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The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Is nostalgia, price of Disney Plus worth it?

It’s been almost a month since Disney launched their newest platform, Disney+, a streaming service similar to Netflix and Hulu but with all of the company’s owned content.

As it’s been out, I’ve tried to get a better sense of what this platform really is, and more importantly, if it is worth the price. So for many who don’t have access to it, or don’t have a roommate’s account to use, I’m here to give you the run-down.

The site itself is very comfortable for a viewer of other streaming services. It’s easy to navigate and you have your categories; Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic, and each of those have their own catalog of content.

The Disney section of the platform also includes an “out of the vault” section which is why a lot of Disney fans were excited. With this new site, Disney can market on the exclusivity of their most popular classic films. Movies I hadn’t seen since I was a toddler, like “The Jungle Book” and “The Sword in the Stone” are available on Disney+ as well as a range of other nostalgic Disney films.

I also think that with this idea of hardcore Disney fans, the platform is quite good at using fandom to secure their audience. You have “Star Wars” and “Marvel”, two of the biggest franchises with the most films, shows, and spinoffs. Fanbases like these with the highest loyalty are being targeted in order to have a collection of their favorites, as well as Disney+ originals, like the Star Wars series, “The Mandalorian.”

Disney+ originals are also a great way of maintaining audience loyalty. Like any other big streaming services, it’s become a trend for those platforms to have original content of their own and a good portion of it is well done. I for one, as a “Star Wars” fan am enjoying “The Mandalorian” and I know with the never-ending supply of Baby Yoda memes, other people are enjoying it too.

As I’ve explored, there’s really not much of a difference between Disney+ and Netflix or Hulu, except for the Disney content that is going to soon be exclusive to their streaming service.

Another major takeaway from my Disney deep dive is the amount that the site plays off of nostalgia of the viewer.

It’s both smart and sad to know that the reason so many people are willing to purchase a subscription to another streaming service is because they don’t want to lose access to movies from their childhood, or their favorite classics. It’s an interesting trend that corporations are capitalizing off nostalgia, with reboots of classic childhood films and the ever-growing demand for “retro” television shows and movies. As far as this trend continues, Disney is golden for making the ultimate nostalgic service.

After looking into Disney+, my final question is, is it worth it? If you are a hardcore Disney fan and having access to all the classics is important to you, go for it. However, if you’re a casual fan or don’t mind not having every single old Disney movie in one place, there are still other services that carry them. There are a lot of ways to stream movies today that certainly make it easy for college kids to reminisce on their childhoods and watch great content.

Danielle Kessler can be reached at [email protected] or @reserv0irpups on twitter.

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About the Contributor
Danielle Kessler, A/E Editor
Danielle has been part of the Arts and Entertainment team for three semesters and has really fallen in love with the craft of entertainment-style writing. A Journalism-News major minoring in cinema studies, she’s always had an interest in film. Her favorite movie is “Almost Famous” from which she learned to be “honest and unmerciful” in her writing. She enjoys writing reviews of movies, plays, musicals and drag shows as well as watching movies and tweeting in her spare time.

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    stzgists // Jul 23, 2021 at 7:09 am

    Disney plus is really stepping up its game and the marvel release is really helping it. After the end of Loki when the time keeper was killed I knew that it was going to change everything going forward for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe and it turns out I was right the what-if series will e based on the different universe created after female Loki killed the one who remained.

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