In this essay, I will be focusing on a distinct division of The Walt Disney Company, ( also known as Disney) the mammoth conglomerate media company, Marvel Studios, which has risen to the forefront of popular film culture in the 21st century. Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly Marvel Films, was formerly a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, purchased by Disney in 2009, eventually becoming its own separate branch which is dedicated to producing films based on the popular Marvel Comic Books (Savage). This case study will focus solely on Marvel Studios as a subsidiary, not the entirety of the Marvel Company.
Firstly, I will be linking, examining and critiquing the effectiveness of the visible presence, ideology and iconic figures of Marvel Studios…show more content… Although the application of ideology is not directly applicable to the analysis of Marvel Studios, as it does not have a set slogan, unlike its parent company Disney, more subtle ideologies are presented by Marvel Studios instead. Marvel focuses specifically on the genre of superhero films, and have had “a range of players- from industry to audience, critics to filmmakers- interact to shape genre conventions over time” (Holt, Parren: 10) as put in Media Industries: History, Theory, and Method, each Marvel Studios film retains conventions which are proven to be wildly successful with audiences (Box Office Mojo), such as the shared cinematic universe, a genre which Marvel Studios pioneered in the superhero film genre (Han). This is significant as Marvel Studios’ competitor, DC Films, a faction of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., a competitor of Disney, also focuses on the genre of superhero movies. Marvel, however, because of its mastery of the genre, has far outranked DC Films (Foster). A study conducted by the technology company show that audiences physically respond more positively to Marvel Studios movies than DC, due to elements such as character familiarity and popular music played in its films (Katz ). This dominance is even mocked by audiences, with memes such as seen in Figure 2 being made, reinforcing Marvel…show more content… Marvel Studios certainly benefits from its position in Disney, as to make a Marvel Studios film of the current expected caliber, “considerable costs are incurred before producing any revenue requires that media industries to pursue a range of funding mechanisms in order to finance these costs” (Havens, Lotz, 103), as evidenced in the budget figures in Figure 5. Being funded by a conglomerate company is a competitive edge to Marvel over any other studios producing superhero films, and as Disney expands even further, potentially passing the resources of Warner Bros., its aforementioned competitor, Marvel Studios would be well resourced to the superior producer of its film genre.
Figure 5: (MCU Twitter)
In summation, what I see can be concluded from the case study of Marvel Studios is that overall as a subsidiary they are a key source of profit for Disney, as they prove strengths in their ideology of being the prominent superhero film producer as well as fostering effective audience connections. Marvel Studios does have weaknesses, however, in its legislation restrictions and potential figurehead