Michael Perelman wrote:
>If the production of knowledge is left to the profit maximizing
>corporations, then
>they probably need something like a patent in order to induce them to do
>anything.
Perhaps this may be, besides being a political dialectic between
competition & monopoly, an example of contradiction between the impulse to
privatize anything & everything and the need to sustain the conditions for
systemic reproduction of capitalism. On one hand, a capitalist dream may
be to wholly privatize the products of intellectual labor through patent;
on the other hand, wholly patented knowledge production is not just
inefficient but impossible. Capitalists benefit from the existence of
spheres of non-capitalist production of knowledge (e.g. research at
universities, working-class cultural innovations like music, indigenous
peoples' knowledge of medicinal plants, working-class learning by doing on
the job, etc.); if most products of knowledge production got privatized,
there would be less commonly available means for further innovations.
>However, knowledge and information are inappropriate candidates for
>commodity status because of the difficulty of enforcing profit rights. As
>Kenneth
>Arrow, among others, has shown, the idea of markets implies some
>rationality, but
>rationality implies that consumers are informed. But to be informed about
>information is equivalent to owning that information.
Though the Hong Kong movie industry folks had been anxious about the return
of Hong Kong to China, apparently the HK movie industry has lately fallen
into dire straits not because of nominal communism of China but because of
enterprising pirate video makers. Meanwhile, Hollywood has increased its
HK market share, taking advantage of the decline of the HK production.
Decentralization at the same time as centralization. The same might go for
other genres of information.
***** The Toronto Star
May 16, 1999, Sunday, Edition 1
SECTION: ENTERTAINMENT
HEADLINE: PIRATES CHOP HONG KONG FILM INDUSTRY
Bootleg video compact discs are even threatening the success of power
players like Jackie Chan
HONG KONG
Jackie Chan, who defeats the mob in all his movies, is being trounced by
the triads of Hong Kong.
Here in the heart of unregulated capitalism, video piracy has reached
epidemic proportions. Now, everyone in the local film industry - even power
players like Chan - are losing money.
Chan recently announced that his film Rush Hour lost at least $5 million
worldwide last year because of declining attendance at cinemas and reduced
home video sales.
The irony is that the demise of Hong Kong cinema comes just as stars like
Jackie Chan and Jet Li are being embraced by Hollywood.
Determined to fight back, Chan recently took to the streets of Hong Kong
with more than 1,000 other actors and directors to protest the rise of
bootleg video compact discs (VCDs).
Clad in black leather and sporting dark shades, Chan signed autographs for
fans who came to gawk at their favourite action star.
His loyal fans, however, have increasingly become disloyal buyers.
In the crowded streets of Kowloon, across the harbour from the island of
Hong Kong, stalls and tiny shops are filled with pirated VCDs. The grainy
cover sleeves and amateur artwork are dead giveaways.
Most films - like Chan's recent Gorgeous - are on the streets even before
they debut at the movie theatres.
''Why pay $12 to line up and see a new movie when you can pay $4 and watch
it at home?'' says a teenage shopper browsing along the crowded stands of
Tung Choi St.
Why indeed? Especially since the quality of counterfeit discs continues to
improve.
Pirated VCDs have been affectionately dubbed ''People's Heads Pictures'' -
a reference to the heads of members of the audience that turn up in pirated
videos shot directly off cinema screens. The bobbing heads appear less and
less on new bootleg copies. Industry insiders say organized crime
syndicates are now getting prints directly from labs and are striking
cleaner discs.
Although this spells good news for consumers, pirate operations are
changing the face of the Hong Kong film industry.
''Piracy is not only hurting the film industry, it is destroying it,'' says
Woody Tsung, chief executive of the Motion Pictures Industries Association
in Hong Kong. The proof is in declining box-office revenues, says Tsung.
Hong Kong's overall theatrical receipts dropped from $168 million at its
peak in 1993, when it was the third largest film production capital in the
world, to $54 million in 1998. The motion picture industry contends that 95
per cent of that drop is from piracy.
The big winner has been Hollywood. Until five years ago, American films had
just 30 per cent of the theatrical market. Today, they enjoy almost 50 per
cent.
''It's become a vicious cycle,'' says Rita Lau, deputy secretary of
Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau.
''The incentive to put money into film production has dampened. It will be
the death of the industry if things are allowed to continue.''
>From a high of 300 films shot in 1993, the production figures slid to less
than 90 last year. And since local exhibitors are the major investors in
Hong Kong cinema, production budgets have shrunk. In 1993, a big budget
picture was $10 million per flick; now top-flight directors like Ringo
Lam are lucky to get $5 million budgets.
There is less money for the ingredients that made Hong Kong cinema famous.
Stunt choreographers who once spent days scripting elaborate martial arts
scenes, now design fights that end with a few quick punches.
Producer Thomas Chung of Media Asia wants the police to arrest retail
operators and consumers who buy pirated videos. ''The consumer has to learn
the hard way,'' he says.
Exhibitors also want police to charge people who bring video cameras into
theatres.
But the issue of consumer liability is a volatile one. ''The public is
vehemently opposed to it,'' says Siu Hing Cheung, deputy secretary for
trade and industry.
In the past, theatre owners have nabbed people taping films off their
screens, but the culprits were released. Even now, the law carries a
loophole that requires strong proof a person is taping with the purpose of
reselling the video before charges can be laid.
Since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the government overhauled
its copyright law and is trying to implement tougher rules such as
licensing optical disc manufacturing equipment. It conducts weekly raids on
suspected manufacturers of pirate videos.
The government is also considering a law that would freeze the sale of all
new VCDs until the films receive a one-month run in the theatres.
To fight back, producers have been lowering prices, but the quality of
legitimate videos and video discs are suffering. That rules out spot checks
by police, says Cheung. ''It's too difficult to tell on the spot if
something is pirated or legal. We've seen authorized versions that look
pirated.''
Still, Thomas Chung believes Asian audiences are buying inexpensive VCDs
and boycotting theatres because they are weary of the action genre. For
decades, Hong Kong films have relied on martial arts, fighting and
inventive stunts instead of the computerized special effects of American
movies.
The trick, Chung believes, is to add some Hollywood glitz. If there's no
value added, kids will opt for cheap grainy pirated discs.
''We were ignorant and arrogant about what technology has done to push the
envelope,'' he says. ''We've been completely in a coma when (digital
effects) happened.''
Chung's latest movie, Gen-X Cops, scheduled to be released this summer,
promises to be a little more Hollywood and a little less Hong Kong. The
usual stunt people are taking a back seat to a California company that
specializes in digital effects.
Veteran stunt choreographer Nikki Lee, who worked on Gen-X Cops, is aware
the artistry is being watered down. As piracy and poor economics continue
to erode profit margins, there is less money to prep young stars for a
tough action shot.
''In the last movie, they gave me only three hours to choreograph a fight
scene,'' says Lee. ''There was little time to do something good.'' *****
Yoshie
