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Credit: DisneyFor years, the narrative around The Walt Disney Company was that it had “gone woke.” This argument started when Disney spoke out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, known by its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Shortly after, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called the company “woke Disney.”
However, that narrative continued as Disney started including LGBTQ characters in movies like Strange World (2022) and Lightyear (2022). The narrative continued as Disney cast an African American actress to play Ariel and a Latina actress to play Snow White.
However, since Disney made those decisions, there has been a new administration in Washington, and the nation has taken a decided rightward swing. Disney announced that it was scaling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs on the corporate level, and the company forced Pixar to get a transgender storyline from its new show, Win or Lose.
Disney has seen some success by abandoning politics and shifting to “anti-woke” shows. However, a segment of its most diehard fans is disappointed in this shift.
Business Insider spoke to more than a dozen “Disney adults” across the political spectrum about the company’s recent to the right and found that not everyone is happy about the changes.
Disney superfan Trisha Daab told Business Insider:
There’s a big audience out there that supports those initiatives and wants to see inclusivity, and they use their dollar to show their support for brands that support a world that is open and inclusive.
Many who saw Disney’s rightward shift were disappointed that marginalized people would no longer be included in the stories. However, they mostly wanted to see stories created around those people rather than shoving them as side characters in other people’s stories.
Shae Noble told Business Insider:
If every Disney movie was, let’s just say the story of Snow White, and it was the same look, the same characters, the same storyline–it’s not interesting anymore, and it’s not reflective of the population.
However, many “Disney adults” did not think the country or parents were ready to discuss the characters that Disney was including in its movies and television shows. For years, Disney avoided those controversial topics, and it appeared to some that they were “overcorrecting.”
Max Traughber-Crismon said:
Disney overcorrected with in-your-face social messaging. It’s trying to put every personality, every gender, everything into one thing versus saying ‘Hey, we can have differences, and it’s OK not to include everybody with everything.
Despite their difference of opinion, these fans want to see Disney continue making great content, whether it includes the messages they want to see or not.
Do you think Disney is ‘woke’ or ‘inclusive’? Let us know in the comments.