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Posts Tagged ‘Economics’

An American Moviegoing Tradition

Posted in Chapter 5, Social Studies, tagged , , , on June 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »

DSC_0094A while back, there was a mediateacher.net post about a tradition of American moviegoing that combines many of the cultural values of the United States: cars and mobility, family entertainment, take-out food, and entrepreneurship: the Drive-In.  Despite what many predictions forecast, there are still independently run theaters all across the country, at least those that have been able to navigate the conversion to digital projection.  Depicted through these images is a visit to one for a recent family outing to see Zootopia and Finding Dory.  The story of the Northfield Drive-In (which straddles Massachusetts and New Hampshire) is a very interesting tale of media economics, technology, and moviegoing.  Right here and now, the story of a Friday night at the drive-in will be told in pictures.

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This is a PACKED house. Back rows here at #9.

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A uniquely American tradition.

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New Business and Business as Usual

Posted in Media Literacy, tagged , , , , , , on December 7, 2012| 3 Comments »

Hollywood EconomicsGetting down about financial prospects these days?  Times are tough all over, aren’t they?  Or at least for some.  Of course, if you believe Hollywood, they’re always struggling just to break even (yeah, sure).  Well, in the development of Media Literacy coursework, one of the richest veins of cross-collaborative planning is definitely with business courses, whether related to various fields of economics, finance, or career planning.

This recent article from the New York Times from a series on the use of tax breaks and financial incentives in the United States to spur business activity – titled “United States of Subsidies” – provides excellent examples for areas of inquiry in business and media literacy classrooms.  This particular story takes place in Pontiac, Michigan, where, as they way in the article, “happy endings do not usually come Hollywood-style.”

Real Art Ways, one of the primary independent venues for movies in Connecticut

Real Art Ways, one of the primary independent venues for movies in Connecticut

To provide another example, in Connecticut – the state in which I teach (and home of ESPN) – the business sectors of government have worked diligently to draw movie production to the state, as one can see in this site from the Department of Economic and Community Development and another page offering specific links for information and documents on tax breaks and incentives.  Wherever one is located, there are sure to be rich avenues of investigation for economics studies related to motion picture media.

Earlier, I put up a post on current prospects for movie production students, and things certainly have not changed much since then.  In addition, I also commented on topics for media and business classes related to independent cinemas (and also traditions of drive-in theaters).

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