Cultural Policy of the UK Film Industry - Essay Example

‘Roots’ was a national television event of enormous educational value that necessarily showed the brutality of the institution of slavery. The made-for-television movie ‘The Burning Bed’ was credited with bringing about reform of existing spousal-abuse laws and included what some would call disturbingly violent scenes” (“ACLU Comments”, 2004). Hollywood success in America has demonstrated the great extent to which the film industry can function to increase the economy, define national opinions and sentiment and preserve cultural heritage while encouraging individual creativity.

Although Britain saw a short pioneering period in the industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it has since fallen into some disrespect, proving unable to support its superior talent, frequently losing them to Hollywood or other markets and losing out on these positive benefits, although it has been working hard to foster increased interest and participation. In an effort to increase the appeal of the British film industry, a number of policies and programs have been put in place over the years designed to encourage participation and support of the industry.

However, there are areas in which film can cause significant damage to a society, in the introduction to too much violence, for instance, or in misleading political propaganda. This trivializing of important issues is most traceable in television as news programs filter out what they feel to be important – the breaking news story – against what they feel is old hat – long-term political issues such as social welfare, etc. “Television predominantly is a source of entertainment.

If it also is the source of people’s news and involvement in public issues, there is a high risk that they will interpret that information within a framework provided by entertainment. If politics is like sport, for instance, it is fitting that most of the coverage deals with who is winning and who is losing, rather than the substance of the issues. This phenomenon, long noted with respect to political campaigns, now has affected policy decision-making as well” (Zarefsky, 1998).