Acts of enclosure: Historical media and the privatization of the past

Abstract

This article examines how historical narratives in contemporary film and television have become subject to new forms of privatization. Drawing an analogy with the enclosure movement that converted common agricultural land into private property in early modern Europe, the article argues that media corporations and powerful individuals use legal frameworks to restrict access to historical narratives, effectively converting shared cultural material from the public domain into privately controlled assets. Through three interconnected case studies, the analysis reveals distinct mechanisms of enclosure operating at different levels. First, copyright enclosure is examined through the restrictions placed on the use of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches in Selma (2014), showing how estates can control historical representation. Second, economic enclosure is explored via the contemporary “participation documentary,” in which celebrities exercise direct control over their biographical narratives through production ownership and financial involvement. Third, financial enclosure is analyzed through musical biopics, in which biographical representation becomes inextricably linked to the strategic management of music catalogs as investment assets. Legal frameworks and the broader financialization of media have thus combined to create new barriers to accessing and representing the past. These mechanisms systematically impoverish the public domain, with significant implications for democratic discourse and collective memory.