P5 C

P5 C – Relevant Legal and Ethical Issues

Legal and ethical issues can make developing and producing a blockbuster film much more difficult than people would expect. Through the years, film companies have therefore learned the value of respecting legal and ethical norms; however, this does not mean that film companies such as Walt Disney Pictures do not run into their fair share of legal and ethical issues.

One legal issue that Disney will have been wary of during the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will have been copyright claims. When a film is in production; everything from the clips used down to the soundtracks used need to be original or granted for use via a written document from the owners of the content. Disney therefore would have had to of been extremely careful with what content was included within the final cut as something as simple as a brand being featured in the film without that brand’s consent would be enough for a viable copyright claim to be made against Disney, costing Disney precious time and money as well as potentially damaging their reputation as this would no doubt be covered by the media.

Another legal issue that would undoubtedly be on Disney’s radar is the potential for cast/crew members to be injured on set. Because the injury has taken place on set, the injured crew member is fully entitled to sue the film company they are working for due to a lack of health and safety standards which has led to the injury taking place. Walt Disney Pictures actually found themselves in this situation back in May 2014 when Harrison Ford got is body trapped under a hydraulic door used on the set of the Millennium Falcon. He suffered a broken leg and was out of filming for around 6-8 weeks, Disney got into a lot of trouble for allowing this to happen with four charges being brought against them by the Health and Safety department and were also forced to pay out £1.6 million as a result of the accident.

Although many ethical issues have now been eradicated or at least reduced since the release of the original trilogy (such as gender equality, racial diversity etc.), that doesn’t mean that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been without its ethical issues since its release in December 2015. Due to the massive child audience Star Wars has amassed over the last few decades, the inclusion of violence and death has led to the Star Wars franchise being heavily criticised by some critics because of the affect in can have on some young children. For example, throughout Star Wars: The Force Awakens; there is blood, characters being impaled with lightsabers, characters being shot and generally a lot of death being shown on-screen. This has therefore made some parents uncomfortable with letting their children watch Star Wars films as they do not want them to be exposed to any forms violence or aggressive conflict at that young of an age.