video games are not far behind: global sales for 2002 were anticipated to be US $31 billion.

An Expanding Foreign Market

American media corporations earn fit least half of their profits from foreign sales. And global markets are growing fast as standards of living are rising around the world. Sales of TVs, stereos, VCRs and satellite dishes are increasing, and in the last decade or two, new and expanding markets have emerged in countries that have abandoned state control of media and distribution.

Today, U.S. films are shown in more than 150 countries world wide, and the U.S. film industry provides most of the pre-recorded videos and DVDs sold throughout the world. American television programs are broadcast in over 125 international markets, and MTV can be seen in more foreign households than American ones.

This international success has a tremendous impact nor just on the recipient countries, but also on the cultural environment of the U.S. To some extent, the tail is wagging the dog: more and more, the demands and tastes of foreign markets？ are influencing what popular products get made in the U.S.

Action Sells: Film and Television

Nowhere is this influence more evident than in the film industry. In the U.S. and Canada, movies rated "G"(General) and "PG"(Parental Guidance) consistently brings in more revenues than R-rated films. Yet the number of G and PG films has dropped in recent years, and the number of restricted films has risen. Two-thirds of Hollywood films in 2001 were rated "R".

Film producers are unequivocal about why this is so: the foreign market likes action films.

Action travels well. Action movies don't require complex plots or characters. They rely on fights, killings, special effects and explosions to hold their audiences. And, unlike comedy or drama—which depend on good stories, sharp humor, and credible characters, all of which are often culture-specific—action films require little in the way of good writing and acting. They're simple, and they're universally understood. To top it off, the largely non-verbal nature of the kind of films that journalist Sharon Waxman refers to as "short-on-dialogue, high-on-testosterone" makes their dubbing or translation relatively inexpensive.

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. The film Titanic made almost US $2 billion in worldwide sales as of 2001—making it the biggest-grossing movie of all time. The British film The Full Monty was an international hit; and My Big Fat Greek Wedding debunked all the profit formulas in 2002. But such offbeat successes are hard to predict. A flick such as Die Hard or Terminator is much more of a sure thing. Most film budgets today average US $75-100 million, so Hollywood studios don't like to take chances.

All this means enormous pressures on the American movie industry to abandon complexity in favor of action films. The effect is a kind of "dumbing-down" of the industry in general. Foreign investors are much less likely to invest in films focusing on serious social themes or women's issues, or ones that feature minority casts. Such films, however brilliant, are not where the big money is. Worldwide appeal determines casting and script. decisions and the overwhelming demand is for white actors and action.

Success breeds success, and the sheer ubiquity of these productions and all their spin-off products and businesses around t

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