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Hollywood v Silicon Valley
好莱坞对阵硅谷
英文部分选自经济学人20220121期社论版块
Hollywood v Silicon Valley
好莱坞对阵硅谷
Disney’s troubles show how technology has changed the business of culture
迪士尼身陷困境,科技已经颠覆文化产业
At 100, the mouse can still roar. But it faces a new kind of rival
雄风犹在迪士尼,百岁老鼠御新敌
“Why do we have to grow up?” Walt Disney once wondered. As it launches its centenary celebrations on January 27th, the Walt Disney Company has sustained its appeal to the young and young-at-heart. This year Hollywood’s biggest studio will invest more in original content than any other firm. It dominates the global box office, with four of last year’s ten biggest hits, and has more streaming subscriptions than anyone else. Its intellectual property (IP) is turned into merchandise ranging from lunchboxes to lightsabers, and exploited in theme parks that are churning out healthy profits even as covid-19 lingers. More than just a business, Disney is perhaps the most successful culture factory the world has ever known.
华特·迪士尼曾问自己:我们为什么一定要长大?”127日,华特迪士尼正式开启百年庆典活动,年轻人以及保有童心的人依然心向往之。今年,这家好莱坞最大的电影制片厂将成为投资原创内容最多的公司。迪士尼雄霸全球票房榜,去年十大热门影片独揽四席,流媒体订阅量也无出其右。迪士尼坐拥各种IP周边,例如午餐盒和激光剑,旗下的各路IP人物更是在其主题公园齐聚一堂。即使新冠疫情余波未散,这些公园仍然能带来可观利润。迪士尼不仅仅是一家企业,它大概是有史以来最成功的文化工厂。
So the upheaval rocking the company today has relevance far beyond its empire. Uncertainty about the future profitability of Disney’s enormous entertainment portfolio has caused a rollercoaster ride in its share price. It threw out its chief executive in November and will soon replace its chairman. It also faces a rebellion from an activist investment firm that wants a board seat in what could turn into the biggest face-off since Michael Eisner, a previous CEO, was forced out in 2005. Disney’s trials are not just a boardroom drama. Similar crises are unfolding at other leading culture factories, from Warner Bros to Netflix. The reason is a technological revolution that is turning Hollywood upside down.
可以想见,迪士尼如今所面临的的动荡更是整个文化产业的写照。迪士尼庞大的娱乐业务在未来的盈利能力尚不明确,导致其股价大起大落。去年11月,迪士尼罢免了首席执行官,不久还将选任新的董事长。此外,一家激进投资公司也在惹事生非,该公司希望获得一个董事会席位,这可能会演变成自2005年前CEO迈克尔艾斯纳(Michael Eisner)被迫离职以来最严重的对峙局面。迪士尼面临的考验不仅是一场董事会闹剧。华纳兄弟、网飞等其它头部文化工厂也面临类似危机,原因在于当前的技术革命正将好莱坞搅个天翻地覆。
The continuing pre-eminence of a centenarian like Disney has confounded many predictions. Since the days of “Steamboat Willie”, Mickey Mouse’s first outing in 1928, there has been an explosion in the supply of video entertainment. Television, cable, home video and then the internet have offered increasing amounts of choice. Anyone with a phone can record video and make it accessible to billions of people, free of charge. More content is uploaded to YouTube every hour than Disney+ holds in its entire streaming catalogue.
迪士尼这样的百年公司能够一直保持卓越已推翻了此前的诸多预测。自1928年米老鼠首次亮相《威利号汽船》以来,娱乐视频出现了爆炸式增长。电视、有线电视、家庭录像以及后来的互联网先后问世,观众的选择日益增加。现如今只要有手机就能录制视频,上传后数十亿人可以免费观看。每小时上传到 YouTube的内容比整个迪士尼+在线流媒体视频点播平台中的内容还要多。
注释:
Disney+是一个由华特迪士尼公司推出的在线流媒体视频点播平台,由华特迪士尼公司的迪士尼媒体与娱乐发行分部掌管和运营。预计该平台将提供大约7000集电视和500部电影。华特迪士尼影业集团制作的影视可通过该平台观看,包括迪士尼和皮克斯动画电影系列、迪士尼真人电影系列、漫威电影宇宙电影、迪士尼自然纪录片等。《惊奇队长》是第一部在电影院上映后可在Disney+观看的视频。此外,二十一世纪福克斯旗下的国家地理频道的内容亦可在Disney+观看。
Many predicted that this surge of niche content would bring down mainstream hit-makers. They were mostly wrong. Infinite choice in entertainment has ruined the companies which produced middling content that people watched because there was nothing else on—witness the collapse in broadcast-television ratings. But those at the very top of the business have thrived. When anyone can watch anything, people flock to the best. Global streamers like Netflix and Amazon have more than 200m direct subscribers, once an unimaginable number.
