Is Disney Taking Over The World? (A Response to the Lecture on Binary Models)

It's nothing new that Disney owns a lot. They're a huge company that made $9.4 billion dollars last year alone. Most people know that Disney is everywhere - what kid hasn't watched Disney Channel or begged their parents to take them to Disneyworld?

But most people also think of Disney as a strictly entertainment company (including myself, until last week). They will probably be shocked to find out that Disney owns much, much more than just a few TV channels and some amusement parks, and it's much, much more than an entertainment company.

Among the many smaller companies Disney has purchased throughout the years are Marvel Entertainment (Avengers and X-Men), Lucasfilm (Star Wars and Indiana Jones), ESPN (one of the largest sports networks), and ABC (news network as well as entertainment). When Disney bought ABC, they became not only an entertainment company, but information company as well, since ABC is predominantly a news network.

The entertainment/information binary model isn't the only one Disney has crossed, however. In fact, they cross most binary models. For instance, Disney is both hot AND cool media, since some things require you to pay full attention to them, but other things can be appreciated while multitasking. It's also a content AND distribution company, since they produce their own content, but then distribute it themselves, via Disney Channel and the Disney Store.

Not to mention, Disney has recently come under fire for allegedly putting trackers in children's apps. (Read the Washington Post's article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/08/07/these-42-disney-apps-are-allegedly-spying-on-your-kids/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.671c1a5870a7) This, combined with having an extremely large audience and having control over a media source, is the formula for a possible government/world takeover. Yes, it does sound like a conspiracy, and I'm not saying I believe it. However, Disney certainly has the budget and the audience to do it.

I still like to think of Disney as a goodhearted children's entertainment company, but that isn't the entire truth. Our class discussion completely changed the way I think of the company. So the next time I go see the "hottest new Disney movie", I'll be a little bit more skeptical.

By Lily Wobbe 

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