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Friday, February 07, 2020
Disney CEO apologizes to school threatened with 'Lion King' fine
Business Insider: Disney CEO Bob Iger apologized on Twitter on Thursday after the company's licensing agent went after an elementary school in California, demanding $250 for a showing of last year's "The Lion King" remake that occurred at a PTA fundraising event.
Thinking about the Disney I knew as a kid and the Disney I know now is such a bizarre train of thought to have. The company that once brought me such joy and wonder now sickens me with its shamelessly greddy control over the entertainment industry. The fact that they felt the need to attempt to sue a school for showing the movie for a fundraiser is frankly disgusting. Disney has bought every company in the book and overpriced all of their merchandise. They made another Lion King in a lazy attempt to cash in on the original’s title, forgetting to make an actually good film in the process. With all the cash they are already making, they decided it seems like a good idea to charge this innocent school for stupid reasons to gain even more money. It’s pathetic and letting their greed become so apparent to the public is not a good look. It certainly has shattered any good image I’ve had of them. If they continue to do so, I have a feeling I won’t be the only one.
I wasn't really sure what this article was making me feel until I read the beginning of Elinore's comment, which really just sums up the frustration a lot of people have been feeling with Disney and other major licensing companies. I know it is probably a move to improve their public image, but I still really respect Bob Iger's response to the situation. It gives me some hope that they are recognizing that this was wrong, and maybe this instance will influence their policies on licensing in the future. However, it is really sad that this had to happen in the first place. It is understandable that companies want to be fairly compensated for their product and loosening policy probably hurts smaller studios more, but this is really such a perfect example of how capitalism ruins companies that are made with the purpose of spreading joy or art or whatever their mission is. The only solace I can find in this situation is that companies are also learning that being terrible isn't going to be as easily ignored as it was 10 years ago because the public's standards and expectations have risen to mandate that companies earn the support they receive.
Like Mitchell and Elinore I am so frustrated at Disney because they have so much money and asking the school to pay money that they need really just seems ridiculous. When I read the first article about this I really didn’t think Disney would ever make a comment on this situation, so I am glad that the CEO did apologize. I hope that this whole situation will cause Disney to look at their place in the world and see that they have so much power to do good and I hope they stop spending so much effort on little things like this will get noticed by the public. I am glad that so many people are standing behind this school and making Disney aware that they aren’t okay with what they are doing. Maybe Disney’s licensing policies need to be more lenient in situations like this or they need to be more well-known because like the PTA said, they did not know they were breaking the law by showing this movie at their fundraising event.
Disney literally will not benefit from the loss of $250. I am not actively advocating for copyright violation, but it is my personal belief that when it comes to corporations like Disney, any loss of profit they incur from piracy is inconsequential compared to the wild amounts of money they rake in from tossing a half-baked movie into the public sphere once every couple months, not to mention their numerous theme parks, as well as all the convoluted contracts with various other companies, and the subsidiaries they own. I do appreciate Bob Iger's response, and I sincerely hope it came from a place of candor as opposed to PR necessity. I cannot speak to the Disney from my childhood and before, but Disney now is overwhelmingly capitalistic. Maybe it was the same way before, but its underbelly is now exposed to a public with growing awareness of corporate greed.
This whole situation has me slightly confused. I’ve been aware of licensing laws for public presentations of films so that the studio is getting money from people to watch it. It’s the kind of law that places like libraries have to abide by when they have digital content like e-books or audiobooks. They have limits in place of how many people have access to the content because of how many licenses they own. What confuses me about this situation however is that there are many kinds of events and fundraisers that display content like this without a proper license and seemingly get away with it. I wonder what was so different about this common situation that warranted the licensing company getting involved. I have seen many movies in my schools that were presented without the proper license and nothing came from those events. It is good however that Bob Iger donated.
I'm glad that they apologized. I skimmed over the first article that talked about the process of Disney going after this school but I was happy to read that Disney felt that what they did might have been a little much. It was a little weird to see a huge company go after such a small amount of money. (They properly lost more money in merchandising and bad publicity when the costumers at the school gained a negative view of the company). I do believe in the importance of protecting copyright but when a company is making as much as Disney, do they really need to do that to an elementary school? (Which they realized and publicly apologized which is nice to see) Sometimes grade school and teachers just can’t get a break, they are paid so little and when they try and raise a little money they are met with something like this.