许多人曾预想过小众内容的井喷式涌现会击垮主流的大片制作公司,实际情况却并非如此。过去,选择有限的人们不得不观看一些质量平庸的作品,现在,人们有了数不尽的娱乐产品,结果作品质量一般的公司纷纷倒闭了(广播电视的收视率暴跌就是个例子)。不过,娱乐行业佼佼者的日子过得可谓是顺风顺水。如果观众什么内容都能看到,那自然会选择看最好的。网飞(Netflix)和亚马逊(Amazon)等全球流媒体平台的订阅人数已超过两亿,这个数字放在以前是不可想象的。
Those who have fared best at a shrinking box office are the owners of IP that is already popular. As people visit cinemas less often and competition intensifies, studios have pumped money into films people will turn out to see even when they go only three or four times a year. America’s ten biggest films last year were all sequels or parts of a franchise; Disney’s upcoming slate includes an 80-year-old Harrison Ford returning for a fifth outing as Indiana Jones. It has not been a golden age for cinema, but for those at the top it has been a profitable one.
在票房不断缩水的背景下,表现最好的都是那些早已拥有热门IP的公司。如今,人们的观影频率下降,行业竞争加剧,制片厂不得不投入大量资金,用以制作那些哪怕人们一年只去三四次电影院也一定要去看的电影。去年,美国票房最高的十部电影都是热门影片的续集或是系列电影的新作。年过八旬的演员哈里森·福特(Harrison Ford)将重返荧幕,在迪士尼即将上映的最新《夺宝奇兵》电影中,第五次担纲主演该系列。电影行业风光不再,但行业佼佼者仍能获取丰厚利润。
Now technology is shaking things up again. Online distribution has enticed tech firms that make the hardware and software used for streaming. Silicon Valley is of a different scale from Tinseltown (Amazon’s growing advertising business is already three times bigger than Disney’s) and its moguls have no need to make money from streaming, which they see as an add-on to their main business. Hollywood initially wrote off the nerds. But the nerds have enough money to take creative risks. Last year Apple won the best-picture Oscar with “CODA”, a comedy-drama partly in sign language, less than three years after it entered the film business. The more fine content these new producers make and sell below cost, the greater the risk that older studios will fall from the top tier of media into the perilous middle.
技术进步再次搅局。在线发行吸引着专为流媒体开发软硬件的科技公司。硅谷与好莱坞的规模相差悬殊:亚马逊的广告业务规模已是迪士尼的三倍,而硅谷的巨头并不需要从流媒体业务中赚钱,毕竟他们认为这只不过是其主业之外的副业罢了。好莱坞一开始对这些科技公司不以为意,但架不住后者财力雄厚又甘冒风险进行创新创作。苹果公司进军电影行业不到三年,其出品的《健听少女》荣获了去年的奥斯卡最佳影片奖(《健听少女》是一部喜剧剧情片,剧中用到了手语)。这些新兴制作公司产出并愿意亏本发售的高质量作品越多,老牌制作公司就越是面临从行业佼佼者落魄为中流公司的险境。
At the same time, new technology is allowing those lower down the “long tail” a better chance of reaching the profitable top. Inventions like game engines, which help with the creation of virtual sets, are lowering barriers to entry. Generative artificial intelligence, which can already make rudimentary video, may eventually lower them further. The first beneficiaries have been non-American film studios, which until recently struggled to nail first-class special effects. No longer. Two of the world’s highest-grossing films last year were Chinese—and when covid ebbs in China, expect that number to rise. China has yet to convert foreign audiences to hits like “Wolf Warrior 2” (tagline: “Anyone who offends China, wherever they are, must die”). But don’t bet that this will always be the case. China already has a globally successful social-media app in TikTok and produces video games that are international hits, including Tencent’s “Honour of Kings”, which is the world’s highest-earning mobile game.
