Hannah Brown Justin Young CMST 326 April 1, 2024. Consumerism or Progression: A Rhetorical Analysis on Woke Disney? Is Disney truly woke or are they simply capitalizing on people’s social movements as they progress over the years? This argument suggests that Disney neglects to address systemic issues but, focuses on correcting issues using meta-commentary that can turn into a profit for Disney itself. Disney’s wokeness is just, according to the author, woke marketing. She claims the company paints a warm blanket over their traditional values. This article will dissect the rhetorical strategies used to convey this argument. The author claims that Disney prioritizes profitability over addressing real systemic issues. While it remakes films and creates meta-commentary that …show more content…
This claim is supported by examples from various Disney productions. For instance, the “Dumbo” remake had so many unaddressed problematic issues, that the remake became so much different than the original. The scene where the people were pitching the tents and they said they work all the time and don’t read or write and are called hairy apes was not addressed in the remake. It was not addressed that Jim Crow and the other crows were written by white authors and voiced by white voice actors replicating black voices. It simply turns the black lucky feather white. Similarly, in "The Princess and the Frog," discrimination against Tiana is portrayed as isolated people considered bad apples instead of a systemic problem. However, they claim this can simply be rectified by good, rich people like the friend’s dad. You see other themes of systemic issues being corrected by good capitalists in her supporting themes with the Mary Poppins remake where the Banks were being saved by the good bank. Also, in The Lion King, they encourage segregation between the lions and hyenas and in her words “double down on it.” Additionally, they do make commentary in ways