Disney+ Vs Apple TV+: Comparing The Two Newest Combatants In The Streaming Wars
What do you want out of a new streaming service? What matters most to you if you’re being wooed to drop a few more dollars a month on some new digital toy? For some of you, the answer might be a smooth, easy-to-navigate layout. Others might want a rich library of titles. (Some of you might feel like that well-used “Why not both?” meme is the answer.)The two new streaming service unveiled this month,Apple TV+andDisney+, run the gamut between those two extremes. One of the two services is all about the layout and your ability to swiftly shift from app to app, let alone title to title. The other is all about keeping you locked into the virtual property of the company that oversees it. Apple TV+ and Disney+ are not offering you the same thing. And only one of them is offering you therightthing.
Your Local Library
A Fresh Coat of Paint
Tech Support
A Wish Your Heart Makes
Where things get tricky and a bit more frustrating is that you wouldn’t have realized Disney+ offered these titles unless you knew to search for them. (Regarding the TV episodes, I can thank my podcast co-host/film critic Scott Renshaw, whotweetedabout the “Disneyland Around the Seasons” episode, thus alerting me to its streaming presence.) If the choices are that Disney+ posts these but essentially sneaks them in between the rest of the Disney Through the Decades collection, or Disney+ posts nothing at all, I’ll take the former option. But some kind of historical context and presentation would be ideal.The same is true of one of the most common phrases you will see on Disney+ if you go to the Details tab of many,manyolder titles: “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.” That phrase shows up whether you’re watching some of Disney’s animated classics (though not all, including, inexplicably enough, the 1992 animated filmAladdin), or theMickey Mouse ClubTV show from 1955. What it means, in as broad a way as possible, is that the show or film you’re about to watch trafficked in troubling, problematic and/or offensive stereotypes of racial, ethnic, or sexual concerns.A flashpoint for this, at least in terms of headlines online, was the 1941 filmDumbo, which some outlets alleged would be censored to remove the crow characters, who typified negative stereotypes of African Americans. Though the crowsareoffensive, they’re still part ofDumbo, which remains uncensored on Disney+. (Either this means that Disney chose not to censor the crows, or they were never going to do so and the reports were baseless. I vote for the latter, personally.) All that Disney has is that aforementioned two-sentence phrase. On one hand, it’s more than the studio had done in the past when releasing films likeDumbo,Peter Pan, orThe Aristocatson home media. On the other, it’s the kind of message most people likely won’t notice, in favor of just clicking Play and watching one of those films.
And Now, Your Host
Context, too, would be appreciated in the form of more special features. One of the tabs on some titles, “Extras”, does include commentary tracks…forsomefilms. (A counterexample, if I can cherry-pick, isThe Rocketeer, which has but one extra: …a clip of the film. Why not justwatchthe film?) Granted, some of the films in question had few if any special features on previous DVD or Blu-ray releases. Now, though, is an incredible time for Disney+ to createnewextra features for these films.In a perfect world, Disney+ could function as a digital Turner Classic Movies for the family set. Yes, darker or more challenging fare will be posted on Hulu instead of Disney+, but you may still learn about the history of some of these films in different ways. Posting introductions featuring someone like Disney critic/historian Leonard Maltin would be a perfect way to ease casual viewers into films that may surprise them upon watching them in 2019.In a perfect world, too, the battle between Disney+ and Apple TV+ would not be one-sided. Early technical issues aside, and the fact that its layout recalls Netflix often and clearly intentionally, Disney+ is the obvious winner here. The new content they offer isn’t incredible, but comes closer to appointment viewing than anything Apple TV+ has to offer. And seeing as middling shows isallApple TV+ has to offer, there’s not a true contest here. Disney+ had flaws to be ironed out on its opening day. But it also has a library of hundreds and hundreds of older titles, it has everything from big blockbusters to Disney Channel TV shows, and it looks comfortable and familiar. Disney+ is unsurprisingly a winner.
