2 thoughts on “whatever you say sir”
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I'm Jill Walker Rettberg, Co-Director of the Center for Digital Narrative at the University of Bergen, and Professor of Digital Culture. Blogging here since October 2000.
jim
The announcement of the free trade deal (FTD) coincided with the police raid and closure of the P2P Kazaa (Sharman Networks) offices in Sydney and the beginnings of civil action against the executive director Nikki Hemmings by Music Industry Piracy Investigations, owned by Universal, Festival Mushroom Records, EMI Music, Sony Music, Warner Music Australia and BMG Australia.
Apparently ‘share’ and ‘free’ have distinctly different meanings in the context of a trade deal.
The future looks grim for the Australian film and television industry. Although the amount of locally produced work looks like increasing it will be in the hands of American companies, making American films, using Australian locations and crews which are both cheaper than in the States As part of the FTD the minimum cap on local content required in television broadcasting was dropped and only the maximum remains.
In 1999 in central Sydney the local agricultural show grounds, which was in effect a public commons for over 100 years, was signed over to the Fox Network for a 99 year lease after special legislation was passed in the state parliament. I was here the Matrix was made and it looks like there will be a lot more American films being produced there in the future.
Norman
I wish I could be convinced, like jim, that what now passes for “Australian” culture is in any meaningful way, genuinely Australian. As for his reference to the Sydney Showground being [in any sense] a “public common”, it does elicit a wry smile.
I deeply miss [and will continue to miss] the days of the old Agricultural Showground. But they were a thing of the past long before it was sold off. And the majority, including even the older people, who knew it in its heyday, praise the new Showground, and laugh at my preferemce for the old one.
I have to admit, however reluctantly, that it made good sense to do what they did, and the new site not only made economic sense, but was more relevant to the times. I mightn’t be wildly enthusiastic about those times, but we can’t live in the past.