Nov. 5-Nov. 11: Disney and Something Less Child-Friendly
The Walt Disney Company found itself in not one, but two, controversies this week. Also, Louis C.K. is exposed as another celebrity falls from grace.
Welcome to the Zeitgeist Chronicle. Every weekend we catch you up on the past week’s most interesting pop culture and news events. Sometimes it’ll be what everybody’s talking about, other times it may be something we’d like to bring attention to. Our goal is keep you informed enough to be able to have a conversation about any of these current events. This week:
The Business Side of the Entertainment Company
The Walt Disney Company found itself in the news this week for two unrelated issues and the timing didn’t do the company any favors as it overshadowed the release of Thor: Ragnarok, and may continue to be talked about until December’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The first was the talks of Disney buying 21st Century Fox, first reported by CNBC. While the thought of The Avengers (owned by Disney) fighting the X-Men (owned by Fox) sounds interesting (and a little messy considering the sheer number of characters), there are serious implications; the most notable being that there is no universe in which monopolies are a good thing.
The second was Disney banning the Los Angeles Times from advanced screenings of their films. That may seem like #FirstWorldProblems, but it’s significant because it was a response to several investigative reports about Disney’s business operation by the newspaper that Disney did not like.
By banning the Los Angeles Times from advanced screenings of their properties, Disney tried to punish them by putting a dent in their traffic, which then subsequently puts a dent in their wallets for doing their jobs and reporting a story that Disney hasn’t even asked to be retracted or corrected.
Movie and television criticism is definitely not as important to society as things like political journalism, but it does have a role in society, and it’s arguably more beneficial to business entities like Disney than they are to newspapers like the Los Angeles Times, generating publicity for them.
Since the ban was made public, other publications like The New York Times and The A.V. Club have stood in solidarity with the Los Angeles Times, opting to withhold from reviewing Disney properties until Disney publically rescinded the ban, which Disney has since done. As the next section illustrates, pop culture journalism is important, more so than ever.
Sexual Assault Allegations, Continued
“In true Hollywood fashion, there are sequels”, writes The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis, on the continuous wave of Hollywood exposés. First, it was one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood: Harvey Weinstein.
Last week, it was Academy Award winner and renowned actor Kevin Spacey.
This week, it was one of the most famous and well-respected comedians: Louis C.K. The allegations were once again first reported by The New York Times (respect to Jodi Kantor) and featured stories from five women who had crude encounters with the comic. Their stories were fairly similar: Louis C.K. would find a way to get a little privacy with these women, then pressure them into watching him masturbate, a theme pervasive in his comedy.
Since the allegations were made public, Louis C.K. has admitted that the stories are all true, and FX, who has several TV shows Louis C.K. is involved in, has cut ties with him. Preempting the report, Louis C.K.’s new movie, I Love You, Daddy, a homage to Woody Allen, a Hollywood figure with his own shady history, was completely dropped.
This comes after it was announced this week that Kevin Spacey is set to be completely removed from the upcoming Ridley Scott movie, All the Money in the World, and replaced by Christopher Plummer. If it seems to be in poor taste to carry on with a movie that so heavily featured a now-known serial sexual assaulter, just remember that other people put time into the projects, too. The show goes on.