Like other commentore, I’m really frustrated with Disney and how it has evolved from a groundbreaking and creative studio that created many of the classic films of our childhoods into a giant corporation that seems to exist for the sole purpose of accumulating money. This specific example is particularly frustrating, not least because the CEO in question’s response was that he would “donate to their fundraising initiative”. Seriously? It’s an elementary school that can’t afford $250 and you, who make $15 million per year, are “donating” part of it instead of waiving the fee, covering it entirely, or realizing that the policy itself is exploitative? The other side of this is Disney’s recent move towards live-action remakes of its classic animated films, which are annoying for several reasons - they generally don’t capture the magic of the originals (there may be a reason they were animated in the first place), the CGI is clunky and trying to stay ‘realistic’ in films about talking animals, leading them to feel lifeless, and they are a pretty transparent ploy to extend their copyright on the characters and keep them from passing into the public domain. Their aggressive lobbying has literally changed copyright law for the entire country several times over the years specifically to keep Mickey Mouse as their property. If Disney wants to return to being the magical company it thinks it is, it needs to focus less on money and more on taking risks and creating innovative new content, but it doesn’t.
I had heard about this situation through chatter with friends and our debate centered around what Disney “should have done. If everyone could host a movie event to make money the movie itself would not make any money. There had to be a way to communicate that it was wrong to show the movie. We discussed that the school had broken the law and there had to be a way to protect the intellectual property of Disney. On the other hand, Disney has the resources to determine a fine based on an organization's ability to pay. At the same time, there could be a warning system implemented so that upon the first offense there could have been a warning so that the school was aware that they had broken the law. There are so many ways that the situation could have been handled better. It’s very clear with this situation if there had been no public outcry the response from Disney would be very different.
I’m glad to see this update to the story I commented on last week. I remember commenting that though I agree copyright laws were broken, Disney is too big of a company to be so greedy over a mere $250 from a primary education institution. I think people may be a little overdramatic about this story in particular, considering the PTA should’ve known they can’t just screen a movie like that at a public event and that Disney is only trying to protect its interests. However, I am glad the CEO took a look at this particular situation and realized there was no malicious intent. The thing about laws is that there are always exceptions to things, but being able to individually screen every single situation for its unique circumstances is just impossible. Like I said, though, I am very happy this situation was resolved. I think people need to get some more education on copyright laws, especially regarding notoriously strict companies like Disney and Nintendo.
While I understand the idea of copyright and want to respect people who are trying to earn a living off of their art, I think this situation is absolutely absurd. It almost brings about the question of where the line is between a “showing” and someone just watching a movie they bought. Honestly, this argument between the elementary school and Disney, seems less about the $250 fee but more about Disney showing just how powerful they really are and what they are able to do. As others have mentioned, Disney is subject of lots of pirating of movies and television shows, so from that aspect I understand the frustration over loss of revenue, but Disney is also a Fortune 500 company and massive organization that dominates the capitalistic and over-commercialized world that will not be hurt by an absence of $250/ performance charges that they already got paid for in box office and DVD sales. I am glad Disney ultimately checked itself, but there’s also something to be said for the damage in publicity that has already been done.
10 comments:
Thinking about the Disney I knew as a kid and the Disney I know now is such a bizarre train of thought to have. The company that once brought me such joy and wonder now sickens me with its shamelessly greddy control over the entertainment industry. The fact that they felt the need to attempt to sue a school for showing the movie for a fundraiser is frankly disgusting. Disney has bought every company in the book and overpriced all of their merchandise. They made another Lion King in a lazy attempt to cash in on the original’s title, forgetting to make an actually good film in the process. With all the cash they are already making, they decided it seems like a good idea to charge this innocent school for stupid reasons to gain even more money. It’s pathetic and letting their greed become so apparent to the public is not a good look. It certainly has shattered any good image I’ve had of them. If they continue to do so, I have a feeling I won’t be the only one.
I wasn't really sure what this article was making me feel until I read the beginning of Elinore's comment, which really just sums up the frustration a lot of people have been feeling with Disney and other major licensing companies. I know it is probably a move to improve their public image, but I still really respect Bob Iger's response to the situation. It gives me some hope that they are recognizing that this was wrong, and maybe this instance will influence their policies on licensing in the future. However, it is really sad that this had to happen in the first place. It is understandable that companies want to be fairly compensated for their product and loosening policy probably hurts smaller studios more, but this is really such a perfect example of how capitalism ruins companies that are made with the purpose of spreading joy or art or whatever their mission is. The only solace I can find in this situation is that companies are also learning that being terrible isn't going to be as easily ignored as it was 10 years ago because the public's standards and expectations have risen to mandate that companies earn the support they receive.
Like Mitchell and Elinore I am so frustrated at Disney because they have so much money and asking the school to pay money that they need really just seems ridiculous. When I read the first article about this I really didn’t think Disney would ever make a comment on this situation, so I am glad that the CEO did apologize. I hope that this whole situation will cause Disney to look at their place in the world and see that they have so much power to do good and I hope they stop spending so much effort on little things like this will get noticed by the public. I am glad that so many people are standing behind this school and making Disney aware that they aren’t okay with what they are doing. Maybe Disney’s licensing policies need to be more lenient in situations like this or they need to be more well-known because like the PTA said, they did not know they were breaking the law by showing this movie at their fundraising event.
