Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Opera About Walt Disney Refused Permission To Use Disney Images
Techdirt: Techdirt has noted before the hypocrisy of Disney in refusing to allow others to draw on its creativity in the same way that it has drawn on the art and ideas of the past. Here's another example, but this time it's an opera that's had difficulties
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5 comments:
I found this article was interesting, yet not surprising. First, I think it a cool that there is an opera coming out about Disney because his creations are so well loved, but the man behind them all was really bigoted and I believe that that is apart of history. Also, I had already heard about the copyright extensions to Mickey mouse because if the character was released into the public domain, there goes a ton of money that could be going into the company. Going back to the opera again, i think it is a good thing that the characters are not being used in the show, because the audience should be looking at the man behind it all and not be distracted by the innocence of childhood.
It seems very strange for an opera about Walt Disney not to contain any original Disney images. I'm sure Walt had a life beyond just his theme parks, but I know barely anything about that, alongside most everybody else. People are interested in the theme park that has been there to entertain them since they were children, and Walt Disney primarily because he was the largest factor in its founding. Without images from the park, I doubt the opera will go over very well. I also find it strange that the director says he had not been planning in using any if this material anyway. Part of me believes he is just deluded and created the essence of the fascinating creations that droves Walt's life without any character representation, and another part of me thinks he just said that subsequent to being denied in order to save face. Additionally, why would you wish to produce a Disney themed opera? Every person in the industry has heard a whole range of stories detailing the good and bad of Disney, all basically surmounting to the fact that they can be a difficult corporation to deal with.
This article was very interesting to me because I find it hard to believe that an opera about Disney would not include any original Disney images. I would not think that Disney would withhold all of the images from this Opera if it is going to be about his life...but, I agree with Simone that I think they are doing that to keep all their money in order and not let photos be used for free. I would hope that Disney will eventually let this opera use some of the images if it becomes successful. We'll have to see how this turns out!
not surprised that Disney does not encourage an honest interpretation of Walt Disney on stage. He was a terrible man despite the wonderful things that stemmed from his octopus like empire that eats up everything in its path. The most interesting part of this article for me was the Mickey Mouse curve. I just went stumbling around the internet for more information on it, and I was stunned at the lengths Disney has gone too to keep Mickey out of the public domain, they even once sued a daycare for painting their walls with Disney characters.
This doesn't surprise me at all, but it makes me think that Phillip Glass was a) stupid to write an opera he must of known would be limited in producability and b) extremely lucky to have not been sued for something other than copyright infringement by Disney! Disney is lawsuit crazy- they love protecting their image, and I can understand why they don't want to associate anything with Mr. Disney. He wasn't exactly the.... cleanest of characters.
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