FIQWS 10103
Stephen Sackey
Rhetorical Analysis Essay
2022/10/18
Phase 2 Cover Letter
I honestly came into this essay a bit close-minded because I felt like a lot of forms of media and entertainment had this kind of negative influence on everybody, so much so to the point where you kind of had to grow up and recognize for yourself if this is right or wrong. So, when focusing on this essay, I kind of had to take into mind the audience and their experiences watching shows when writing about this essay, because we were all children. I, myself, had some experiences with being influenced by things seen on TV, which definitely influenced me and what I thought about other cultures. My stereotypes inevitably grew stronger the more I watched shows, and it was not until I did some research that I realized that some shows I watched were totally wrong based on how they worded their stories.
When it came to digging for statistics, or it being shoved in my face just how many children watched shows, it hit me that these shows were so important and vital in the development of kids. For example, when the children didn’t know that these stories were changed and produced for them, it came as a surprise to them. For some shows, it even came as a surprise to me. This was very insightful because I am learning more about what I am writing about. This could also be a factor for linguistic and cultural discrimination as people grow up with certain beliefs about other cultures and their practices, which prevents them from learning these cultures or even going out of their way to do research about it.
Throughout the essay, I often felt myself stuck in some places, because I didn’t feel like I was in sync with some of what Lippi Green said, or even in general. I think my purpose writing this essay was not in sync with what her purpose was writing her article. It’s not that I disagreed with it, but it’s not like I fully agreed with it as well. I think this is the problem when I write essays; if it’s not something about what I personally believe in, and instead, is being written about someone else’s article, then I find it hard to write about it. It’s not my personal beliefs, nor my personal ideas, so I can’t write about it personally. I think this led me to improve my writing in some areas, mainly because I had trouble trying to gather someone else’s intentions for writing down in an article.
With this, I can say that it did help me a bit, and I felt as if my critical thinking skills improved. For example, one of the Course Learning Outcomes mention “Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.” I think this really helped me because with some notes and corrections, I felt like I better knew what to look for when it comes to analyzing someone else’s work, which made me think a bit smarter about it. With this reflection, I can say that it was definitely insightful, while still being a little boring. But to be fair, that’s everything.
Essay
Cultural appropriation is a controversial topic that has been discussed many times throughout the last century. Through music, TV series, structures, it is much prevalent. While being a massive corporation, Disney continues to utilize such cultures in their films, and rather than educating, they use it for profit with no regard to the effects on other people. With such movies being created, it ultimately affects the growth and mindset of children through creating such perceptions of other cultures, that of which children can pick up easily. With these studios and organizations profiting off of the many and diverse cultures around the world with no repercussions, it is a danger to children watching these films and forms of media as they can be easily influenced. Through Lippi Green’s “Teaching Children How to Discriminate,” it points and emphasizes the wrongdoings of Disney through their capitalization of cultures and their overall effects on kids. Green provides an array of details and components to build her argument and describe how these children’s lives are being affected, and it is to this piece of knowledge that we use to open our eyes to the damage behind the scenes. With her use of logos and ethos, she teaches us about their effect by utilizing statistics on just how much children spend watching TV shows, as well as questioning the credibility of Disney with ethos because of their influence on kids.
This article, constructed by Lippi Green, details the amount of negative influence placed on children watching such shows, as most of them did not even know the original stories and their true meanings. This meant that they were fixated on stereotypes created by films made by Disney. Through films like The Lion King, Mulan, Pocahontas, and many more. This is not merely just something done by Disney, but it has been done many times before they have entered the scene, and this way of filmmaking had clouded so many people and twisted a lot of stories.
With the start of the article, it is important to pinpoint how Disney can be able to amass such a large fanbase and maintain their grandiose revenue, and it is shown with logos just how Disney can be able to do this.. Lippi Green emphasizes just how much children watch TV shows, in which she notes that in a 2009 report, “children aged 2-5 watch more than 32 hours of television each week, while 6-11 year olds watch slightly less” (Green, 102). With the use of logos, this statistic is mentioned as it emphasizes just how much children watch shows. At an early age, a child is exposed to many of the films made for them, and one of the many producers include Disney. With this statistic in mind, it is no doubt that Disney is able to influence many children with their stories from other cultures since kids are sat in front of a TV screen for so long. In addition, it is here to indirectly tell the audience how their children can get such views and beliefs about a culture as TV shows and movies are able to gather so much of a child’s attention. Connecting back to the topic, her efficient use of statistics utilized from other sources displays logos as she brings it in to further prove her point of how children really do watch a lot of shows on TV, becoming affected and influenced by things displayed for them to watch. With Disney one of the main producers of shows targeted to those at a younger age, their influence is very much real, and it shows based on how children perceive these cultures based on films and shows being created.
Later in the article, Lippi Green utilizes ethos to debate Disney’s credibility as producers in the filmmaking field due to their obvious influence on children. In her chapter, she has experienced firsthand how children actually are very much influenced by what they see on television. To pinpoint, Green states:
In my own experiences teaching Disney film I have come across students who are under the impression that Beauty and the Beast was conceived and written in 1990 specifically to be animated in the Disney studios. They are surprised and sometimes unsettled to learn that the story was originally titled La Belle et la Bête (first published in France – in French – in 1740) (Green, 103).
Here, Lippi Green establishes her credibility as teacher, giving the audience some insight into how she has firsthand experienced the effect of Disney films on children. Here, the children are very much surprised that this story is not an original story created by Disney, but rather, a story taken and twisted in a way that can connect children to their films. Connecting back to the theme, it is shown here that there is a clear influence on children as they were surprised that there were original stories that these films were based on, films that they had not known of before. With utilization of ethos, it gives the audience assurance that Lippi Green knows what she is talking about, giving more credibility to her argument against Disney and cultural appropriation and its effect on people overall, which even hurts Disney’s credibility due to it being made clear that there are children that are being influenced by the films created by Disney that are based on older stories. However, many of these children do not know where the actual story came from, and they only know of the stories that have been twisted by Disney. With this information becoming more widespread, it hurts Disney’s credibility and reputation as producers in media, leading to more people becoming concerned about what their children are watching.
With attention to the intentions of Disney, as well as informing the audience of the effects of such intentions on children and people overall, this reading from Lippi Green is an excellent source regarding the true nature of such corporations. While these corporations may hold power and influence over many people like the children being discussed, it is important to know how they are being influenced, as well as the possible takeaways that these people may get from it. It was already stated that the children that Lippi Green worked with had thought that these were original stories made by Disney, so just how many other children grew up with this same idea knowing nothing about it? While it may be hard for corporations as big as Disney to admit to wrongdoings they have committed, it is vital to stay informed, so that twisted information does not linger anywhere.
