Almost three years ago, beloved writer Terry Pratchett tragically passed away. Last year, as per his last will and testament, all his unfinished works were destroyed. The Discworld series remains as he left it, a masterpiece of comedy, fiction, social commentary and criticism of culture. Although some people may be sad that there will be no more stories in the series, this act must appreciated. Because in the end he embodied Discworld, it was his creation, it was his gift to the world, to us all. This is something you won't see all that often in the future, because few creators can afford to own their own creations anymore. Even in the age of the internet, and until we fully switch to a decentralized distribution method, similar to Steemit, people dreaming of having their creations actually seen by others in a way that can actually get them a profit, so they can focus on creating, must sign away the rights to their works to larger companies.
These companies aren't the ma' and pa' corner publisher. They aren't owned by your friendly neighbor, they aren't owned by people that have real passion for helping get their creations out there and make a tidy profit in the process. They're huge corporations owned by shareholders: by soap salesmen, by hedge fund managers, by investment banks, by paper towel makers, by people with no ties to the field in which that company operates, but usually with a lot of interest in meddling and maximizing profit. The company exists only to make a profit, or to put it in the proper term, to increase shareholder value. And to accomplish that, it will do anything. To have such an entity exert control over someone's elses creation can lead to difficulties.
Take for example the Metal Gear series. Hiedo Kojima's pride and joy. A wonderful series that was supposed end with MGS2. It didn't. Kojima was convinced to make another one, and we are very thankful for it, because MGS3 is one of the best games ever created, a true gem that enriches gaming and culture in general. Then Konami really wanted one more. Kojima didn't. But Konami really, really, really wanted one. So he was forced to do one. And he hated it, and you can sort of see that hate in the game. And then they made him make another one, promising that this time it will be the last, for real. So he did. And Konami started to meddle. So what we got in the end wasn't even a complete game. And then they went on to make games without him, and we got that zombie survival Metal Gear thing... because that's what the series is about, right, that's what we need from a series that predicted the utter decay of humanity in the informational age, another zombie shooter. Still, this is about as benign it gets. Sure, Kojima doesn't have the rights to the series he created and can't ever do anything with it, but what he did manage to make so far is superb.
But that's just one aspect of it, meddling with the creators work, with the creators intent. There is an even darker side to this. Culture. A lot of our current culture is centered around content created within the past 80-90 years that is not controlled by individuals. Books still are... some books... books that weren't licensed out to be movies and then have someone cram a sexy Shelob in the video game. But the majority of our culture is directly controlled by the corporations mentioned above. One in particular has a stranglehold on culture and is actively chocking it harder. That is, of course, Disney.
This company not only does it have its own creations, that are much beloved by all, like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, Frozen and many, many more, but it has also bought a lot of other things that have become within the last 20 years part of the mainstream culture, or is on the verge of doing that. Star Wars is a great example of that. George Lucas set the ground work with the first movie and now Disney is reaping the reward wholesale, because people that grew up watching it are now, for lack of a better word, indoctrinated.
They grew up loving Star Wars. And they Disney knows this. So it will use that love to fuel their empire. The old Star Wars fans are now adults, they have kids, they'll bring their kids to the movies, they'll buy the toys, they'll indoctrinate a new generation on their own, regardless if the new movies are actually any good. They have good bits, but they have many issues. This didn't work for Lucas himself, with the prequels. It wasn't the right time yet. People were expecting to be blown away, and what they got was catered towards kids before it got to the point where those people would be inclined to bring their kids, or even have kids. Still they were profitable movies. All of them were profitable movies. I know that you may cringe at the current Disney Star Wars movies being marketed alongside R2-D2 lettuce, or BB-8 cabbages. But George Lucas had already started banking more on merchandising than on the movies themselves since Return of the Jedi. That's why we got Ewoks. That's why Han Solo didn't die in Episode 6. Selling toys was the priority. The fact that now it's gone insane is another and utterly disturbing matter. One that is tied to the indoctrination of a new generation into being consumers of all things Star Wars without actually processing them first. Thinking about things critically becomes discouraged, it becomes something to be mocked and shunned. The community created by the corporation for its product is built to not just to consume and buy the product, but to love it as well. Disney especially has the obsession of being loved. They know that once you get a kid to love something, they'll be adults one day that will do the indoctrination for them. A perpetual motion machine of culture that keeps getting bigger and bigger that will always be in the control of Disney. Culture is what Disney says. And we allow it, because at this point it may be a bit too late to fight against it. It is a media empire that owns several generations of people. Much like Apple owns middle and upper class twats, much like Nintendo owns anyone that likes platformers and worshiping a fat italian genocidal plumber like he was our lord and savior Mickey Mouse.
