The
Effects of a Disney Monopoly
by Z
Factor
Disney is something
people have grown up with or have been surrounded by for decades,
from Mickey Mouse in 1928 until today in 2017, nearly ninety years
later. Their beloved movies are classics, quotable and memorable.
Disney has impacted not only people and the culture, but also
substantially in the entertainment industry and business. People love
Disney, especially children. Disney knows this, which is why they
have bought Pixar Animation, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm. Yet, at
what point will people ask: “Has Disney bought everything? Has
Disney become a monopoly in the entertainment business? Should we be
worried?” Disney is becoming a monopoly; the Mouse is buying
everything out, ruining creative competition and indoctrinating
national and global audiences with their agenda.
First Disney bought
Pixar in 2006 for 7.5 billion dollars. Later in 2009, Disney bought
Marvel Entertainment, which became Marvel Studios, for four billion
dollars. Then in 2012 Disney bought Lucasfilm (in other words, the
rights to Star Wars) for four billion dollars and gave George
Lucas four million Disney shares. Disney surrounded itself with a
variety of smaller companies within itself; Pixar delivers more
children-oriented yet emotionally packed stories, Marvel produces
action-packed superheroes for both the comic-book nerds and the
average viewer, and Star Wars is for basically everyone. Not only
does Disney have the combined forces of Pixar Animation, Marvel
Studios, and Lucasfilm, but they also continue to produce films.
These days its mostly live action remakes, sequels, and their own
animation department which produced hits like Frozen (2013).
Today in 2017, Disney is in talks to make yet another purchase,
ironically the same studio which had once distributed Star
Wars—Twentieth Century Fox.
“The talks have taken place over the last few weeks and there is no
certainty they will lead to a deal. The two sides are not currently
talking at this very moment, but given the on again, off again nature
of the talks, they could be revisited.” states a reporter from
CNBC. Whether or not the deal goes through, this proves Disney's
immense power in the business. The Mouse was once a childhood icon,
now slowly turning into the Galactic Empire.
Being the Galactic
Empire that the Mouse is slowly becoming, Disney has used its power
quite abusively towards theaters, other companies, and media-news
outlets. To start off, Disneyland has a close relationship with the
city of Anaheim, funding certain politicians to get seats in the city
council, as well as other things involving taxes. “Over the last
two decades or so, as Disney's profit has soared, the company has
secured subsides, incentives, rebates, and protections from future
taxes that Anaheim that, in aggregate, would be worth more than one
billion, according to public policy experts who have reviewed the
deals between the company and city,” says a journalist from the
L.A. Times in an article titled, “Is Disney Paying its Share
in Anaheim?” The L.A.
Times article exposed much of the ongoing situation between
Disneyland and the city of Anaheim, and the new developments in their
relationship.
Because of this
article, Disney banned L.A. Times critics and press from
screenings of Thor: Ragnarok. Following that event, an article
from ARS Technica says, “Disney claimed that the stories showed a
'complete disregard for basic journalism standards' and were 'wholly
driven by a political agenda'.” Word began to spread and leak,
causing critics in The New York Times and The Washington
Post's to make a statement of boycotting all future Disney films,
including the upcoming Last Jedi. Of course, Disney changed
their mind, backed down, and ended its blacklist of reviewers. The
ongoing deals between Disneyland and Anaheim were not unknown, or at
least not to the people within the area such as L.A.; it's Disney's
fault for making political deals with Anaheim, not the newspaper
journalist. Though Disney tried to pretend nothing happened and draw
attention away from it, the damage was done—Disney had lashed out
in wrath and vengeance, exposing its true nature publicly.
This isn't even the
end of Disney's use of power as they're now beginning to bully
theaters as well. With the upcoming December release of Star Wars
Episode 8: The Last Jedi, Disney is now asking theaters to give
65% profit (instead of the normal 55%) or else Disney won't let them
show the film, and the theater must keep the film screening for a
certain period of time or unless they'll suffer more fees. Theaters
are already in trouble. Disney knows their movies help keep them in
business; they are using their power to abuse theaters, and this will
really hurt smaller chains, who might not even be able to show the
movie at all.
Lastly, another mark
of Disney's monopoly nature is in its withdrawal from Netflix.
