If Hollywood's conversion to "wokeism" was seen as a radical shift in the entertainment industry's methods, the succession of apostasies that preceded and followed the advent of Donald Trump puts this chapter into perspective. Since the First World War and the resulting collapse of European filmmaking, enabling American cinema to become a leader on the global market, the California studios have always been able to demonstrate the ideological and political flexibility necessary to preserve their economic interests.
One of the most talked-about manifestations of this Hollywood realignment – the rewriting of the disclaimer preceding Walt Disney's first feature films on the platform that bears his name – is just the latest incident in a long and inglorious story.
As a reminder, from October 2020 to February 2025, before watching Dumbo, for example, you would read: "This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together." Since Trump was sworn in, this wording was replaced with: "This program is presented as originally created and may contain stereotypes or negative depictions."
To take the example of the elephant with the big ears, the stereotypes concern the team responsible for erecting the circus tent under which Dumbo performs. The sequence is admirable: Black silhouettes stand out against a stormy sky and sing, to a tune that pastiches African-American work songs: "We never learned to read or write / We're happy-hearted roustabouts," and "We don't know when we get our pay / And when we do, we throw our pay away."
Satisfying the expectations of white audiences
When Dumbo was released in 1941, Walt Disney, the man, and Disney, the studio, didn't care about the effect this representation might have on children of African descent, in the United States and elsewhere. As with all studios, it was a question of satisfying the expectations of white audiences in the Southern states, the same ones who, until the 1960s, threatened to boycott productions that didn't meet the requirements of racial segregation.
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