DBA123, Jenkins

As I was reading Jenkins essay Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars?: Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture, I found it relating to many theorists we have already discussed in class, as well, to other CMC classes I have taken so far at Rollins. He talks about the idea of horizontal integration, which is one company investing in various media outlets, in which they can distribute a product (a film, book, toy) over a vast array of markets. As we can see from the title, Jenkins obviously used Star Wars as his main example. He discussed George Lucas’ decision of holding off on his salary for the first film and keeping a portion of the additional profits “as a turning point in the emergence of this new strategy of media production and distribution,” (554 Jenkins). This concept made me think of how the objective of filmmakers and the movie industry as a whole has changed drastically since the days when film was first introduced. In modern society, it seems, the goal is to create something that is profitable in all forms of media, as opposed to once when it was to create something in just one form of media, but to make it great. “A successful product will flow across media until it becomes pervasive within the culture at large- comics into computer games, television shows into films, and so forth,” (553 Jenkins). I’m sure when Lucas signed this contract he had no idea how big Star Wars would become, and what an impact it would cause on our society, but he must have had something in mind to know that he wanted to receive profits from the other outlets of media Star Wars would be produced in. The concept of horizontal integration, I believe changes the integrity of a product. It no longer was created for us to purely enjoy, but for us to become so consumed with. Jenkins says on page 553 that for a product to be successful “media audiences must not simply buy an isolated product or experience but rather must buy into a prolonged relationship with a particular narrative.” I think this demonstrates the true goals of the movie industry, which is far from what it used to be.