Andrew deWaard, "Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture" (U California Press, 2024)
Oct 27, 2024
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Andrew deWaard, Assistant Professor of Media and Popular Culture at UC San Diego, delves into how Wall Street influences cultural production. He critiques the rise of derivative media, revealing how financial motivations damage creativity in film and music. DeWaard discusses the impact of hedge funds on media narratives and job security, using examples like '30 Rock' and the evolution of hip hop. He emphasizes the need for a critical understanding of media's financialization to protect original content in an increasingly corporate landscape.
Andrew deWaard argues that Wall Street's influence on popular culture leads to a prevalence of derivative narratives and undermines artistic integrity.
The interconnection between finance and media production results in brand-centric storytelling, overshadowing original narratives in contemporary films and television.
DeWaard emphasizes the necessity for media workers to understand financial structures to promote resistance against exploitative practices and advocate for creative freedom.
Deep dives
Andrew DeWard's Academic Journey
Andrew DeWard shares his academic background, which includes a PhD in cinema media studies from UCLA and experience in political economy and various media departments. His diverse educational path has shaped his understanding of the cultural industries, leading him to explore the intersection of finance and media. He emphasizes his personal passion for film and popular culture, which informs his critical perspective on the challenges posed by financialization in current media practices. DeWard's work aims to shed light on the darker aspects of how Wall Street influences cultural production.
The Role of Finance in Media
DeWard discusses the significant impact of finance on the cultural industries, highlighting how popular culture is affected by the practices of hedge funds and private equity firms. He notes that the intertwining of finance with media production has created a landscape where artistic integrity is often undermined by the demands of profitability. The shift from traditional storytelling to brand-centric narratives is evident in examples like 'Wreck-It Ralph,' which reflects the dominance of corporate interests in creative processes. As a result, the original storytelling is increasingly sidelined, and derivative narratives become more prevalent.
Research Methodology in Derivative Media
DeWard outlines his multifaceted methodology for examining the complexities of media financialization, which blends political economy, ethnographic research, and textual analysis. He emphasizes the importance of staying close to the texts while understanding the larger structural forces at play. By analyzing financial reports and industry trends, he builds a comprehensive picture of how finance shapes media production. Additionally, he employs digital humanities techniques to visualize trends and patterns, making the findings accessible and compelling for readers.
Intertextuality and Financialization
The concept of intertextuality is pivotal in understanding how contemporary media reflects and responds to financialization. DeWard highlights the emergence of 'brand-scape blockbusters,' where narratives become secondary to the world-building facilitated through licensing deals and franchise management. This trend illustrates how media texts intertwine with corporate interests, leading to a speculative approach to storytelling. By examining shows like '30 Rock,' he reveals how humor and references can create avenues for financial gain while navigating corporate structures, thus shaping the content and form of modern storytelling.
Implications for Future Media Scholarship
DeWard expresses the need for future scholarly work to investigate the effects of financialization on the cultural industries in depth, particularly in the context of labor relations and the power dynamics between workers and financial entities. He advocates for a greater understanding among media workers of the financial structures that impact their livelihoods, suggesting that knowledge is key to resistance against exploitative practices. By fostering an awareness of these underlying financial forces, there is potential for unionization and collective action within the industry. Ultimately, DeWard envisions a more publicly-oriented media system that prioritizes diverse voices and creativity over profit maximization.
Sequels, reboots, franchises, and songs that remake old songs—does it feel like everything new in popular culture is just derivative of something old? Contrary to popular belief, the reason is not audiences or marketing, but Wall Street. In this book, Andrew deWaard shows how the financial sector is dismantling the creative capacity of cultural industries by upwardly redistributing wealth, consolidating corporate media, harming creative labor, and restricting our collective media culture. Moreover, financialization is transforming the very character of our mediascapes for branded transactions. Our media are increasingly shaped by the profit-extraction techniques of hedge funds, asset managers, venture capitalists, private equity firms, and derivatives traders. Illustrated with examples drawn from popular culture, Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture(University of California Press, 2024) offers readers the critical financial literacy necessary to understand the destructive financialization of film, television, and popular music—and provides a plan to reverse this dire threat to culture.
A free digital version of this title is available here.
Andrew deWaard is Assistant Professor of Media and Popular Culture at the University of California, San Diego, and coauthor of The Cinema of Steven Soderbergh: Indie Sex, Corporate Lies, and Digital Videotape.
Peter C. Kunze is assistant professor of communication at Tulane University.
