Land of the Giants

Vox

The Twitter Fantasy

  • 38 minutes 9 seconds
    Disney is a Tech Company?

    Streaming didn’t just change the way consumers watched movies and TV shows, it reconfigured how media giants operated, and how they saw themselves. If tech companies were disrupting old business models, perhaps Disney’s best move was to join the crowd.

    In our final episode, we look at how streaming has fundamentally changed Disney and prepared the company for the next 100 years of entertainment. 

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    14 August 2024, 8:00 am
  • 40 minutes 55 seconds
    Disney is Bob Iger's Company

    The Walt Disney Company has been led by eight different men in its century of existence. But few would object to the idea that only three have really mattered. Walt Disney, Michael Eisner, and Bob Iger have all made lasting impacts on the company, but how these executives went out also left an important impression. Why has Disney repeatedly struggled to get succession right – for one leader to pass the torch to a new one? And what do Bob Iger’s latest missteps tell us about why it’s so hard to let it go?

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    7 August 2024, 8:00 am
  • 41 minutes 37 seconds
    Disney is a Cinematic Universe Company

    Marvel and Star Wars are the crown jewels of Disney’s empire. They’re the highest-grossing movie franchises in history, with devoted fan bases and expansive IP universes, but right now, both are in a bit of a slump. As Disney asked for more and more content to satisfy its business needs, the creative process suffered, and these once mighty hit-making engines have slowed down. There hasn’t been a Star Wars movie in 5 years and this year, Disney’s only releasing a single Marvel movie - ‘Deadpool and Wolverine.’ 

    How did Disney get here? What will it take to rediscover the mojo? And how can Baby Yoda and a foul-mouthed, fourth-wall breaking Marvel character help get Disney’s IP machine pumping at the box-office again?


    EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this episode incorrectly stated that Disney acquired the Power Rangers franchise when it bought 21st Century Fox. Hasbro is the current owner of the franchise.


    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    31 July 2024, 8:00 am
  • 45 minutes 8 seconds
    Disney is an Animation Company

    Disney’s soul is arguably its animation studio, which has a 100-year track record of creating iconic characters and stories, and a distinct brand centered around “once upon a time.” Not so long ago, Disney produced films like "The Little Mermaid" and "The Lion King," catapulting animation into the mainstream while burnishing Disney's own brand as the premier animated film studio. But lately, those movies have felt lost and often, distinctly, "un-Disney." Recent box office flops like “Wish” are costly missteps that have a huge impact on Disney’s bottom line.

    With more studios producing animated films, and Disney having acquired Pixar, it’s not always clear what’s a Disney film anymore. So what makes a film a Disney film today, and why does it matter?

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    24 July 2024, 8:00 am
  • 44 minutes 1 second
    Disney is a Theme Parks Company

    These days the Walt Disney Company is mostly a theme parks company. About 70 percent of its operating income comes from its parks and other experiences like Disney Cruises. But the parks do something else: they help the company attach itself to our emotions, memories, and identities. How can Disney continue to strengthen this relationship in an era where data - not whimsy, fantasy, or even original IP - shapes so much of how we experience the world?

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    17 July 2024, 8:00 am
  • 39 minutes 34 seconds
    Disney is a TV Company

    When you think about Disney, your first thought isn’t “cable television giant.” But Disney’s broadcast and cable television holdings, especially ESPN, helped turbocharge Disney’s growth over the last 30 years. It was a formula that worked extremely well – until now. As more and more consumers cut the cable cord, Disney must reckon with declining assets and the hit to its bottom line.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    10 July 2024, 8:00 am
  • 2 minutes 52 seconds
    The Disney Dilemma

    Over the past 100 years, the Walt Disney Company has grown from a small animation studio to become one of the largest companies in the world, with an enviable history of creative and financial success. But as it's grown and acquired companies like Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm, can its winning streak continue? What has Disney lost in the process of getting so big, and can it sustain its high quality and brand loyalty at this enormous scale? 

    From Vulture and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Episodes drop every Wednesday beginning July 10th. 

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    26 June 2024, 8:00 am
  • 46 minutes 21 seconds
    Elon Saves Humanity

    In October 2022, Elon Musk made the world’s most expensive impulse purchase. His reasons for buying Twitter were murky at best, but in the story he tells now, he’s saving civilization. In the final episode of this season, we look at Twitter today, inside Elon’s fantasy. What happens when the world’s richest man buys the global town square - and announces that we are doing it all wrong?

    • Hosted by Peter Kafka (@pkafka)
    • Follow Land of the Giants on your favorite podcast app to get future seasons
    • Follow @voxdotcom for more coverage of X/Twitter and Big Tech

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    15 November 2023, 9:00 am
  • 49 minutes 35 seconds
    Havoc On the Platform, and Off

    Twitter employees had always imagined the platform would be used for social good. Their idea was that free expression on the internet would lead to good things. But after the 2016 U.S. election, that notion would be put under stress. And Twitter would have to grapple with the question: what happens when its powerful superuser - who also happens to be the most powerful person in the world - creates havoc on the platform?

    • Hosted by Peter Kafka (@pkafka)
    • Be the first to hear next week's episode by following Land of the Giants on your favorite podcast app
    • Follow @voxdotcom for more coverage of X/Twitter and Big Tech

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    8 November 2023, 9:00 am
  • 49 minutes
    A Million Different Twitters

    Twitter was created by its users, who invented features like the retweet and hashtag. These features helped create vibrant communities like Black Twitter and Comedy Twitter, but eventually, some groups exploited Twitter’s virality in order to intimidate and harass others online. In this episode: how Twitter became the best and worst place on the internet.

    EDITOR'S NOTE: This episode contains descriptions of sexual harassment and of graphic threats of violence. This section begins 9 minutes after the midroll break and lasts for about 5 minutes, or approximately 35:30 through 41:20.

    • This episode hosted by Peter Kafka (@pkafka) and Lauren Goode (@laurengoode)
    • Be the first to hear next week's episode by following Land of the Giants on your favorite podcast app
    • Follow @voxdotcom for more coverage of X/Twitter and Big Tech

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1 November 2023, 8:00 am
  • 41 minutes 44 seconds
    What We All Got Wrong About Twitter

    Twitter began life as an accident. In the beginning, even its founders weren’t sure what it was: the internet’s town square, a real-time information source, or the next Facebook, maybe? Twitter's power has always been misunderstood -- by its leaders, by its users, and lately, by the world's richest person.

    • Hosted by Peter Kafka (@pkafka)
    • Be the first to hear next week's episode by following Land of the Giants on your favorite podcast app
    • Follow @voxdotcom for more coverage of X/Twitter and Big Tech

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    25 October 2023, 8:00 am
  • More Episodes? Get the App
© MoonFM 2024. All rights reserved.