同时,新技术使得处于行业长尾底部的参与者有更多机会跻身利润更高的头部。例如游戏引擎这类可以辅助搭建虚拟场景的发明,正在降低进入电影行业的门槛。生成式人工智能已经可以制作出非常初级的视频,这项技术可能进一步降低门槛。第一批受益者是美国国外的电影制片厂,前不久这些公司还很难制作出一流的特效,但现在已今非昔比了。去年全球票房最高的电影中,有两部是中国电影,而随着新冠疫情在中国缓慢消退,这一数字预计还会增加。虽然《战狼2》(宣传海报上的标语写着:犯我中华者,虽远必诛)等热门中国电影还没有赢得外国观众的喜爱,但可别觉得未来情况不会改变。中国已经拥有一款风靡全球的社交媒体应用TikTok,而且制作的电子游戏在国际上也很受欢迎,例如腾讯的《王者荣耀》,这是全球盈利最高的手游。
注释:
long tail: 长尾效应,指那些原来不受到重视的销量小但种类多的产品或服务由于总量巨大,累积起来的总收益超过主流产品的现象。
参考资料:百度百科-长尾/Investopedia- Long Tail: Definition as a Business Strategy and How It Works 
Perhaps the most dramatic way technology could disrupt the culture business is by creating new categories of entertainment. Young adults in rich countries already devote more time to gaming than to broadcast television. Hollywood has been slow to catch on, but its Silicon Valley rivals are snapping up gaming IP. Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, whose games include “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush”, is worth nearly ten times what Amazon paid for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, home of James Bond and Rocky Balboa. Movies based on games are becoming as popular as games based on movies. A series based on “The Last of Us”, a post-apocalyptic game, seems to be a critical success. Sonic the Hedgehog was among last year’s biggest films and Mario is likely to be among this year’s. Nintendo is opening a new Mario theme park next month—in Hollywood, no less.
也许论及技术将如何颠覆文化产业,最戏剧化的方式莫过于通过创造出新的娱乐种类。富裕国家的年轻人在游戏上花费的时间已经超过了广播电视。好莱坞迟迟没有跟上潮流,与之竞争的硅谷的科技公司却在纷纷抢购游戏IP。微软计划收购拥有《使命召唤》和《糖果粉碎传奇》等游戏的动视暴雪,拟收购价几乎是亚马逊收购米高梅电影公司的十倍。米高梅拥有《007》和《洛奇》两大IP。游戏改编的电影正变得和电影改编的游戏一样受欢迎。基于末日游戏《最后生还者》(The Last of Us)改编的同名电视剧大获成功。《刺猬索尼克》是去年票房最高的电影之一,马里奥动画大电影则有望跻身今年的最叫座影片榜单。下个月任天堂竟然还要在好莱坞开设一个全新的马里奥主题公园。
注释:
1. James Bond and Rocky Balboa:《007》主角詹姆斯·邦德和《洛奇》系列主角洛奇·巴尔博亚。
2.任天堂宣布《超级马里奥兄弟》2023年将于47日北美、427日日本上映。
来源:游民星空-即将38岁的马里奥 第四次登上大银幕

The mouse and the long tail

米奇和长尾
The great creative factories of Hollywood will have to adapt if they want to survive. Another successful era is not beyond their reach. Disney’s century has been one of endless reinvention, in business terms as well as artistic ones, as the company has moved its output from projectors to cables to cassettes and now bytes. It will probably continue to innovate. Still, there are already signs that much of the coming century’s popular culture will be dreamt up in places other than Hollywood. For audiences tiring of sequels, that may be a welcome twist. 
好莱坞的创意梦工厂要想继续生存就必须适应潮流。创造属于它们的下一个辉煌时代并非毫无可能。无论从商业上还是艺术角度来说,迪士尼的百年史称得上是无止境的创新史。迪士尼的产品从放映机转到有线电视,再到录像带和现在的流媒体,未来很可能会继续创新。不过已经有迹象表明,下一个百年中的许多流行文化将在好莱坞以外的地方诞生。对于厌倦了看老电影续集的观众来说,这可能是一个好消息。
翻译组:
Eva,寻路中,偶尔怀念,时常向前
Clark,愿以此功德回向给众生,离苦得乐
Trista,女,暴富不是梦想,是未来的现实
校对组:
Cecilia2023
生活得贵妇一点

Colin
,男,崇拜科比的一枚小翻译

Harold,一笔二口,寄蜉蝣于天地,渺沧海之一粟
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观点|评论|思考
本期感想
Forest,二宝妈妈,爱树的人,精神小花园持续耕耘中
看这篇文章时,想起绘本《自己的事自己做》,因为这本书时不时就要和家里小宝读一读,以提醒小家伙一点什么,所以印象尤其深。该书封面如下图(左)。
搜索该图片时也看到一些英文绘本,意思是差不多的,比如其中一本如下图(右)《ALL BY MYSELF》,画面里一只正在做自我整理的小熊的背后的枕头上有一只小老鼠,虽然此小鼠非彼MOUSE,不知琢磨的事情有无相似之处?