Disney literally will not benefit from the loss of $250. I am not actively advocating for copyright violation, but it is my personal belief that when it comes to corporations like Disney, any loss of profit they incur from piracy is inconsequential compared to the wild amounts of money they rake in from tossing a half-baked movie into the public sphere once every couple months, not to mention their numerous theme parks, as well as all the convoluted contracts with various other companies, and the subsidiaries they own. I do appreciate Bob Iger's response, and I sincerely hope it came from a place of candor as opposed to PR necessity. I cannot speak to the Disney from my childhood and before, but Disney now is overwhelmingly capitalistic. Maybe it was the same way before, but its underbelly is now exposed to a public with growing awareness of corporate greed.
This whole situation has me slightly confused. I’ve been aware of licensing laws for public presentations of films so that the studio is getting money from people to watch it. It’s the kind of law that places like libraries have to abide by when they have digital content like e-books or audiobooks. They have limits in place of how many people have access to the content because of how many licenses they own. What confuses me about this situation however is that there are many kinds of events and fundraisers that display content like this without a proper license and seemingly get away with it. I wonder what was so different about this common situation that warranted the licensing company getting involved. I have seen many movies in my schools that were presented without the proper license and nothing came from those events. It is good however that Bob Iger donated.
I'm glad that they apologized. I skimmed over the first article that talked about the process of Disney going after this school but I was happy to read that Disney felt that what they did might have been a little much. It was a little weird to see a huge company go after such a small amount of money. (They properly lost more money in merchandising and bad publicity when the costumers at the school gained a negative view of the company). I do believe in the importance of protecting copyright but when a company is making as much as Disney, do they really need to do that to an elementary school? (Which they realized and publicly apologized which is nice to see) Sometimes grade school and teachers just can’t get a break, they are paid so little and when they try and raise a little money they are met with something like this.
Like other commentore, I’m really frustrated with Disney and how it has evolved from a groundbreaking and creative studio that created many of the classic films of our childhoods into a giant corporation that seems to exist for the sole purpose of accumulating money. This specific example is particularly frustrating, not least because the CEO in question’s response was that he would “donate to their fundraising initiative”. Seriously? It’s an elementary school that can’t afford $250 and you, who make $15 million per year, are “donating” part of it instead of waiving the fee, covering it entirely, or realizing that the policy itself is exploitative? The other side of this is Disney’s recent move towards live-action remakes of its classic animated films, which are annoying for several reasons - they generally don’t capture the magic of the originals (there may be a reason they were animated in the first place), the CGI is clunky and trying to stay ‘realistic’ in films about talking animals, leading them to feel lifeless, and they are a pretty transparent ploy to extend their copyright on the characters and keep them from passing into the public domain. Their aggressive lobbying has literally changed copyright law for the entire country several times over the years specifically to keep Mickey Mouse as their property. If Disney wants to return to being the magical company it thinks it is, it needs to focus less on money and more on taking risks and creating innovative new content, but it doesn’t.
I had heard about this situation through chatter with friends and our debate centered around what Disney “should have done. If everyone could host a movie event to make money the movie itself would not make any money. There had to be a way to communicate that it was wrong to show the movie. We discussed that the school had broken the law and there had to be a way to protect the intellectual property of Disney. On the other hand, Disney has the resources to determine a fine based on an organization's ability to pay. At the same time, there could be a warning system implemented so that upon the first offense there could have been a warning so that the school was aware that they had broken the law. There are so many ways that the situation could have been handled better. It’s very clear with this situation if there had been no public outcry the response from Disney would be very different.
I’m glad to see this update to the story I commented on last week. I remember commenting that though I agree copyright laws were broken, Disney is too big of a company to be so greedy over a mere $250 from a primary education institution. I think people may be a little overdramatic about this story in particular, considering the PTA should’ve known they can’t just screen a movie like that at a public event and that Disney is only trying to protect its interests. However, I am glad the CEO took a look at this particular situation and realized there was no malicious intent. The thing about laws is that there are always exceptions to things, but being able to individually screen every single situation for its unique circumstances is just impossible. Like I said, though, I am very happy this situation was resolved. I think people need to get some more education on copyright laws, especially regarding notoriously strict companies like Disney and Nintendo.
While I understand the idea of copyright and want to respect people who are trying to earn a living off of their art, I think this situation is absolutely absurd. It almost brings about the question of where the line is between a “showing” and someone just watching a movie they bought. Honestly, this argument between the elementary school and Disney, seems less about the $250 fee but more about Disney showing just how powerful they really are and what they are able to do. As others have mentioned, Disney is subject of lots of pirating of movies and television shows, so from that aspect I understand the frustration over loss of revenue, but Disney is also a Fortune 500 company and massive organization that dominates the capitalistic and over-commercialized world that will not be hurt by an absence of $250/ performance charges that they already got paid for in box office and DVD sales. I am glad Disney ultimately checked itself, but there’s also something to be said for the damage in publicity that has already been done.
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