THE MPAA

 
In my research to extend my knowledge about the different networks in the film industry, I was amazed at the format of the new MPAA website. The site is easy to access, comfortable, and easy to understand. The beauty is that it descriptively explains and relates different aspects such as film ratings, content protection, policy and research, and it also provides news and research for parents. These are all distributed in tabs that allow you to easy access other menus.

Also, the website provides with short cuts that highlight as soon as you pass your cursor over them. Options such as film rating search, movies and TV shows online search, copy right information, movies-economy relations, resources for parents, and news which involve press releases, MPAA insider news, and media contacts.

The film ratings section explains it is a designed system to allow parents to decide whether or not they should let their children watch a specific type of content. It further describes that ratings are assigned by an independent board of parents with no past affiliation to the movie business. Their job is to rate each film as they believe a majority of American parents would rate it. It provides menus which you can use to access movies with different ratings, the meaning of such ratings, red carpet ratings, and movie advertising.

It is important to see how the MPAA is designed to respect the audience for it is considered irrevocably important when it comes to motion picture sales. I learned the MPAA is an entity that bridges this industry with its audience. It is a conglomerate of studios interested in connecting with its audience and further expanding their knowledge about ratings, content availability, and copyrights.

The movies online section shows us the different players, legal video playing sites, and emphasizes in information such as content theft, piracy reporting, and its relationship with higher. This leads me to think the MPAA is interested in maintaining more than 2.4 million jobs in the industry by informing people where to watch content online without breaking copyright law. Their mission is also to make young adults in colleges to understand their objective of delivering high quality and legal content they can use for their education and of course stay out of trouble.

The copyright or content protection section emphasizes in their mission to protect artists and creations alike. Their aim is to maintain like I said before those 2.4 industry jobs in the United States and to facilitate people content without having to recur to piracy by allowing distributors to use controlled online resources. This page is pretty much similar to the movies online section. It delves with copyright law but explains in depth their pursuits to create public awareness of the issue.

Also, the MPAA gives you an analysis based on the impact that motion pictures give to the US economy. Here, they distribute the information across tabs which emphasize the state, the gross income, and the amount of people employed within the industry.

Subsequent to that tab, there are the resources for parents and news sections. In these sections, parents have access to resources that help them avoid the dangers of online environment. Furthermore, they have access to global press releases and local news about the MPAA.








These pages are designed to give parents the freedom to choose for themselves and learn about content restriction resources such as webpages and articles which educate in the matter.

THE INTERNET, A DISTRACTION FROM OR A TOOL FOR THE ARTS?

It is outstanding how the internet has changed everything around us. From shopping, to watching films, to social networks, to video games, to dating sites. These have all changed and accustomed us to a faster-immediate world where we can get what we want, when we need it. And the fear of losing the sense of the arts overall is not alienated to this. How can we make a living as artists if a $80-$120 dollar opera ticket will be replaced for $1 on iTunes or even worse for free on Youtube? Massive venues are and will be broadcasted and then be digitally transferred to fit 4MB of streaming video.

Ben Cameron, Arts administrator and live-theater fan at the state of the live arts, asks how can the magic of live theater, live music, live dance compete with the always-on Internet? The answer lies in the following video.



In his speech, Cameron builds trust with his audience by ironically depicting today's reality and facts about how easy it is to get everything we want through the web. He shares his knowledge about the performing arts being democratized through this medium, how he devours e-books, and watches films now at the luxury and comfortability of his own home theater. The audience laughs and he immediately engages with them. He comments on him sharing those passions with them, and he transitions by telling them they most likely also share with him his passion for live performing arts and music. It is here when he raises the question to the main problem or major event: will the live arts, live venues disappear? Should we fear the internet taking away these social gatherings that provide us with our our human needs of expression and cohesion? Cameron's answer to this is no, absolutely not. We have a wired need to fight and work for what we believe in more than for monetary reasons. The power to indulge to the senses and awaken our human emotions comes from a live interaction between human being. We will never, as much as we think we will because of the innovations of this new era, lose the need of human interaction. Quite the opposite, we will now more than ever need it.

At last, he finalizes by making the audience overcome their doubts and fears. He confronts the problem in his speech by clarifying that it is our job to use the arts to unite us all and understand that the web and its innovations are just tools, but are not and will never be the answer to our human co-existence.