Under a Sea of Anger: A CDA of Hate Speech in Facebook User Comments on Disney’s Representation of Diversity in the USA and Italy

This study explores social media discourses surrounding Disney’s recent commitment to cultural diversity. It analyses user comments from the company’s official Facebook pages in the United States and Italy, in reaction to the remakes Lightyear (2022), Peter Pan & Wendy (2023), and The Little Mermaid (2023). Using corpus investigation tools, prevailing discourse patterns and trends were identified, categorising contents based on their prevailing stance, theme, and hate speech intensity. Critical discourse analysis was applied to gain insights into the issues and concerns raised by commentators, while multimodal critical discourse analysis guided the examination of visual elements. Findings revealed diverse opinions on Disney’s inclusivity initiatives, highlighting their polarising nature. In both countries, through words and images, some praised the diversity efforts, while others criticised them for violating the original ‘canon’ and as examples of ‘wokeism’ or forced inclusivity. Some netizens exhibited toxic fan behaviour and even explicit discriminatory attitudes.