It bugged the heck out of me when I learned that Michael Jackson had purchased the Beatles' song catalog. That may be why there was little or no heck left in my system when I found out that Disney was buying Lucasfilm. Four billion dollars worth of Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, and copyrights to go along with them. As part of this engulf and devour move, Disney has announced that the next chapter in the Star Wars saga, Chapter Seven, will be released in 2015. If there was a trace of heck left in my system, that pretty well bounced it right out of there.
Please understand, I have worshiped at the temple of Mouse for most of my life. My first monster mask was purchased at the magic shop in Disneyland. Even then I wondered how the Universal Studios depiction of Frankenstein's monster could find its way to the shelves in the happiest place on earth. These were the days before intellectual property, I suppose. Ideas and images just floated around freely, with little or no hindrance, stopping only long enough to entice or inspire before moving on. This was before there were laws and lawyers. Or so I'm told.
Since then, the attorneys for the Mouse have been very busy. They landed in Times Square and malls across America. Then Star Tours opened up at Disneyland. Corporate Synergy. Indiana Jones followed a few years later. Then they bought up the Muppets. And then they bought Marvel Comics. Disney bought Pixar, or was that the other way 'round? All of a sudden, Mickey is palling around with Darth Vader, Kermit the Frog and Spider Man. As the center grows ever more massive, the pop culture universe is collapsing around its Disney core. In entertainment Monopoly, as soon as Disney gets a hotel on Park Place, the game is over. Maybe they can make a deal for the estate of Michael Jackson. Just don't let me catch Jar Jar Binks putting out any Beatles tribute albums, or I might go into heck foreclosure.
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