Out of all of Disney's creations mentioned earlier, you've probably noticed that a bunch of them aren't really their creations. They weren't concocted by the Walt Disney Corporation. Instead, they are adapted from old fairy tales that are in the public domain and used to be the basis of our culture. Used to be, because who's going to read to their kids The Little Mermaid or 1001 Arabian Knights, whey they can put on Disney's version and shut the little brats up for two hours? Disney is taking from the public domain while doing its darnedest to not give anything back. Mickey Mouse, for example, should have been in the public domain by now. But the company got an extension thanks to the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, for which it lobbied alongside the recording industry, to extend copyright to forever minus one day. So that nothing goes back to the public domain, so that nothing returns to the foundation of culture from which other creations can rise. Thankfully, the extension of copyright isn't forever minus one day, and is actually do to expire next year in the case of Mickey Mouse, unless Disney gives a billion dollars to the right people in the US Government and there's a surprise extension. And even if they don't, there's still the Trademark, which can be extended on a 10 year basis until the end of time. So if you're expecting to be able to make your own Mickey Mouse cartoon next year without being devoured alive by a lawyer, you may be in for a surprise. After all, regardless of what you may be lead to believe, the things that Disney makes aren't created by individuals, in the sense that the people coming up with the concepts don't really have rights over their creations. This is in contrat to how things should work. And, to be fair, Disney isn't the only entity doing this. All giant corporations are culpable. Take the opposition s an example, Warner Bros, that's doing its best to not pay royalties to the creators of a lot of DC Comics characters with shenanigans like changing names slightly. Going back to Star Wars a bit, you've probably noticed a similarity between Rogue One's Jyn Erso and Dark Forces' Jan Ors... in the sense that their names are oddly similar, and they're both at the center of the story of stealing the plans for the Death Star. The difference is that Jan Ors was created before the age of Disney, by LucasArts' game division, and they'd probably have to pay someone royalties of the character. Also for Kyle Katarn, which they replaced with some other bearded guy, that is 1000% less interesting. Because as long as there would have been a creator, as long as there would have been something or someone outside of the corporation that could claim any sort of ownership, even moral, then the corporation wouldn't have complete control over all of it, and that is something it abhors.
The only way to truly stop this is to stop indoctrinating children into culture controlled by corporations. There's plenty out there created by individuals, by actual people. And thanks to distribution networks like Steemit, it can work, because it sure wouldn't work with Youtube or the likes, since they are part of the corporate onslaught that aims to exert complete control over humanity.
In Hebrew we have a saying: "He with the money is he with the opinion."
What this means is that those with power and money will continue to invest it in creating a culture of consumption rather than inspiration. You can see it happening on steemit, not only in mainstream media.
Good post. Upvoted.
Very true and well put. Inspiration is not something you see all that often being given to people. It's something I've noticed in the past few years in my town especially. We used to have all sorts of shops for electronic hobbyists, for people that liked metalworking and woodworking, in general shops that gave people the means to creat something themselves. They're all gone now. Replaced by clothing stores, phone stores, or worse, sports betting parlors, pawn shops and pubs, usually right next to each-other. There's few things left to remind people that they can do things on their own.
Thank you for the upvote.
Fortunately, my little town still has plenty of places to buy stuff. Sure, you have to drive to the next town over for good wood but I have at least 2 home improvement shops within walking distance, 3 shops for arts and crafts and at least four for sewing and knitting. All have courses and stuff. We actually have more of those around town than cellphone shops. :)
I agree with you, a lot of what we love and crave is owned by large corporations whose main objective is profit above all else. What really upsets me is that as a society we trust these profit driven businesses do the "right" thing by their customers.. But as we see from EA, they see us only as cash cows, and will do whatever they can to brainwashing us to thinking that is whast we want. Like seriously, what gamer "likes" DLC. Last time I checked, when people pay for a game they want the full version, not one riddled with ads and microtransactions...
Anyway, just want to say great work mate. This was a realy good post. Followed :)