August 02, 2006: The Internet Changes Everything?

This has become such a familiar cliche that it is worth stepping back and trying to address just what sorts of changes have taken place. This means that we have to step back from the blue-eyed idealism of a level playing field, whether for politics, business, or education, and try to take stock of some of the things that have actually been happening and whether it is too soon to figure out whether those events are based on some new system of rules or are just random. I first started thinking seriously about this as a result of reading Edward Jay Epstein's book, The Big Picture: The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood. This seemed like a good place to begin in an age in which (because of the Internet?) the "business of news" has progressed beyond the selling of advertising space in newspapers to the selling of entertainment products for television and other media. Once upon a time we might have associated journalism with New York and Washington and entertainment with Hollywood; but, now that those lines have blurred, it is time to take stock of the rules once again.

Epstein has written a very good book about the logic behind where the money comes from and where it goes in the entertainment industry. However, where the Internet enters his story is in his epilogue ("The Once and Future Hollywood"); and I am afraid that he may have lost his logical way here. The reason may be a narratological one: The "protagonist" of his book is not any one figure in the entertainment industray; nor is it really the aggregate of "movers and shakers," past and present. No, the protagonist of Epstein's narrative is essentially the organ of production for the entertainment industry, i.e. the studio. In that respect the book is sort of a Bildungsroman, because the book is essentially a commentary on the fall of the old studio system and the "apprenticeship" of the system that emerged in its place. Consequently, the epilogue leaves us with the comforting message (at least for most Hollywood professionals) that the studio will endure; all that is necessary is to deal with that pesky problem of "unauthorized viewing." Of course this problem is such a nuiscance because it is like cockroaches: You know when they are around, you try to do something about them, but, as soon as you turn off the lights, they come out again. At the risk of pushing this metaphor too far, there are too many places on the Internet where it is too easy to turn off the lights; and some folks (including many of those blue-eyed idealists) think this is a good thing.

This is why I think it is necessary to take a more systematic view of the changes the Internet has wrought (and continues to "wring"). If we do not get our heads around the concept of the Internet as a venue of ongoing change, we run the risk of making simplistic assumptions like "solving" the problem of unauthorized viewing. Ironically enough, in analyzing "the new logic" of Hollywood, Epstein has done a pretty good job of touching on "rules of the game" that also involve the Internet. I do not think it would be simplistic to say that Epstein's book is about three distinct logics: economic, social, and political. I would hypothesize that these are also the underlying logics of the Internet. However, they are not independent of each other; rather, they are tightly coupled. To some extent I have already been addressing all three of these logics in some of my posts, often with a nod to their role on the Internet; but this is an area in which far more discussion is necessary and by more than one voice. However, this takes me back to my original theme, because I believe that the voices best equipped to participate in this discussion will be the beneficiaries of a liberal education, rather than the adepts of the latest technological wonders!