Hollywood has always been criticized for trying to engineer American society. For example, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough accused Brokeback Mountain of advancing a “radical [liberal] agenda” in 2005 and Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly said the movie was “about mainstreaming certain conduct.”

The criticism extends to animated movies, as well. In a 1999 op-ed piece for his radio show, Vice President-elect Mike Pence wrote, “Despite her delicate features and voice, Disney expects us to believe that Mulan’s ingenuity and courage were enough to carry her to military success on an equal basis with her cloddish cohorts. Obviously, this is Walt Disney’s attempt to add childhood expectation to the cultural debate over the role of women in the military.”

Assuming that such critics are correct in thinking that a number of Hollywood movies tell their stories from a particular, biased perspective—and overlooking the claim that watching a movie can turn people gay—we are left to wonder, first, whether such movies are capable of affecting social change and, second, whether it is somehow improper or inappropriate or even immoral for them to do so. I argue yes to the former and no to the latter.

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