Devan Moore

Period: 3
10/16/19

Rhetorical Analysis of “Why do Cartoon Villains Speak in Foreign

Accents?”

Isabel Fattal wrote the article, “Why do Cartoon Villains Speak in Foreign Accents?” A
research summary on how the impact of tv and film has the potential of negatively affecting
younger generations. The article was published under the Education section on The Atlantic’s
webpage on January 4, 2018. The article was created because the author wanted a way to inform
the public and hopefully spark awareness for the issue presented by the researchers, such as, how
modern media is hurting young children by misconstruing cultural diversity.
The research consisted of head sociolinguist Calvin Gidney and Julie Dobrow, a lecturer
who studies issues of children and media. The study was done by researching a total of 323
animated characters from both television and full-length films. “Their findings suggested that
lots of kids’ shows use language to mark certain traits in a given character” (Fattal). The data
also shows that there are three primary accents that are associated with villains in children’s
entertainment, British English, German, and Slavic. Gidney and Dobrow believe that by having
this common trend in modern media, with “bad” characters could have concerning implications
for the way kids are being taught to engage with diversity in the United States (Fattal). Gidney
states, “Villainy is marked just by sounding different.” The study also concludes that most of this
unfair treatment in modern media stems from how the United States treated these countries
during World War II and the Cold War.
This article, “Why do Cartoon Villains Speak in Foreign Accents?” by Isabel Fattal, was
created as a way to inform audiences of how TV and Movies, within the United States, is
creating a greater separation between cultures. The author, Fattal, hopes to engage an audience
that is worried with how the people of the world treat one another. Through her heavy use of
logos, Fattal accomplishes this goal by recounting the study summarized above. She gives exact
statements from the researchers and exact data points to help inform those who are concerned.
The article overall is not an opinion piece, but rather a research summary. The language
is often direct and to the point with no “fluff.” Fattal never gives her opinion and rarely evokes
the use of pathos, a weak point in her overall writing and tends to hurt her. Instead of pathos she
instead relies on ethos and logos. For example, within the first sentence Fattal uses ethos. She
gives an authoritative introduction to the lead researcher, Calvin Gidney. Giving him the title of
sociolinguist. A sociolinguist is one who studies language in relation to social factors. By doing
so the audience now has a reason to believe and trust Gidney. By establishing this connection,
Fattal may continue the summary in confidence, beginning the use of logos and facts from the
study. She uses a slight amount of pathos when introducing Disney’s “The Lion King,” a film
released in 1994. A family movie that most everyone has a fond memory associated with. By
using this as an example, Fattal caters to the audience by talking about something that has been
apart of their lives. With this connection also created, Fattal flips the movie for the reader,
“Mufasa has an American accent, while Scar, the lion of the dark side, roars in British English,”
States Fattal within the first paragraph. This connection leads to a quote from Gidney, “Foreign
accents and non-standard dialects were being used to voice all of the “bad” characters.” She adds
with the example of the hyenas associated in the film. She says that the hyenas spoke in either
African American English or English with a Spanish accent (Fattal).
Fattal continues the trend of logos, explaining that Gidney started a research study to find
if this is a common trend in modern media. She again uses ethos as a way to build credibility for
the second research partner, Julie Dobrow. Stating “Julie Dobrow, a senior lecturer at Tufts who
specializes in issues of children and media.” The article explains how the research study was
carried out, as to keep the audience informed, more logos.
Later in the article, Fattal states that Gidney and Dobrow base many of their findings as a
result of “America’s hostility toward those countries during World War II and the Cold War.”
They state that they continue to see this trend even though many of those political tensions have
either dissipated completely or at least died down dramatically. It stems from those in charge of
producing and directing these shows and how they follow suit of successful shows in the past.
These commercially successful shows often follow the tendencies described above, where big
commercial companies are creating a greater divide among countries and cultures through the
unfair use of accents and character portrayal. “showrunners may be making decisions on the
basis of what was popular and successful in the shows they grew up watching” (Fattal).
Fattal uses a quote directly from Gidney that gives a basic overview of the entire issue.
“To Gidney, the common denominator in all of these vague foreign accents is “the binary
distinction of ‘like us’” versus “not like us.” “Villainy is marked just by sounding different.”
Fattal uses pathos in this section as to grab the attention of the audience. Because the issue of
racism is a rising concern among many throughout the world. So by not only calling out the issue
but also quoting an authoritative figure on it can evoke many emotions in the intended audience.
The article by Fattal ends with a call to action. Wishing that all parents work hard to help
their children understand the differences between cultures in a healthy way. Fattale promoted this
article as a way to explain how modern media is hurting young children by misconstruing
cultural diversity. By having parents be actively involved in their children's lives when it comes
to modern media, children can grow from being exposed to this form of entertainment. Instead of
children being negatively affected by this situation, parents can use it as a teaching opportunity
to help grow their children's world and cultural understanding. “If a parent or sibling or caregiver
is there with a child watching television or a film, this ... can make anything into an educational
experience.” States Dobrow. As a way to finally impose one last form of pathos.

Word Count: 1053

Works Cited

Fattal, Isabel. “Why Do Cartoon Villains Speak in Foreign Accents?” The Atlantic,
4 Jan. 2019, from
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/01/why-do-cartoon-villains-speak-in-
foreign-accents/549527/.