AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.: Real-Life Rising Tide Wants Disney To Change Name

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.: Real-Life Rising Tide Wants Disney To Change Name

It turns out that there is a real activist group out there named the Rising Tide. The real Rising Tide have launched a petition to ask Disney to change the name of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s villainous organization with the same name. Check it out..

By Abary - Oct 06, 2013 07:10 AM EST
Filed Under: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Source: Wired



The fact that there is a real group called the Rising Tide isn't the weirdest part. The real-life Rising Tide is also an Activist Group, and they don't seem too thrilled at the way the activist community in general is depicted in the Disney series. The Rising Tide has picked up chapters in the U.S., U.K., and Australia since their formation in 2000. The group estimate over fifty active local chapters in North America. They aim at combating climate change and reliance on fossil fuels through nonviolent direct action. The group claims Disney is co-opting their name and logo in their depiction of a shadowy cyber-terror group on the show. As you can see from the picture at the side, they both have pretty similar logos. The petition has gained over 800 signatures since last weekend. On its larger concerns about the way activists are portrayed in mainstream media and culture, the real Rising Tide said:

“In this spinoff of the popular Avengers movie series, Rising Tide is a shadowy cyber-terror group similar to Anonymous. Their role in the show is to expose super humans, like the Hulk and Thor, and secret government agencies like S.H.I.E.L.D. In our estimation, exposing governmental secrets and lies is a most worthy pastime and similar to what groups like WikiLeaks and Anonymous have done in real world. Unfortunately, the series plays to our mainstream culture’s fears around anarchists and radicals, and portrays the group as a threat to national security. Some reviews call the group ‘cyber-terrorists.’ This is par for the course in a Hollywood that uses pop culture to turn government agents into heroes and seekers of truth, justice and ecological sanity into evildoers."


Because it also appears to be an activist group, and one that is portrayed as a danger to the heroes of the show, the real Rising Tide doesn't want to share it's name with the Rising Tide of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “The show’s shadowy main threat, as described in the publicity materials, has the same name as our group — it also has a logo that looks very similar to ours — and is described as a hacktivist group, similar to Anonymous,” said Parkin. “[But] we’re very much above ground, and work with front line communities, including people who live next to mine sites or pipelines… We don’t want to be seen as a ‘shadowy terrorist organization.’” The Rising Tide hasn't heard from Disney regarding the 'issue' or even Marvel. But even though they haven't heard from them, they are getting a lot of hate from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans on Social Networking sites like Twitter. “On social media, we’ve actually gotten attacked quite a bit by fans of the show,” Parkin said. “We’re getting tagged in tweets that tell us that we don’t know what we’re talking about, that they wish we’d go away.”



Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television and will premiere on Tuesday, September 24th at 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time on ABC Network.
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ruadh
ruadh - 10/6/2013, 7:47 AM
B-O-O-H-O-O...eh, get over it. It's like free publicity.
russburlingame
russburlingame - 10/6/2013, 8:00 AM
ruadh: Please know that anytime anybody ever says, "It's like free publicity," it's not. And you're wrong. This is the same nonsense excuse that Fox used when they cribbed Jonathan Coulton's arrangement of a song for "Glee." If it's not credited, it's not publicity.

CoulsonLives: So, because a real-life organization that's been doing their thing for more than a decade didn't know before a TV series aired that the TV series in question was going to appropriate their name and a semblance of their logo, they should have no recourse? Remember, not everyone on the planet is enough of a fanboy to have been keyed into a viral campaign for a TV show.
PsyGuy
PsyGuy - 10/6/2013, 8:16 AM
@russburlingame

They don't own "Rising Tide". Also, their name is Rising Tide North America. The 800 people have no case.
EdgyOutsider
EdgyOutsider - 10/6/2013, 8:24 AM
Loved the first two episodes. At least it's not awful and boring as shit. Very entertaining and fun watch.
StrangerX
StrangerX - 10/6/2013, 8:38 AM
Well it all comes down to who holds the trademarks and rights to the name. My guess is this could look ugly for Marvel and Disney if someone didn't do their homework. I see someone getting sued.
Luminus
Luminus - 10/6/2013, 8:42 AM
Luminus
Luminus - 10/6/2013, 8:43 AM
FirstAvenger
FirstAvenger - 10/6/2013, 9:05 AM
Change the name to HYDRA.
ruadh
ruadh - 10/6/2013, 9:09 AM
@russburlingame

It IS free publicity. ABC basically paid for their name to get out there. I, like how ever many others who watched this show, had no idea this group existed. Now I do. They paid nothing for that. Free publicity.
ruadh
ruadh - 10/6/2013, 9:11 AM
@BatmanRobinNightwing

That's a completely different thing. Coke is a brand, they own the name. Rising Tide is a concept. Are they making money with that name? Do they own the intellectual rights to it?

