Writers on Strike: A chapter in the story of art and capitalism in the digital age

This may be kind of incoherent, but I’m a little sick, and I refuse to fix it:

I should start by saying that this is not a blog entry I expected to end up writing. Much as I believe in labour solidarity, I, brainlessly, assumed there wouldn’t be much to say except, “support the Writers Guild of America as they picket the big studios!” (If you have no idea what I am talking about, try poking around at Deadline Hollywood Daily.) I will always believe that it is important to stand in solidarity with my unionized brethren, so support the WGA as they strike for a bigger cut of the profit from sale of DVD and digital copies of their work.

While I believe in union solidarity, it happens to be the case that I have mixed feelings about corporate profit in the entertainment industry, especially when it comes to digital downloads. I’m not sure I think there’s anything unethical, for example, about downloading TV shows, movies, and music from BitTorrent or direct download services like Rapidshare.com. I think that corporate profit at the expense of both consumers and artists is ridiculous. The writers get a craptastic cut (literally cents from a $20 DVD), and consumers have to pay $20/DVD (for a DVD that costs about $1 to make) just so the big corporation can have an enormous profit margin.

In the meantime, apparently people without disposable income are supposed to live like they are in a cultural cave or be dependent on what is, in most cases, outrageously boring and terrible Network TV & radio that is run by only a few companies, offering viewers few choices. Moreover, these viewers, at least the ones without so-called “legitimate” products like TiVO or other digital recording devices, are required to suffer through corporate America’s grotesque branding schemes, also known as 16-20 minutes of commercials per 1 hour show. (Or God forbid it is a corporate-sponsored season premier, and we have to watch the same single commercial over and over and over again during the show [ahem season 2 of Heroes]. Brilliant move from the point of view of psychology, terrifying from the point of view of someone who likes her mental independence.)

So, in the context of all of this, why do I care whether writers get a cut of DVD sales or “legitimate” digital downloads (like iTunes or Amazon Unbox)? Because, I’d be more likely to buy a DVD if it’s good work, and the people who actually did it would be making the profit. In a sense, I believe in fair trade. Because of this, I see what I am guessing is a missed opportunity here: one where consumers and artists take advantage of the moment and talk to each other about equitable exchange.

It won’t happen though. I think I can safely blame people on both sides who want to protect the possibility (real and remote, depending on the person) that they could be the one on top, raking in the big bucks. That is the beauty and the terror of the American Dream. Americans regularly allow themselves to be sold down the river. They don’t want to take away the rights of those doing the selling, lest they become one of the sellers themselves.

Maybe I’m wrong in my assessment of why Americans don’t stand up to corporate america and why artists and consumers won’t be mounting a challenge to business as usual anytime soon. But perhaps it doesn’t matter. It’s clear by the amount of “illegal” (in the US, not Canada) downloading going on that consumers are casting their votes with their keyboards, mice, and high-speed internet connections. Not all of it is about saving a buck either — some of it is genuinely about sending a message to the industry: we’re tired of feeling fucked by your rendition of “fair.” It’s obvious the entertainment industry hasn’t figured out how to side-step this phenomenon, at least not without repeatedly using the government as a tool to threaten their customers.

It’d be nice if the writers realized that perhaps this is the moment when they could help to lead the way. On the other hand, Marx wrote in Wages, Price, and Profit:

Trades Unions work well as centers of resistance against the encroachments of capital. They fail partially from an injudicious use of their power. The fail generally from limiting themselves to a guerilla war against the effects of the existing system, instead of simultaneously trying to change it, instead of using their organized forces as a lever for the final emancipation of the working class that is to say the ultimate abolition of the wages system.

I have always taken this to mean that in reality, much like FDR’s New Deal, unions are really a patch for the capitalist system as opposed to a real challenge to it. Joel Bakan (author of The Corporation [book and film], soon to be the topic of an entry) would likely say that unions form part of the public’s regulatory army, in an effort to protect the public sphere from corporate America’s shameless lack of consideration for human life and livelihood (“externalities”) when it isn’t profitable. So, in some sense, unions curb corporate power, not challenge it. In other words, what the WGA is doing isn’t terribly revolutionary.

Revolutionary or not, though, I believe that if the MPAA is going to get on a moral high horse about “illegal” downloading of movies, then their member organizations don’t have a pedestal made of shit to stand on when it comes to giving writers their fair share.

(more later on shameful minorities who aren’t respecting the picket line)