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Disney’s Recent Racial Controversies

Disney might be considered a family-friendly company, but that doesn’t mean it’s free from all controversy.  When it comes to its own properties, Disney is far from perfect, and there have been some big examples in the past year. The first has to do with “Princess Sofia,” and it’s not over whether or not she’s teaching princess obsession to toddlers.  I didn’t comment on the story for a while because the details kept changing, but things have seemed to settle down.  In the fall, promotional images of the film were released.  They revealed that Sofia’s mother had darker skin, eyes, … Continue reading →

Disney Movies Now Available on Netflix Streaming

Having a hard time finding some of Disney’s older films to watch?  Don’t like the crowds at theaters, but don’t want to have to pay to buy a new Disney DVD when it’s released?  Then you should love the news that broke last week: according to the LA Times, Disney and Netflix just reached a deal that will give the online rental and streaming site exclusive rights to Disney films.  The deal takes effect in 2016, at which point Netflix will be able to stream any new films under the Walt Disney Corp. umbrella –which includes Marvel and Star Wars … Continue reading →

More Thoughts on the Disney-Lucasfilm Buyout

Now I’ve had some time to think about it, I have more sophisticated thoughts about the Disney-Lucasfilm buyout. The idea that I’m struggling with the most is that Disney wants to keep releasing more films every few years into infinity. One day soon, the original trilogy will be buried under a pile of new films, and I just feel so strange about that. According to George Lucas, the script treatments for episodes 7-9 are totally original; they won’t follow any specific plots from the novelized extended universe. Disney’s most likely going to follow Lucas’ scripts, but if it keeps making … Continue reading →

Disney Buys Lucasfilm, Now Owns Star Wars

This is probably the hugest and craziest Disney news story I’ve ever heard, and possibly ever will, I can’t think of anything bigger: this week, Walt Disney Company announced that it is buying Lucasfilm for about $4 billion dollars. That’s right: Disney will own Star Wars. The news is entirely shocking. In the past year George Lucas has announced his intention to retire from film making, or at least big-budget film making, instead focusing on smaller projects. But no one expected him to sell his company (Lucas is the sole owner), and certainly not to Disney. When one thinks about … Continue reading →

Disney Characters in North Korea

The kind of thing Disney’s after This is a story too bizarre not to report: on Monday July 9 Mickey Mouse, along with other Disney characters, appeared on North Korean television with the country’s new leader, Kim Jong-Un (son of Kim Jong-Il). No, Disney is not sending representatives to the isolationist country. These were images of Walt Disney Company characters used without permission. The use presents some interesting questions that reflect upon Disney’s own corporate policy. The New York Times’ Media Decoder explains. You see, Disney is very strict about unauthorized use of its properties. The company complained to Mexican … Continue reading →

Marvel Introducing Line of Superhero Storybooks

When Disney bought Marvel nearly a year ago, many fans were torn as to whether this would herald a new era for the company or a disaster for one of the leading comic book institutions. One thing no one questioned, however, was why the Mouse House was interested in Marvel. Disney wanted a property for boys as prolific as its Princess and Pixie lines for girls, and Marvel provides that in spades. For the most part evidence of Marvel’s new ownership hasn’t been that obvious, at least to the more casual viewer. The most notable change was over the San … Continue reading →

Disney World to Build “Avatar” Park

News broke last month of a new theme park addition to Disney World. It comes in the form of a property that, upon first glance, one might almost mistake for a Disney/Pixar feature. It stars fuzzy blue cat-like people with big luminous eyes, and studies the interaction the denizens of this new world have with the humans who discover them. That previous sentence summary might almost pass as a Disney movie, but 2009’s “Avatar” was anything but. It was a darker story, one along the lines of “The Last of the Mohicans.” But it was a smash hit, so now … Continue reading →

Disney Dithering on Next Marvel Movie Hero

Way back when Disney bought Marvel, a move first announced almost a year ago, a few questions immediately popped to fans’ minds. One of the most prominent: what will the movies look like? Will they take on a classy but maybe too squeaky-clean Disney shine? Will Disney keep their hands off entirely, or will the combination of Disney’s resources with the Marvel movie studio make for even bigger and better superhero films? We haven’t seen the answers to any of those questions yet. While Disney did profit from “Iron Man 2,” due to its release by Marvel Studios, now a … Continue reading →

Disney Sing It: Family Hits

My husband and I are video game addicts. Console or computer, it doesn’t matter; we own a bunch of games and have played even more that we’ve borrowed from friends or swapped for others at GameSpot. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone here that my favorite game of all time is Kingdom Hearts. The super-popular Japanese franchise blends the action-RPG style of the Legend of Zelda games with an original and epic story line, one that includes character cameos from Final Fantasy (one of the most popular series of video games). But most importantly, the story revolves around … Continue reading →

Disney’s Plans to Broaden its Appeal

I’ve written a lot about the Disney Princess culture, and how it’s experienced some backlash lately. Though Disney makes truckloads of money off its Princess brand, it also takes a hit from the brand due to how alienating it supposedly is for boys. While Disney is in the midst of expanding its Princess line, adding a larger fairy tale section and brand new Pixie Hollow to the Magic Kingdom, it’s also got some elaborate plans to draw young male interest. Some of these plans are already in place. For a few years now the Hollywood Studios at Disney World has … Continue reading →