The Essence of Rhetoric in Disney Music

This book will introduce you to the basic history and concepts of Rhetoric, and demonstrate those concepts by allowing you to experience the rhetoric in the music at Walt Disney World. Starting with the prayer theory of Homer and the ancient Greeks, we learn that Flattery, Quid pro Quo, and appeals for consistency are persuasive. Then Plato coins the term "rhetoric," but uses it in a negative sense. His student, Aristotle, writes the most important work on Rhetoric in history, emphasizing ethics, emotion, and logic. We believe some things just because we trust the word of someone else. Aristotle also taught the three basic uses of rhetoric: in the courts, in the political assemblies, and in the culture. The Romans added the 5 basic considerations of Rhetoric: Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery. Contemporary rhetoricians, Kenneth Burke, Chaim Perelman, and Stephen Toulmin add concepts like identification, cultural values, and the two-sided message. Disney provides musical experiences of all of these. Everyone is familiar with Disney Music. But, few have analyzed what types of persuasive messages are communicated through Disney music. Find out for yourself what the rest of the world is being persuaded by listening to the music. Take, for example, the song "Two Brothers" in The American Adventure. Is it pro-war or anti-war? How would you analyze the rhetoric of such music? This book explains the methods rhetoricians have been using for thousands of years.