总之,自己的事情自己做,这是谁都要面对的事情。自己做多少,安排别人帮自己做多少,要看情况而定。同样的,企业之间也可以合作,比如你生产内容,我帮你面对受众,企业选择自己做多少,多少通过购买别家企业的劳动来做,这种战略选择决定了企业的边界,而边界的选择依据无非是效率。如今的娱乐媒体产业,是什么情况呢?
经济理论家,依据学科逻辑,常常能够早早就洞悉一些事情。
比如文中第四段说许多人曾预想过小众内容的井喷式涌现会击垮主流的大片制作公司,实际情况却并非如此。多年前一本经典的中级微观经济学教材在分析工具章节中,便有如此练习题可大致简写如下:根据供求分析,你认为随着复制与传送技术的进一步发展,这将对最具才华的表演者的需求有什么影响?那些较为逊色的表演者呢?虽然教材作者离世已十余载,但他提出的问题,时下正在白日化地呈现。
现实给我们提供了这一问题的答案:在全球化背景下、技术不断革新的进程中,如果观众什么内容都能看到,那自然会选择看最好的
理论上,技术对生产的影响越大,相对于科技企业,传统娱乐媒体所面临的竞争压力就越大。比较来说,技术水平低的一方生产成本更高、产量更低、抵达用户终端速度越慢、用户行为数据越少。内容本身可内涵技术比例越大,竞争压力越大。
如此,从内容生产、成本控制,到受众注意力获取,割喉式竞争已然在大型传媒集团之间轰轰烈烈地展开。倘若将本篇故事主角从(内容、渠道和终端自我完善中的)米老鼠,换成(是自2013年开始便反其道且亦是不得不行之的)网飞,其实也不过是方向正好相反的奋力搏击而已。
面对现实,不论从哪个起点开始进入这场搏击,大家的现实选择都只能是自己的事情都自己做
只是相对于科技公司出身的网飞,传统娱乐媒体迪士尼,不但无法回避竞争中的近忧,远虑也同样烧心。
如今的消费者尚且仍爱传统经典的一翻再翻;但是谁知道在科技时代成长起来的年青一代,以后想看什么样的节目呢?毕竟年轻人在游戏上花费的时间已经超过了广播电视
而科技公司不但已经能够制作出成功的节目,而且其实他们至少在短期内并不特别需要靠流媒体赚钱,这种需求方规模的扩大有利于扩大科技公司的消费者群体,当前哪怕是亏本大制作他们也能从其他方面补回营收。
如此,迪士尼不免身受挤压、心生畏惧!
若不能正确进行战略布局,那么虎落平原、明日黄花也许指日可待!
拥有更多的PK版权、能够更便利地通过流媒体改善自己面向受众的直接落地便成必然之选。(即使自己不这样做,别人也会这样做)哪怕成本很高,也别无更有效率之法,通过惯用的并购战略改善公司布局还是最有效率的做法。不过媒体公司的合并向来是事前理想,待到并购完成,也还有许多工作需要细细梳理、完成,也是历史规律;加上疫情影响,待要并购收益完美呈现尚需耐心等待。
管理层之外,激进投资者对公司治理的监督需求也不得不认真面对。相对于三四十年前,如今这种被称为非典型英雄的激进股东着力于关注公司董事会运作效率的提升。所以即便认为对方不懂业务、只在乎短线价值,仍需理性回应其对公司治理漏洞的质疑,比如运营成本问题,说不定这确实是问题呢?
不容易呀,百龄鼠!
最佳的防守也许就是狙击!迪士尼,加油吧!!!
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小组
01 第一期笔译基础直播课
笔译基础直播课带批改
讲授翻译理念+翻译技巧
如果你对翻译学习感兴趣
希望能够带您入门翻译学习
为今后的翻译学习打下基础
点击下图,即可了解课程详情!

02 第十四期写作精品课
写作课共5位老师
3位剑桥硕士3位博士在读(剑桥,杜伦,港理工)
5位雅思8分(其中位写作8分,3位写作7.5分)
雅思、学术英语写作,不知如何下笔如有神?
写作精品课带你谋篇布局直播课+批改作文,
带你预习-精读-写作-答疑从输入到输出写出高质量英语作文
点击下图,即可了解写作课详情!
03 早起打卡营

一年半以来,小编已经带着10000多人早起打卡
早起倒逼自己早睡,戒掉夜宵,戒掉手机
让你发现一个全新的自己,创造早睡早起的奇迹!
早起是最简单的自律!
第50期六点早起打卡营
欢迎你的加入!
点击下图,即可了解早起打卡营详情!
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