As you haven’t included a driving question behind posting this webpage, I’m unsure how to approach the analysis of this webpage. However, I shall explore the extent to which the claims made on this section of the website are accurate and if the goals laid out have been brought to fruition. To begin, it’s relatively easy to assess the credibility of the author of this source: The Walt Disney Company is known around the globe as a source of family entertainment by way of its horizontally integrated contributions to mass media. With its generally positive, nostalgic, and family-friendly reputation in mind, it seems plausible that the information presented on this webpage is accurate (to a decent degree). After all, The Walt Disney Company is well aware of its global power as one of the most well-known mass media conglomerates, which would likely prompt it to maintain some amount of transparency in its public addresses because it knows it will be highly scrutinized if it presents false information. However, this isn’t a reason to interpret every claim on this webpage as factual. As such, my investigation ensued.
An extensive amount of research has been done on the extent to which media (particularly, film) influences children. One such analysis conducted at Cal Poly Humbolt (https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&context=senior_comm) finds that film-oriented media has an extensive influence on young viewers’ perception of the world around them, especially regarding gender, race, and identity. This conclusion makes equitable representation of diverse perspectives in media created by popular media conglomerates like Disney highly important, especially in a contemporary context in which diversity and inclusivity are paramount. I must admit that I have a bias on this topic because I previously conducted a study entitled, “Gender Speech in Disney Princess Films in the Original Animations and the Live-Action Recreations,” which found Disney has presented a lack of equitable gendered language in some of its most recent productions. This study relied on the popular conclusion in the literature that children are influenced by the film content they consume, and such film content helps children form early conceptions of the wider world—feel free to message me if any interest in my study arises.
In short, film influences children to some extent concerning identity, including race and gender. In the linked webpage, Disney indicates they’ve put in effort to add disclosures to non-inclusive content to warn viewers. Disney has followed through with this intention (https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/10/16/924540535/disney-warns-viewers-of-racism-in-some-classic-movies-with-strengthened-label) and its efforts are clearly being noticed by viewers. And, beyond such content warnings, Disney seeks to represent diverse perspectives to further develop the inclusivity of their content and maintain a popular position in mass media (https://www.forbes.com/sites/yolandabaruch/2022/10/21/disney-executive-and-imagineer-carmen-smith-says-diversity-and-inclusion-keeps-disney-relevant/).
In short, this webpage is accurate and credible because Disney has followed through with its goals to enhance inclusivity in its content (to some extent, at least).
