On December 14th, 2017 Disney bought 21st Century Fox (yeah, they actually changed their name. Isn’t that weird?) for 52 BILLION dollars. That’s a ludicrous amount of money, but more importantly, the “average Joe” doesn’t seem to be that worried yet. This comes as the third in a series of major acquisitions for the company over the past 10 years. If another company, lets say Time Warner, were to be doing something like this, I feel like there would be a much stronger reaction from the general public. This doesn’t seem to be the case with Disney.

     Now, I understand that in the world today there are more important things to be worried about. The fact that this happened the same day as the FCC’s vote on Net Neutrality might be a part of this, or (Conspiracy Theory Alert) this was planned by Disney to deflect negative backlash. But in the current age of public outcry and protest I find it odd that nobody seems to be calling Disney out on this. This is where the Cult of Disney comes in.

     Unlike the other 5 major media corporations in this country (GE, Time Warner, CBS, Viacom, and News Corp.) Disney is a brand that most people are exposed to at a very young age, and most of that entertainment is family friendly material that form some of your earliest memories. Seriously, try and find someone who has never watched a Disney product. I am certain that it can’t be done. This image of family friendly entertainment, and the Mickey Mouse mascot lull people into this false sense of security when it comes to Disney. They put off this innocent vibe and are not seen as a threat I feel.

     The more properties Disney acquires, the more I have to ask “Where does this end?” Who is to say that Disney won’t try and acquire more major media studios? Is Universal next? How about Warner Bros.? If a company like this is allowed to control so much of the media landscape, what does that mean for the American public? If people don’t pay attention to deals like this, or don’t care, you could find that your media is controlled by even fewer companies in the future. I find that to be a scary prospect.

     Now, I’m not saying that Disney is evil. I’m not saying that they have malicious intentions. Nothing may come from this at all, and more than likely the average American wouldn’t even know the difference. However, I think that a healthy dose of skepticism and awareness are good things to have in regards to this issue.

     The views expressed in this article are purely my own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Lights, Camera, Average or any of the other hosts of the show. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

-Andy

picture from http://www.buisnessinsider.com