Instead of continuing their partnership with Netflix, Disney is
pulling completely out and will be setting up its own streaming
service. Though this may seem like simply more competition between
streaming platforms rather than a monopoly, it is a show of how
Disney keeps all its products self contained. Disney has a vault in
which all its classics are stored, not allowing people to rent them,
only to buy when they come out every so often. Disney keeps all its
products tight within itself, forcing people to go through Disney
only. Though this is a good business strategy, it has also led to
their growth and power, buying everything they can. There are few
studios today that can go against Disney, and with the continued
success in their model of supplying the public's demand of Marvel,
Star Wars, emotional Pixar films and live-action remakes, it is not
impossible they'll dominate the entertainment industry, if they
haven't already. Especially with the purchase of Fox, it is unlikely
there will be a studio left to stand up against them. Though Warner
Brothers is a big studio, they are not nearly as enormous. In fact,
they have been struggling to keep up, and this is the same with many
studios which are facing great difficulties, like Sony and Paramount.
Either studios need to become bigger in order to equally compete
against the Mouse, or the Mouse needs to get smaller before it buys
up everything. Any monopoly in business is bad, and the effects of
such a power hungry Mouse would be catastrophic to the entertainment
industry.
Though the Mouse is
not technically a monopoly, it does have exuberant control over media
enterprise and creates a majority of the films viewed by average
people, because it owns the big names: Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar.
Imagine how much more Disney would have if it bought Fox, not to
mention the creative restrictions on most of Disney's products.
Disney has restrictions to what it will or won't have in its content,
with G, PG and PG-13 ratings exclusively, a family-friendly persona,
pushes its own agenda, and runs all of its films through the magical
Disney wringer, meaning most Disney films feel and look the same.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. Disney does produce some great
movies, and it's good to have a “family-friendly” studio;
however, if as much as 90% of the films a person sees in the theaters
are all Disney, it will eventually become boring. Also, with limited
options for studios to back their projects, less unique, creative,
experimental and risky films and projects will be made, especially
when those studios have narrow restrictions and expectations. For
example, Back to the Future was brought to Disney back in the
1980's, and Disney rejected the proposal because of the “Oedipus”
complex with Marty McFly and his mother. Regardless of whether or not
it was an actual issue, Disney found it wouldn't fit under their
“family-friendly” umbrella. If there weren't other studios
besides Disney, or substantially less of them, Back to the Future
might have never been produced, and it is an indisputable classic.
The effects of
Disney's expanding power over the entertainment industry impact not
only the entertainment industry and business, but also everyone's
lives. People who flock to Disney's “family-friendly” films will
also be subsequent to whatever agenda or moral the Mouse deems fit to
impose. Films are filled with stories, morality tales, and messages
the filmmaker wants to make, sometimes consciously and sometimes
subliminally. With such an outreach not only nationwide but global,
the Mouse could say absolutely anything it wants and touch the lives
of millions, persuading them to feel, think and believe the same
thing. This is an incredibly huge responsibility, being able to
influence people to such a degree. It also gives the Mouse the power
to say anything it wants, sometimes even immoral messages. An effect
which will undoubtedly arise with the increasing power of Disney will
be how it uses this storytelling magic to influence children and
audience members across to globe to the ungodly beliefs they uphold,
not that any other big studio in Hollywood wouldn't do the same (just
look at Game of Thrones on HBO).
Overall, Disney's
increasing monopoly over the entertainment business is bad news; it
will stifle creative ingenuity and uniqueness among films, making it
difficult for both the producer and consumer, it will have dominance
over theaters, critics, and even the regions and cities near Disney
properties (like Disneyland or resorts), and it will have the power
to impose immoral messages (subliminal or prominent) in their
content. Unless other studios are able to rise up against Disney, or
preferably though less likely, Disney becomes smaller and little
studios gain more success, providing a more wide variety in
entertainment, the effects are surely certain. One thing people can
do is to defy the Mouse's Galactic Empire, but no one can truly be
expected to boycott Disney. Yet, they can support the smaller movies
and studios. Seeing a small independent film in a theater rather than
something under the Disney banner could be a small thing that goes a
long way in showing Disney that it's time they go back to their
roots, and not by remaking every single classic in their vault.
References:
Faber, D. 21st
Century Fox Has Been Holding Talks to Sell Most of the Company to
Disney, CNBC November 6th, 2017,
Retrieved from
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/06/21st-century-fox-has-been-holding-talks-to-sell-most-of-company-to-disney-sources.html
Miller, D. Is Disney
Paying its Share in Anaheim? L.A. Times, September 24th
2017
Retrieved from
http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-disney-anaheim-deals/
Lee, T. Disney
Forced to Backpedal After Banning L.A. Times from Thor
Screenings, ARS Technica, November 7th, 2017
Retrieved from
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/disney-abandons-la-times-blacklist-after-backlash-from-film-critics/
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