Jim on Film: Disney War
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In addition to the Walt Disney Company’s shameful recent past in its flagrant disregard for good business practice, Disney War highlights the danger in store for the beloved company. To those outside the company, Disney becomes a matter of assets—a brand name, a film library that can be bought or sold, a product to be manipulated. At one point in the story, when ABC Family is tanking and is in desperate need of programming, Eisner encourages executive Angela Shapiro to re-run an ABC dud that includes a man appearing nude. Just as if you violate the family label, you lose the definition of family programming, if you violate the Disney label, you lose the definition of what is Disney, the financial heart and soul of the company. If Disney merges with another company, for example, it risks losing the identity of Disney. If it acquires distribution channels that distribute pornography, it’s going to lose the identity of Disney. If Disney becomes an asset that can be bought and sold, the company going to lose the identity of Disney. Stewart’s criticism of Eisner is not that he has unintentionally worn luster off the Disney name, it’s just that he made so many choices that lost the company money. Stewart doesn’t fully comprehend what the Disney name means to so many people, and how decisions that seem fiscally sound or advantageous could and would likely work to destroy the core of Disney that makes it so profitable.
James B. Stewart’s Disney War is a fascinating read. For those who have followed the company’s recent history, it is essential reading, giving a detailed account of what happened inside the studio which leaves the reader with a feeling of, “Hey, I could run a major corporation, too!�? The excitement of Disney War is in its strong representation of Michael Eisner as a man who is predictable but never boring, a personality as vivid and absorbing as any created by Euripides, Shakespeare, or Eugene O’Neill. Because of this, it reads like an epic novel, full of fascinating characters and interesting plot turns. Furthermore, with its inside account involving movies, television shows, acquisitions, actors, and executives that have been prominent over the recent past, Disney War becomes a must-read behind-the-scenes account.
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-- Jim Miles
Jim On Film is published every other Thursday.
The opinions expressed by our guest columnists, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future of Disneyland and the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted April 11, 2005