Business Finance Homework Help

Complete the 5-step critical process for the following prompt. Select a prompt and then complete all of the steps listed.

Answer each step fully and completely and support with credible sources as needed. Include at least 3 properly cited quotes, anecdotal evidence, data/numbers and other examples to support your argument or point-of-view. Proper college-level writing is expected. Proof-read for proper mechanics and grammar.

This final assignment should be at least 1,000 words, though you should feel free to go longer if need be. Please do not exceed 1,200 words, however.

The Blockbuster Mentality

In Module 7, we noted Hollywood’s shift toward a blockbuster mentality after the success of films like Star Wars. How pervasive is this blockbuster mentality, which targets an audience of young adults, releases action-packed big-budget films featuring heavy merchandising tie-ins, and produces sequels?

Complete the tasks within each step and when you have finished all five, submit your complete 5-Step Process to your instructor in a single document.

Remember back to the 5-step critical process in Module 1 where you analyzed “low culture” and “high culture” or back to your midterm. You will use those same steps for this assignment to analyze and reflect on one of the media you have learned about. You can see the steps listed again here:

1. Description: Paying close attention, taking notes, and researching the subject under study.
2. Analysis: Discovering and focusing on significant patterns that emerge from the description stage.
3. Interpretation: Asking and answering: “What does that mean?” and “So what?” questions about one’s findings.
4. Evaluation: Arriving at a judgment about whether something is “good”, “bad”, “mediocre”, which involves subordinating one’s personal taste to the critical “bigger picture” resulting from the first three stages.
5. Engagement: Taking some kind of action that connects our critical perspective with our role as citizens and watchdogs to question our media institutions, adding our own voice to the process of shaping the cultural environment.

1. Description: Consider a list of the all-time highest-grossing movies in the United States, such as the one on Box Office Mojo (Links to an external site.).
2. Analysis: Note patterns in the list. For example, of the thirty top-grossing films, nearly all of them target young audiences. Nearly all of these top-grossing films feature animated or digitally composited characters or extensive special effects. Nearly all of the films also either spawned or are a part of a series. More than half of the films fit into the action movie genre. Nearly all of the Top 30 had intense merchandising campaigns that featured action figures, fast-food tie-ins, and an incredible variety of products for sale; that is hardly any were “surprise” hits.
3. Interpretation: What do the patterns mean? It’s clear, economically, why Hollywood like to have successful blockbuster movie franchises. But what kinds of films get left out of the mix? Hits which may have had big-budget releases but lack some of the other attributes of blockbusters, are clearly anomalies of the blockbuster mentality, although they illustrate that strong characters and compelling stories can carry a film to great commercial success.
4. Evaluation: It is likely that we will continue to see an increase in youth-oriented, animated/action movie franchises that are heavily merchandised and intended for wide international distribution. Indeed, Hollywood does not have a lot of motivation to put out the kinds of movies that don’t fit these categories. Is this a good thing? Can you think of a film that you thought was excellent and that would have probably been a bigger hit with better promotion and wider distribution?
5. Engagement: Watch independent and foreign films to see what you’re missing. Visit the Sundance Film Festival site and browse through the many films listed. Find these films on Netflix, Amazon, Google Play, or iTunes. Write your cable company and request to have the Sundance Channel on your cable lineup. Organize an independent film night on the college campus and bring these films to a crowd.