Disney and the Media Industry

In today’s ever-changing media market, a few select conglomerates have emerged to control much of what we see on screen and in print, including that of movies, newspapers, radio, magazines, and television. The Walt Disney Company, founded in 1923, is such a prominent fixture in today’s market, with holdings such as ABC, Touchstone Pictures, and even the NHL team, the Mighty Ducks. Today the company is separated into four major divisions, “studio entertainment, parks and resorts, consumer products, and media networks”. (Corporate.disney.go.com) With such a varied grasp, it is easy to understand why such companies have both economically flourished, but for some critics, deteriorated the art and individuality of media itself.

Founded by Walter E. and Roy O. Disney, The Walt Disney Corporation emerged from humble beginnings. Originally dubbed the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio on October 16, 1923, the Disney brothers created a successful series of cartoons featuring a small girl named Alice. After a few years, the now renamed Walt Disney Studio developed a studio of it’s own with a new main character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. However, due to the Disney’s earlier agreement to their distribution company, Disney Studios legally had no rights to their new popular character, and therefore lost both their animators and their rights to Oswald. Despite their earlier problems, the Disney brothers moved on created a new character, Mickey Mouse. “Walt designed the famous mouse and gave him a personality that endear him to all” (Corporate.disney.go.com) After the addition of sound, Disney showed his first short film, Steamboat Willy on November 18, 1928 to rave reviews. After a string of successful Mickey movies, including that of Silly Symphonies, the Walt Disney Studio began merchandising its movies, moving into their second division, consumer products. Stationary, dolls, watches, even toothbrushes all appeared donning the lovable Mickey Mouse, with the idea that now everyone would be able to “own” a Mickey of their own. (Corporate.disney.go.com) In 1930 Disney the first Walt Disney book was produced, moving their big screen stories to the written pages, enabling a much wider and diverse audience. Following such a positive reaction to the Mickey Mouse films and merchandising, the Walt Disney Studios embarked a full-length feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This was the turning point for Disney; from there motion pictures such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo were all released in years to come, establishing the Studio as a major media player.

At this point, the Walt Disney Studio began to move in yet another direction, this time into the development of theme parks and resorts. The original Walt Disney resort, Disneyland, coined after their small screen hit of the same name, was opened on July 17, 1955 in California. With attractions stemming from the vast Disney movie library, including life size representations of the characters themselves, the park was an immediate hit. Surrounded by Bambi, Dopey, and Dumbo the park of course centered on their original character, the beloved Mickey Mouse himself. Years later, after the unfortunate death of company co-founder, Walt Disney, his brother and co-founder Roy continued on to develop on the Disney theme parks and resorts, with the opening of Florida’s Walt Disney World in 1971. Like Disneyland, this too was a success, so much that other parks were opened, this time internationally, with Disneyland Resort Paris, and Tokyo Disney Resort.

Today the Walt Disney Corporation has grown beyond movies, books, and theme parks to one of the top major media conglomerate internationally. With the acquisition of numerous television channels including that of the ABC Television Network, Buena Vista Productions and Television, A&E, The History Channel, and Lifetime, the Disney Channel has expanded far from Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Magazines such as Discover, US Weekly, ESPN: The Magazine, book publishers such as Hyperion, ABC Daytime Press, and Theia, and even sports teams such as the Anaheim Angels and the An

Anaheim Mighty Ducks all fall under control of the Disney. With such a varied control over so many media outlets, the concept of horizontal integration is greatly prevalent throughout the history of the Disney Studio. The recent release of Disney’s A Cinderella Story, is a great example of how Disney has used such practices to advertise or exploit a certain new project or film. The movie was created and produced by the Walt Disney Studio, advertised on television and radio stations owned by Disney such as ABC, Radio Disney, and the E! Entertainment Channel. Later, after the film is released probably on Buena Vista Home Video, again owned by Disney, it will most likely be shown on ABC, or ABC