Blockbusters and Trade Wars: Popular Culture in a Globalized World

The unparalleled global distribution of books, television programs and other cultural products would seem to augur well for the diversity of ideas and creative expression. Yet ever more of this flow is concentrated in the hands of fewer giant corporations, significantly American controlled, whose agenda is not pluralism but profit. This book focuses upon the market dynamics that drive ever-greater audiences to "blockbuster" films, TV programs, books and recording artists—at the expense of independent, alternative and increasingly necessary national voices. This is the first book from a Canadian perspective to investigate the facts about where and how cultural artifacts are created, why they are so different from other manufactured products, and why they must be treated differently. Grant and Wood examine how much the nature and size of a cultural industry’s owner(s) matters; what "national" really means; how content quotas, expenditure rules and government subsidies help and hinder cultural industries; and why a new international vision must prevail. At the same time, they take a look at competition law and how it can promote diversity while examining how freedom of expression and cultural diversity are inextricably linked. Clearly written, impeccably researched, and passionately argued.