kMO Jenkins

The consolidation of holdings across different industries has taken over Hollywood in the past 10 years. This type of "mass media merging" is commonly known as horizontal integration and has almost completely replaced the old idea of vertical integration. One companies control over film, cable and network television; video, newspapers and magazines; book publishing and digital media is simply the only way to rival competitors and make top dollar. Jenkins calls this form of control the "entertainment super system." Before these major media mergers burst on the scene the general public was stuck simply watching a TV show. Nowadays "one may be able to move from watching a television drama to ordering the soundtrack, purchasing videos, or buying products that have been effectively 'placed' within the narrative universe."

It became nearly impossible to read this type of analysis and not relate the ideas back to Poster. Especially this quote..."The problem for capitalism is how to contain the word and the image, to bind them to proper names and logos when they flit about at the speed of light and procreate with indecent rapidity, not arboreally, to use the terms of Deleuze and Guattari, as in a centralized factory but rhyzomically, at any de-centered location." (538) At first glance this concept seems nearly impossible to comprehend but with an understanding of Jenkins' ideas, it becomes much more clear. Poster is actually referring to the idea that prior to the conversion of all media one was typically accustomed to watching a TV show and discussing it with others the next day. Nowadays one can blog online, form chartroom discussions and access many forms of communication before, after, and during their television shows.