Amazon in Talks to Buy MGM as Major Corporations Seize Control of Film Libraries
With news of Amazon close to buying MGM, one has to be curious about the ownership of most of history’s films. Film libraries are in high demand as streaming is at all-time high popularity. Amazon, HBO, & Disney are buying up a majority of film libraries. If placing the rights of the people’s culture in the hands of the powerful doesn’t sit well with you, you’re not alone.
These corporations have more power than ever, make more money than ever, and prioritize money over everything else, more than ever before. There have been plenty of examples in the last few decades of corporations taking advantage of artists, not paying them their dues, and plenty more. Viacom is especially well known for this, whether it be the Dave Chappelle situation or even not paying All That stars their full due. Who knows what will happen to the films we love in the wrong hands.
Streaming services already polarize the culture into consuming too much variety in quality of content. There’s so much saturation in content today to where one person can be talking about a show that another person has never even heard of. That’s okay. People should enjoy what they want but it does put us in a different kind of polarized culture, than the more solidified one from the 1960s-2000s. Streaming isn’t a bad thing in theory. You have content you love that you can watch whenever you want. Some important historical content may not be marketed as it should be compared to some however. An original series will be prioritized in terms of marketing because they spent the time and money to make it.
These corporations could even lock away the content they own for whatever reason they may feel. They can do what they want with it. They own it. HBO recently decided to censor guns from Looney Tunes after all. Power to the people in all industries is essential. The opposite is a danger, a risk to human rights, and creative freedom. Bulletproof Soul intends to help the people prevent the film industry from being controlled by power-hungry oligarchs.