Disney's Hypocrisy
July 4th, 2004 by danDisney was the dominant political force behind the Mickey Mouse Protection Act of 1998, citing not fear for the company’s continued profit-making–dependent on the gamble of continued innovation and creativity–but instead hiding behind a mask of defending “property rights.” It should come as no surprise, then, that Disney cannot even manage to practice what it preaches. According to Reuters, “South African lawyers are suing U.S. entertainment giant Walt Disney Co for infringement of copyright on ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight,’ the most popular song to emerge from Africa, the lawyers said on Friday.” There should be no doubt now that Disney–and others in favor of extended IP–are motivated solely by corporate greed. Read the Reuters article here.
July 13th, 2004 at 1:01 pm
This is an interesting topic– Disney has gone progressively downhill since just after The Lion King hit Broadway, or so. The very, very large majority of the defining points of the decline can be attributed Michael Eisner, who at one point had very good sense in risk-taking and business, but now seems to have developed too much of a fondness for personal gain. SaveDisney.com is a website that advocates removal of Michael Eisner from Walt Disney, and restoration of the company’s good name. Michael Eisner’s actions recently lead to the two directors that brought us The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and many other classics, to be fired. His actions also lead Roy Disney to leave the company out of shame, and insist that Eisner do so as well. Eisner declined. I probably sound like a weird anti-Eisner nazi, but it’s pretty much his fault that the company has gotten a hideous reputation and tanked. Again, I suggest visiting SaveDisney.com. Cheers to all!
July 15th, 2004 at 11:03 am
Typical of disney to use and abuse, Like the monsters inc charactors that were clearly stolen, or the fact that they use the same old dreamed up creatures of their dead animators.If anyone cares to follow up on this, I’d Like to know what happened to the “Monsters Inc” case.
August 5th, 2004 at 9:21 am
I think Disney is primarily about what John Seely Brown calls mass culture. We should also focus on what he calls popular culture which requires invovled participation. What environments give rise to popular culture? What is the role, the potential and limitation of the Internet, Weblogging, etc. in creating popular culture?