If anything, it's like when they made Fight Club and found out there is one person named Marla Singer. They had to notify her that a character in their film shares the same name.
ruadh
ruadh - 10/6/2013, 9:26 AM
I don't think it's okay just because it's Disney. And it's not strikingly similar in a "they clearly ripped it off" way. It's similar in that...the name is the same, so they came up with the same wave concept. Really not a shock. Sometimes people come up with similar ideas.

Though I'd be VERY surprised if Disney hadn't researched it before they went to air.
russburlingame
russburlingame - 10/6/2013, 9:34 AM
@ruadh - Root root root for the home team, buddy. Alright, I gotcha.

You're probably right that Disney researched it before it went to air. As I noted on another site when I covered this earlier today, the fact that they had to come up with a tortured website name suggests they're very aware that there are other individuals or groups who have a claim on the name. I assume they simply decided that none of those were actionable, and if they can't get sued, they don't care.
russburlingame
russburlingame - 10/6/2013, 9:37 AM
@OldGreg - I doubt they'll even kick money to the group. They'll just threaten to go Gary Friedrich on them and bankrupt them with never-ending appeals and countersuits if there were ever a challenge. The group's rhetoric sounds a little to fringe-y for Disney to pay them off because then the right would accuse Disney of jumping into bed with left-wing etc. etc. etc.
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 10/6/2013, 9:39 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Tide_Studios
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Tide_Records


TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 10/6/2013, 9:44 AM
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 10/6/2013, 9:49 AM



DarkGrifter
DarkGrifter - 10/6/2013, 9:53 AM
"In our estimation, exposing governmental secrets and lies is a most worthy pastime and similar to what groups like WikiLeaks and Anonymous have done in real world. Unfortunately, the series plays to our mainstream culture’s fears around anarchists and radicals, and portrays the group as a threat to national security."

I'm not too bothered about the name issue, but the above quote does concern me. I haven't watched Agents of Shield yet so I'll reserve judgement until then but the last thing we need is a show that spreads the culture of fear by portraying a group like WikiLeaks in a villainous manner.
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 10/6/2013, 9:57 AM
First of all: The Rising Tide is NOT a terrorist group in AoS (At least, not yet). They've never shown doing anything wrong other than hacking the governement to "expose the truth".

Second, OMG! Two groups named Rising Tide have a tidal wave as their logo?! (Two Tidal Waves which don't look similar at all) What are the odds?!
ruadh
ruadh - 10/6/2013, 9:58 AM
@russburlingame
"Root root root for the home team, buddy. Alright, I gotcha."

I don't get this. I don't really care who the dispute is between, I just don't see it as an issue either way. Of course the activist group is going to make a stink, they have to in order to hold on to the name. And it also gets drums up more awareness, I don't blame them. At the same time, it's simply a name, with a wave logo. So I don't blame Disney either.
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 10/6/2013, 10:04 AM
By who?

Hill? Ward? The ones who don't like them? It doesn't make them terrorists just because a character says so. So far nothing in the show paints them as terrorists.
DarkGrifter
DarkGrifter - 10/6/2013, 10:18 AM
OldGreg
Well that is troubling, but as I said I'm going to give the show a chance because I haven't watched it yet so there's still a lot I don't know. I like to stay open minded but if they do go down that path I can't see myself having the patience to continue watching it.
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 10/6/2013, 10:24 AM
According to Resident Evil, Pharmacetical companies are evil.

According to lots of movies: The Governement is Evil, the Animal Rights Groups are Evil, the Military is Evil, Science is Evil, Religion is Evil, Liberals are Evil, Conservtives are Evil, Gays are Evil, Straights are Evil.

Of course, The Rising Tide will be antagonists in AoS, it's obvious. But you people should stop thinking that every single organization in fiction is supposed to represent ALL organizations of the same kind in real life.
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 10/6/2013, 10:36 AM
Oh, the Nazi argument... Here we go again...

The show is pretty neutral in my point of view. It shows that SHIELD ios not crispy clean. The "he can never know" shows that something fishy goes on. The Avengers also didn't paint them and the World Security Council in a good light.

Organizations are not hive minded entities. They can have bad inentioned people ane good inentioned people wotking on their ranks. Like Coulson (On SHIELD) and Skye (On the Rising Tide) on the good side and the WSC and whoever is in control of the Rising Tide on the fishy side.
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 10/6/2013, 10:37 AM
Sorry for the typos.
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