Assignment 2: Final Project Milestone 3: Access and Community

 How does the distribution mechanism control the issues addressed in the artifacts’
content?

Last week I mentioned that in Pocahontas’s case this popular animated movie was critised by
feminist group, since they manifested that the movie transmits wrong messages to teenagers in
matters of selfcare and stereotyped young girl’s body.

According to the article Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny: America’s Culture of Violence in
Context obtained from doc sharing, Rap music is a way for an artist to express their frustration
with issues such as: police brutality, poverty, drug abuse, and violence. So, many times record
labels analyse if the lyrics of the song it is not going to produce a problem with the government
or other organizations. Some songs are not available in some countries, since they are
considered as profane.

Over the years producers and distributers companies focus their attention on the currently
popular context of their main audience in order to not generate political arguments and even
legal problems.

 Determine who controls the distribution of your chosen popular culture elements.

The distribution of Pocahontas was control by it producer company Walt Disney Pictures and
its official distributors: Buena Vista Pictures, Disney Channel, Walt Disney Studios Home
Entertainment. The film was released in many cinemas and theatres around the world. After
that, the movie was available in DVD, cassette, and compact disc form. As I had mentioned, the
distribution of movies is in most of cases control by its producer’s companies. So, produces
companies control what films are selected for release while other are overlooked.

In the case of rap music, in the past, the songs are used to be distribute when distributers
reached an agreement with record labels. However, now, in the digital era, this type of
distribution is changing because singers who not are part of a record label can share their music
through different virtual platforms.

In both cases the level of access and distribution are conditionalized by people´s answers. If most
people really like the content, there is going to be more ways to access to these culture
elements.

 In what ways does the controller of distribution affect the shared experience of the
audience and community?

The controller of distribution can affect the shared experience of the audience and community
around the world because the language used changes in countries and even in cities, so
producers and distributers need to be able to translate the movie, series, etc. according to the
place’s language.

Sometimes some movies are not allowing in some countries because of their government laws.
Also, many movies are not release in all the countries even when there is not a prohibition.
Nevertheless, currently there are a lot of ways to have access to movies and songs even when it
is not distributed or release in your country. For example, Netflix have a lot of contents that
people can access by paying. Also, there are a big part of people who use free websites to watch
movies, series, tv programmes, etc.

To conclude, when there is not official distribution of some popular elements, people look
another way to have access to them but countries that are forbidden to access to that contents
because of government laws, are in most of the cases countries with other customs and beliefs.
The shared experience in these cases is limited and communities can not participate in the
changes or movements generated from these popular elements.

References:

Richardson. , & Scott, K. (2002). Rap Music and It’s Violent Progeny: America’s Culture of
Violence in Context. The Journal of Negro Education, 71(3), 175-192. Doi:10.2307/3211235

Scott, A. (2004). Hollywood and the world: the geography of motion-picture distribution and
marketing. Review of International Political Economy. Routledge. Retrieved from
http://www.citi.columbia.edu/B8210/read2/Scott.pdf

Cebas, B. (2011). Cinema in the Digital Age: New Financing and Distribution Models. Retrieved
from http://lachicasonora.com/beatrizcebas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/thesis-
beatriz-cebas.pdf

Gardner, B. (2013). Pocahontas reclaimed: the Powhatans' theatrical rebuttal to Disney ' s
revisionist myth. Rowan digital works. Retrieved from
https://rdw.rowan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2299&context=etd