Disney Plus

Disney Plus has won over millions

Jose DOnate editor ig: joss.eeee As if Disney didn’t already own enough, it has recently joined streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime with their own service, Disney Plus. Between Nov. 12 and 13 of 2019, 10 million users were added to Disney Plus. With the low price of $6.99/month or $69.99/a year, it is surpassing the other streaming services which have been hiking up their prices.

Their library will contain not only new and classic Disney movies and TV shows, but also a whole new catalog from Marvel, Pixar, National Geographic and Fox. And like the other services, they will be creating their own original content, such as High School Musical the series, a Star Wars series and live action movies like Lady and the Tramp. Netflix has lost over three million subscribers transferring to Disney Plus. While Netflix still has a contract for Avengers: Infinity War, Thor: Ragnarok and other Marvel movies, those films will migrate over to Disney Plus when the contract runs out. Disney also bought controlling interest in Hulu, which has a large audience of live-streaming viewers. Disney is now offering a package deal of $12.99 which will include Hulu and ESPN. Even though Disney is associated mostly with family-friendly movies and animation, it does have instances of cultural insensitivity. Rather than ignore those movies, Disney Plus will include them, but with a disclaimer. “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Movies, such as Dumbo, include “The Song of the Roustabouts,” which shows several “African-American workers putting up the circus tent while singing about

their lack of education and penchant for drink.” (businessinsider.com) It also contains several crows “that speak in a jive-like dialect, the leader of which is actually known as Jim Crow.”

Peter Pan with its depiction of Native Americans and The Jungle Book with its characterizations of Black people portrayed as monkeys, along with several Mickey Mouse shorts are included in the Disney Plus collection with disclaimers.

Notably missing is the film Song of the South, “a

Baby Yoda in “The Mandalorian” on Disney Plus. Photo with permission Disney/TNS

movie deemed so inappropriate today, that it hasn’t been released on the new Disney Plus streaming service, and likely won’t ever be.” (businessinsider.com)

Since Disney Plus is still fairly new, its fate is not yet known; however it has made waves with its new Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. Both critics and audiences seem to be happy with the series rating it in the 90s on Rotten Tomatoes. The success of The Mandalorian and its “Baby Yoda” do indicate that Disney is on the right track.